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AMERICA: 



AN 



ENCYCLOPAEDIA 



OF ITS 



History and Biography, 

ARRANGED IN CHRONOLOGICAL PARAGRAPHS, 

WITH FULL ACCOrXTS OF 

Prehistoric America and the Indians, 

AND NOTES ON CONTEMPORANEOUS HISTORY. 

CONTAINING A COMPLETE RECORD OF EXPLORATIONS, CONQUESTS, REVOLUTIONARY 
STRUGGLES, POLITICAL CHANGES, SOCIAL MOVExMENTS, INDUSTRIAL ACHIEVE- 
MENTS, CURIOUS, IMPORTANT AND THRILLING EVENTS, REMARKABLE 
EXPEDITIONS, ROMANTIC ADVENTURES AND MARVELOUS IN- 
VENTIONS, IN THE DISCOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT OF 

NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA, 

WITH 

Biographies of the Leaders Thereof. 



HV / 

STEPHEN MORRELL NEWMAN, M. A. 



(^legantlp EllustrateU* 

^AY 16 Wdjr 



M 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

The Coburn & Newman Publishing Co., 

BRANCH OFFICES: COLUMBUS, OHIO, and RIPON, WIS. 

1881. 



CTN 



COPVRIGHTHD BY 

THE COBURN & NEWMAX PUBEISHING CO., 

iSSi. 



Press and Types of Blakely, Brown & Marsh ; Electrotypes by A. Zeese & Co. 
Donohuc & Henneberry, Binders. 



C.^v- 



n 



HOMES OF AMERICA, 



WHOSE LOVE OF LIBERTY AND OF COUNTRY, 



WILL FINALLY MAKE THIS CONTINENT 



THE LAND OF TRUE FREEDOM. 



L^%/> 




PASSION FLOWER OF PERU. 



PREFACE 



The present wide-spread interest in the study of American history will effect 
two results. It will, for one thing, push out very much reading of a low, useless, 
and pernicious kind. The enkindled desire to understand the sufferings and achieve- 
ments in the i^ecord of the New World, or to live agam in imagination the scenes 
which have been enacted upon the soil we tread, will consume the intellectual heed- 
lessness which is satisfied with the thin and sensational reading which falls in its 
way. One who has acquired a passion for investigating journeys, inventions, cus- 
toms, political enterprises and movements, and who finds the hours all too scanty for 
the purpose, is not likely to employ himself in reading that which wastes the time, 
enfeebles the mind, and blights the heart. 

The study of American history will also greatly increase the accurate knowl- 
edge of the circumstances attending the formation of our institutions, and by so 
doing, will extend and intensify the spirit of our life through a great circle. If we 
wish to understand the movement of an enterprise, we must note its condition at two 
or more points in its career. It is difiicult for the ablest mind, when confining its 
view to the present moment, to trace in the hurry and confusion and endless details, 
the complete significance of the work which is being done, and to judge whither it 
ail tends. Nor can we look into the history of institutions with which we are closely 
associated, without a quickened pulse, a greater courage, and a truer patience. The 
passing accidents, and the abiding elements of enterprises and reforms, alone stand 
forth in this view. 

This volume is intended to serve as an instrumentality along the above Imes of 
usefulness. Several principles have controlled its preparation. 

Ijt the study of historical events^ as in the study of objects in the natural 
sciences^ the mind must be continually held to the facts. Facts are the source and 
proof of all our historical knowledge. A clear statement of them will almost uni- 
versally arouse an interest in them. Nor can the minute details of them be ex- 
hausted. Yet upon some apparently trivial detail a change of government may 
hang. The certainty and comprehensiveness of our knowledge of history, as well 
as the possession of an unflagging interest, depend upon a frequent review of the 
facts. 



X PREFACE. 

In any general sttidy of American history the preservation of ttnity demands 
that the entire continent pass before the eye. No separation of explorations, settle- 
ments, of colonial growth, revolutionary struggles, and of the development of the 
idea of liberty, can be made even in the case of the United States, without fatally 
injuring the conception, and weakening the study. A moment's attention, for in- 
stance, will show that the region of the Great Lakes, the Mississippi, and Ohio 
Valleys, the Southern States and the Pacific Coast, cannot be studied apart from 
what the French and Spanish undertook to do in other sections of the continent. 
Within ten years after the American Revolution closed, those struggles in Mexico 
and South America began, which ended in throwing off Spanish authority. The 
Alonroe doctrine emphasizes this unity of life upon the continent. 

The same reason demands that all forms of life be accorded their proper 
places in the presentation. The successes of industry and invention, the character 
of commercial and social activity, the educational and reformatory movements, etc., 
etc., depend largely upon the political ideas which hold sway over the homes of the 
country, and the civil aspirations which the people are led to indulge. American 
life and progress in every slight respect are vitally connected with the central historic 
movement of the continent. 

The formation of a just conception necessitates the keeping of the several 
elements of American history.^ so far as possible., before the miiid., side by side. 
The inception of a new enterprise of any sort indicates something as to the fertility 
of thought and energy of will which characterize the day. It is therefore important 
to insert it in the order of time, where it had its birth. Its aid will be largely lost 
if it be separated from the events in the midst of which it sprang forth. 

The features of the present work are in harmony with the above ideas. Facts 
are made prominent. The attempt is made to lea\-c them to have their own proper 
effect. The whole continent is brought to view. All lines of life are touched at 
indicative points. The whole is arranged to show the steady development of all 
things. Biographies are given to reveal the character of the training which the 
leaders of our life have had. Side notes are added to facilitate a reference to the 
condition of the world at large. No other work of this kind exists. Such a volume, 
it is evident, must exist before the apparatus for the study of American history will 
be fully perfected. It is needed now. With the desire to assist in establishing 
American ideas, this labor is committed to the public. 

" But thou, my Country, thou shalt never foil, 

Save with thy children — thy maternal care, 
Thy lavish love, thy blessings showered on all — 

These are thy fetters — seas and stormy air 
Are the wide barrier of thy borders, where, 

Among thy gallant sons that guard thee well, 
Thou laugh'st at enemies; who shall then declare 

The date of thy deep-founded strength, or tell 

How happy in th^' lap the sons of men shall dwell ! " 

Stephen Morrell Newman. 
RiPON. Wisconsin, March 5th, iSSi. 



LFST OF AUTHORITIES. 



XI 



The following works have been used in 

Appleton's American Cyclopaedia. 

Encyclopaedia Brittanica. 

Johnson's Cyclopaedia. 

Zell's Cyclopaedia. 

The Magazine of American Ilistorv. 

Encyclopaedia of Chronology. 

Putnam's World's Progress. 

Haydn's Dictionary of Dates. 

Lyman's Historical Chart. 

Smith's Tables of Church History. 

Foster's Prehistoric Races of the United States. 

Baldwin's Ancient America. 

Squier's Notes on Central America. 

Beamish's Discov. of Amer. by the Northmen. 

Jones' Ancient America. 

Smithsonian Contributions, lo vols. 

Wilkes' U. S. Exploring Expedition, 3 vols. 

Schoolcraft's Algic Researches. 

Schoolcraft's American Indians. 

Morgan's Ancient Societ\'. 

Short's North Americans of Antiquity. 

Mac Lean's Mound Builders. 

Bancroft's History of United States, 10 vols. 

Hildreth's History of United States, 6 vols. 

Ramsay's History of United States. 

Von Hoist's History of United States. 

Bryant's History of United States. 

Gi-ahame's History of North Am.erica. 

Robertson's History of South America. 

Maunder's History of the World. 

A View of South America and Mexico. 

Goodrich's History of America. 

Willard's History of United States. 

Denison's History of the New World. 

Higginson's Young Folks' History of U. S. 

Higginson's Y'g Folks' Book of Am. Explorers. 

Anderson's Manual of General History. 

Anderson's United States Reader.^ 

Anderson's Historical Reader. 

Barnes' Centenary History of United States. 

Abbott's Paragi-aph History of United States. 

Abbott's Paragraph Hist, of Amer. Revolution. 

Ridpath's History of United States. 

Lossing's Our Country, 3 vols. 

Prescott's Conquest of Peru, 2 vols. 

Prescott's Conquest of Mexico, 3 vols. 

Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella, 3 vols. 

Belknap's Biographies of Early Discoverers. 

Irving's Columbus, 3 vols. 

Parkman's Pioneers of France in New World. 

Parkman's Jesuits in North America. 

Parkman's Discovery of the Great West. 



the preparation of this vol time: 

Parkman's Old Regime in Canada. 

Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac. 

Drake's Indians of North America. 

Hubbard's Indian Wars. 

Kennedy's La Plata, Brazil, and Paraguay. 

Burton's Battle Fields of Paraguay. 

Washburn's History of Paraguay. 

Fancourt's History of Yucatan. 

Dallas' Maroons of Jamaica. 

Henderson's History of Brazil. 

Southey's History of the West Indies. 

Frothingham's Rise of the Republic. 

Frothingham's Siege of Boston. 

Frothingham's Joseph Warren. 

Gibbs' Administrations of Washington and 
Adams, 2 vols. 

Stevens' History of Georgia. 

Morton's New England Memorial. 

Sabine's American Loyalists. 

Sabine's Notes on Duels and Duelling. 

Watson's Men and Times of the Revolution. 

Hanaford's History of Princeton, Mass. 

Onderdonk's Revolutionary Incidents of 
Queen's Co., N. Y. 

Palfrey's New England, 3 vols. 

Ingersoll's Historj of U- S. War Department. 

Demarest's Hist, of the Reformed Dutch Church. 

Waylen's Eccl. Reminiscenses of United States. 

Starr King's White Hills. 

Ames' Ten Years in Washington. 

Drake's Nooks and Corners of the New Eng- 
land Coast. 

Abbott's Mexico and the United States. 

Lossing's Common School History of the U S. 

Barnes' Brief History of the United States. 

Egle's History of Pennsylvania. 

History of Indiana. 

History of Wisconsin. 

Austin's History of Massachusetts. 

Lossing's Eminent Americans. 

Parton's People's Book of Biographv. 

Burnet's Notes on Northwest Territory. 

Parton's Famous Men. 

Winsor's Handbook of American Revolution. 

Johnston's History of American Politics. 

Noyes' History of American Socialisms. 

Carey's Slave Trade. 

Goodell's Slavery and Anti-Slavery. 

Jay's Miscellaneous Writings. 

Lossing's American Centenary. 

Bishop's Hist, of Ameri'n Manufactures, 2 vols, 

BoUes' Industrial Historv of the United States. 



XII 



LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 



Lester's Our First Hundred Years, 2 vols. 

Haven's National Handbook. 

Young's American Statesman. 

Greeley's Political Text Book tor iS6o. 

Spaulding's Financial Jrlistory of the \\'ar. 

Hartwig's Polar and Tropical \\'orlds. 

The Frozen Zone. 

Newcomb's Cyclopaedia of Missions. 

Parton's Franklin. 

Biglow's Franklin. 

Spark's Biographies. 

Irving's Washington. 

Life of Prescott. 

Life of Choate. 

Finney's Autobiography. 

Memoir of Bushnell. 

Allen's New England Tragedies in Prose. 

Smith's Brazil. 

Holland's Life of Lincoln. 

Raymond's Life of Lincoln. 

AbDott's Lives of the Presidents. 



Rights and Rulers of our Government. 
May's Recollections of the Anti-Slav'y Conflict 
Treasures of Science, History, and Literature. 
Pictorial History of the United States Wars. 
Pictorial History of the United States Navy. 
Greeley's American Conflict. 
Abbott's History of the Ci\il \\m\ 
Annals of the War. 

Lossing's Pictorial History of the Ci\ il War. 
Grant and His Campaigns. 
Grant and Sherman. 
Sherman and His Campaigns. 
Life of Maximilian. 
Life of W. H. Seward. 
Great Fires in Chicago and the West. 
Adams' Railroad Accidents. 
Spofford's American Almanac, 3 vols. 
Harper's Magazine. 

Scribner's Monthly, with files of other leading 
Reviews, Weekly and Daily Newspaper.-. 



HINTS UPON READING AMERICAN HISTORY. 



To any one who has not made quite a definite beginning, a long list of books 
covering different periods of American history is confusing. The thought of read- 
ing them from first to last in the order given, always raises the question of the 
months or years which it will take to do so, and prevents that true deliberation 
which is the secret of profitable reading. This thought is accompanied by the de- 
sire to reach more or less hastily the interesting books or periods. On the other 
hand, many a beginning has been made for a life-time oi true sttidy by having been 
forced back upon a single book found in the house, or borrowed from a neighbor. 
The writer looks back to such a point in his boyhood, and treasures a little old 
volume containing a history of Mexico and vSouth America, \vith unspeakable grati- 
tude. 

To those who have made a beginning and know where they are, a list of books 
is helpful and easily accessible. A very good one is given at the close of that book, 
which serves so admirably as a beginning for amateur students, viz., Higgiiisoii's 
To7ing Folks' History of the United States. Lists are given at the close of each 
division of Barnes'' Brief History of the United States. Both of the above em- 
brace the names of works of fiction, poems, and biographies in addition to strictly 
historical works. Lists under special topics are also to be found in P/itnani\s Best 
Readi)ig., and in President Noah Porte?-'' s Books and Reading. For fifty cents one 
can secure a thick catalogue, issued by Robert Clarke & Co. of Cincinnati, and 



HIIVTS UPON READING AMERICAN HISTORY. Kill 

giving the names of large numbers of books on American history. The catalogue 
of any public library will also furnish hints. Mention ought here to be made ot 
yiistiu ]Vinso7'''s Handbook of the Americaii Revolution^ which gives running 
comments upon the authors who have treated that subject as a whole, or any portion 
of it. For those who wish to read extensively upon the Revolution, this little book 
is invaluable. A good exercise consists in putting one of the lists first mentioned 
into such a form in a blank book or otherwise, that additions can be made to it of 
those books which are from time to time recommended to one, or are mentioned in 
standard periodicals. Works upon American history are now being issued very 
rapidly, and a little watchfulness, together with some questioning of friends, Avill 
enable one to make a list which in coming years will grow more and more 
valuable. Tiie construction of a list of this kind will in itself give a knowledge 
of periods, changes, men and events in our history. 

There are a great many people who have an interest in American history, who 
yet do not care to sit down to the reading of the more exhaustive works which cover 
the history of the continent from its disco%"ery nearly to the present time, nor to make 
investigations into the original authorities upon some special point or points. Thev 
read for mental health and cheer, and in the end acquire a wide range of historical 
knowledge concerning their country. For such the volume by Higginson above 
mentioned, and the same author's Tojing Folks' Book of American Explorers^ are 
a fascination. The delightful works of Francis Parkman hold such readers to the 
end. They are: Hie Pioneers of France in the Neiv Worlds The festiits in 
North America., La Salle., or The Discovery of the Great West, The Old Reg- i me 
in Canada., and Count Frontenac. These make up a series upon the efforts of 
France and England in the New World. A ^•olumc upon iSIontcalm is in prepara- 
tion. Besides these the same author wrote a history of the Conspiracy of Pontiac. 
Bryanfs Popular History of the United States, Prescott''s Conquest of Peru, and 
his Conquest of Mexico may safely be named for the above uses. The last-named 
work should be followed b}^ Gen. Lew Wallace's novel A Fair God, which sets 
forth the scenes of the conquest with great power. Frothinghani's Siege of Boston 
and foscph Warren and His Times, Lossing'^s Pictorial Field Books, — one set 
upon the Revolution, another upon the War of i8i3,and a third upon the Civil War, 
biographies like Irving'' s Washington, Bigclow's Franklin, Holland'' s Li)icoln, 
Pierre M. Irving''s Life of Washington Irving, will all be of great interest. 
Biographies of any other man or men toward whom the attention is turned, descrip- 
tive works upon portions of the continent which we would like to know about, 
should be sought definitely and persistently. Very few issues of our magazines are 
made without some historical or descriptive article calculated to aid and interest such 
general readers. A scrap relating to American history or biography can be found 
in almost every copy of our newspapers. A definite notice of such for a time will 
make it impossible afterward that similar ones should escape. In this way what 
was at first mere hap-hazard reading may be turned into a well-ordered and profit- 
able course. Our conception of the progress and condition of the continent will be 
clearer and clearer. 



XIV HINTS UPON READING AMERICAN HISTORY. 

But there are many young persons who, if they have the interest, have the time 
and facilities for building up a much more cai'eful and systematic know^ledge of 
American history, and might in the end become authorities upon some point to which 
they had given much attention. If such should make a well-assured beginning, the 
rest would follow as a matter of course. Very many of our beginnings are no be- 
ginnings worthy of the name. A beginning m reading American history, like an 
infant, must have time to be an infant, and also have great care and nourishment 
while it is such. Haste and forcing will in the end kill it. Hence deliberation is 
necessary. Begin anywhere, but let there be time taken to make it a very definite 
matter. It will pay many times over in the end. 

It is true that a general view of the whole field should be possessed before 
special work is begun. But it may be quite general. The attentive reading of one 
or two such books as Higginsoii's Young Folks' Histoiy of the United States will 
be sufficient. Having done this, the point for our special effort can be determined by 
answenng the question: " What do I desire to know about most of all in the history 
of my country?" A gain in time and energy will result from settling this first. 
From this point you can go forward or backward. 

Atlases are essential. Take time from the very first to get a perfectly clear 
view of the geography of the section you are reading about. An understanding of 
the sea coast or river valleys jDrepares for an understanding of the success or defeat 
of different settlements, and the general course of the stream of colonization. The 
geography of the Hudson River and Lake Champlain sheds light on the Revolution- 
ary conflict in that region. Make skeleton maps illustrating the special features of 
the event or events which you are studying. 

It may be that the first desire will be to know what can be known of ancient or 
prehistoric America. The most accessible books, and the best is perhaps, Prof. 
SJiorfs., The North Americans of Antiquity., or Foster''s Prehistoric Races of the 
United States. A book like Sqiiier\^ Peru will give some idea of ancient works in 
South America. During iSSo a series of articles on the ancient cities of Central 
America has appeared in the North Amcricaii Review. The first book mentioned 
will easily lead to other works named therein. Some of the volumes of the Smith- 
sonian Contributions are rich upon the Mound Builders. The American Anti- 
quarian., a quarterly journal edited by Rev. Stephen D. Peet, Clinton, Wis., is the 
only periodical devoted exclusively to such studies. It is able and interesting. Fu- 
gitive articles appear in Scribner\s Monthly., and other magazines. 

In studying the aborigines of the continent Drake'' s Biography and Histojy of 
the Indians of North America., though old, is valuable. Brief accounts are given 
in all histories of the country. The works of George Catlin may be accessible to 
some. The Introduction to Parkman''s fcsuits in North America is a fine essay 
upon the Indians. Schoolcraft'' s Works contain vast information. Biographies of 
leading Indians can be found in all public libraries. Thomas W. Field issued An 
Essay toward an Indian Bibliography., which contains a great many hints concern- 
ing works upon the Historv, Antiquities, Languages, Customs, Religion, Wars, Lit- 
erature, and Origin of the American Indians. Lewis H. Morgari's League of the 



HINTS UPON READING AM EN/ CAN HISTORT. XV 

Iroquois gives an accurate account of that remarkable confederation. For lighter 
reading, Cooper's Leat/icrstocking Tales, Longfello-v's Hiawatha, LoivelPs 
Chippewa Legend, and Whittier''s Bridal of Pc/utacook, can be interwoven. 

But it is more likely j^erhaps, that the first interest we feel will go out toward 
some later point in our history. We may wish to know the places at which, and the 
persons by whom, all the original settlements in America were made. We are cu- 
rious to look into the homes they built, to know what they were before they left the 
Old World, and watch their success in new surroundings. Huguenots and Cath- 
olics, Pilgrims and Puritans, Hollanders and Spaniards, Presbyterians and Quakers, 
poor debtors from English jorisons, and persecuted Germans from the Palatinate, ne- 
gro slaves, Irish immigrants, German farmers, Norwegians, and Chinese, what por- 
tion of the country they have each lived in and built up, and how far has the blood of 
each mingled with the blood of others. We begin perhaps, with Jamestown in 
1607, and carefully, slowly enlarge our view of the colony by hunting up informa- 
tion in every book at our command. We note its early promise, its great vicissi- 
tudes, its tobacco "fever," and the spread of little villages around it, with a thousand 
other bits. We hunt through Bancroft and Hildreth till we become enamored with 
the study of the process of settlement. 

Or we desire to know the history of the permission under which the colonies 
were planted, the form of charters, patents and grants which so lavishly gave away 
the American forests. We find out the first agreement efltcted by Columbus the 
charters given to the London and Virginia Companies, the permit given bv the 
great Dutch East India Company, the powers granted to each adventurer, the differ- 
ence between royal, proprietary, and charter colonies, the trouble over the transfer of 
the Alassachusetts Bay charter, and hundreds of unsuspected, 3'et fascinatino- facts. 
Or we wish to begin with tracing the growth of the opposition between Great 
Britain and the American colonies, or with the Revolution in which that opposition 
ended, or we begin with the scenes in which our national constitution was formed 
and the men who formed it, or with specific events like the Battle of Bunker Hill 
from which we run out into the whole Revolution, or Perry's victory on Lake Erie, 
or the great debate between Webster and Hayne, in the Ur/.c.l States Senate, or 
the evacuation of Fort Sumter in 1S61, or the history of ou . /n state, count}^, town, 
of some great exploration, adventure, enterprise. Anything entered upon slowly and 
minutely will open the whole wide field of America before us. The one hundredth 
anniversary of the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in 17S1 enables us to profit 
by the extensive information which will be published by the greater number of our 
periodicals. The seizure of a present event will often lead to a permanent investi- 
gation. 

But, it may be asked, will not such investigations as have been spoken of above, 
necessitate the possession of large supplies of books. Not at all. Faraday beo-an ex- 
periments in chemistry with a few broken dishes. With two or three small books 
the study of American history can be begun. The neighborhoods are very few in 
which a thoughtful, careful young person could not obtain the use of a number of 
works upon the subject. Perhaps a reading room near by will have The Maga- 



XVI HIXTS UPON READING AMERICAN HISTORY. 

zine of Amcricafz History^ or T'he Pennsylvania Alagazine of History a?id Bi- 
ography^ upon its tables. Boys can form a reading club, and with their collected 
pennies get such recent issues as Lossing''s Story of the United States Navy^ Cof 
f.n''s Old Times in the Colo?iies^ T'he Boys of '76, and The Story of Liberty. 
Meager supplies need not prevent any one from making a positive beginning which 
IS the result at which these hints are aimed. Having learned to walk, we do not 
need help. Having made a beginning in reading or studying American history, we 
can find our own way with comparative ease. One book will lead to another. Then, 
whether we hear the boat which bears Columbus from Santa Maria to the shore of 
the New World grate upon the sand, or feel our hearts beat as the energetic Balboa 
catches the first glimpse of the great Pacific, or press on with Cortes in spite of the 
remonstrances of Montezuma, up to the City of Mexico, or drag our weary feet 
through Southern forests with the brave but unfortunate De Soto, or watch in the 
morning twilight for the coming of British regulars along the sti'eet to the quiet vil- 
lages of Lexington and Concord, or study with curiosity the first feeble attempts 
with steam, on land and water, and with electricity in telegraphing, or pant for suc- 
cess with the struggling patriots of Mexico and South America, or find out to our 
amazement how many of the great men and leaders of America have had few and 
scanty privileges, and much hard work in their youth and early manhood, we alike 
conclude that the romance of our country's raj^id course is greater and more health- 
ful than that of the mass of exciting and injurious reading spread before us on all 
sides. We become more vigorous in thinking, more manly in living, more powerful 
in building up ourselves and others. 




CONTENTS. 



-o-4^SK-« 



PART L 



Introductory Studies. 33-76. 



SECTION I. 

PREHISTORIC AMERICA. 35-53 

American and European Antiquities, 35. First Period of Prehistoric America and Evi- 
dences, 36. Second Period, 37. . Name of Mound Builders, 37. Great Mounds, 38. 
Wisconsin Animal Mounds, 39. Uses of Mounds, 40. Embankments and Inclosures, 
40-42. Ancient Copper Mining, 42. Age of Mound Builders' Works, 43. Horace 
Greeley at Newark, O., 43. Indians know Nothing of Them, 43. Civilization of Mound 
Builders, 44. Religious Character, 45. Mechanical and Artistic Products, 46. Who 
Were the Mound Builders, 47. Pueblos of Arizona, 47. Casas Grandes, 48. Cliff 
Dwellings, 49. Cave Dwellings, 50. Elevated Towers, 51. Remains in Yucatan 
and Central America, 51. Copan, 51. Uxmal, 52. Palenque, 53. Peruvian Re- 
mains, 53. Interest of American Archaeology, 53. 

SECTION II. 

THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 54-72 

Named Indians by Columbus, 54. Variety of Tribes, 54. Unity, 55. Origin, 55. Study 
of Indian Languages, 55. Degrees of Civilization, 56. Wandering Tribes, 56. Settled 
Tribes, 56. Cities of Peru and Mexico, 56. Agriculture, 56. Domestic Animals, 57. 
Manufactures, 57. Historical Records, 58. Ornamentation, 58. War-paint, 58. 



XVI I r CONTENTS. 

Mininrf, 158. No Modern Idea of Work, 58. Government, 59. Sachems and Military 
Chiefs, 60. Personal Heroism, 60. Memory for Slights and Benefits, 6i. William 
Penn and the Indians, 63. Restless Spirits, 63. Native Oratory, 63. Peculiar Cus- 
toms, 64. Woman the Worker in Wilder Tribes, 65. Female Rulers, 65. Dreams, 
6:^. The Supernatural, 65. Union of Natives and Foreigners, 66. Indian Celebrities, 
66. Indian ought to be Made a Citizen, 66. Wrong Methods of Dealing with Them, 
66. Numbers on the Continent at its Discovery, 68. -Eight Families within what is 
now the United States, 68. Algonquin, 68. Huron-Iroquois, 68. Mobilian, 70. 
Catawba, 70. Cherokees, 70. Uchees, 70. Natchez, 70. Dakotas, 71. Indians at 
Present in the United States, 72. Numbers not Diminishing, 72. Need of Justice 
and Education, 72. 

SECTION III. 

PRE-COLUMBIAN HISTORY AND TRADITIONS. 73-76 

499-1 488. 

The Buddhist Priest in Mexico, 73. Irish in Iceland, 74, First Northman in Iceland, 74. 
Svafarsson and Floki, 74. First Permanent Settlement in Iceland, 74. Discovery of 
Greenland, 74. Iceland a Republic, 74. Christianity in Iceland, 74. Greenland Redis- 
covered and Colonized, 74. North American Coast, 75. Northmen in Vinland, 75. 
Thorwald, 75. First Fight with Natives, 75. Thorstein, 75. Karlsefne's Colony, 75. 
Last Norse Colony in Vinland, 75. First Bishop in Greenland, 75. The Welsh Prince, 
76. The Zeno Brothers, 76. Iceland under Denmark, 76. The Black Death, 76. The 
Last Bishop of Greenland, 76. Decline of Greenland, 76. Alonzo Sanchez, 76. 
Cousin the Frenchman, 76. 



-o— »KX»*-o* 



PART 11. 

Discovery, Exploration, and Settlement. 77-16O, 

1492- 1630. 



SECTION IV. 

THE GREAT DISCOVERY. 79-93 

1492-1596. 

Christopher Columbus, 79. The Written Agreement, So. A Letter of Privilege, 81. The 
First Departure, 81. Variation of the Needle, Si. The Sargasso Sea, 81. The New 
World, 82. Cigars and Maize, 82. Ilayti Discovered, 82. Wreck of Santa Maria, 82. 
La Navidad, 82. Welcome of Columbus in Spain, 83. Renewal of Contract, 83. The 
Second Departure, 83. Caribbean Islands, 83. First Permanent Settlement, 83. Find- 
ing of Gold, 84. Tropical Products and Captives sent tp Spain, 84. Misery at Isabella, 
84. The Coast of Cuba, 84. Jamaica Discovered, 84. Don Bartholomew Columbus, 84. 
Indian Slaves, 85. Suffering of Hayti Natives, 85. Opposition to Columbus, 85. His 



CONTENTS. XIX 

Return to Spain, 86. San Domingo Founded, 86. Nortli America Discovered by 
Cabots, 86. The Tliird Departure of Columbus, 86. South America Discovered, 87. 
Pearl Fishery, 87. Americus Vespucius, 87. Cape St. Augustine, 88. Brazil, 88. 
Arrest of Columbus, 88. His Return to Spain in Chains, 88. First Sanction of Negro 
Slavery, 88. The Fourth Departure, 89. Attempted Settlement on Mainland, 89. A 
Lonely Year, 89. A Daring Canoe Voyage, 90. Return of Columbus to Spain, 92. 
The Banks of Newfoundland, 92. The Gulf of St. Lawrence, 92. The First Sugar 
Cane, 92. Death and Character of Columbus, 92-93. 



SECTION V. 

BALBOA AND CORTES. 94-103 

1507-1522. 

The Naming of America, 94. Yucatan Discovered, 95. Cuba found to be an Island, 95 
Porto Rico Subjugated, 95. Jamaica Colonized, 95. San Sebastian and Sant^ Maria 

95. Bahia Founded, 95. Increased Negro Importation, 95. Cuba Subjugated, 96 
Romance in Yucatan, 96. The Fountain of Youth, 96. Approval of Indian Slavery 

96. The Pacific Ocean, 96. San Christobal,now Havana, Cuba, 97. Copper in Cuba, 97 
Enlarged Slave Trade, 97. First Vessels on the Pacific, 97. De Cordova, 97. Execu 
tion of Balboa, 98. Sable Island, 98. Juan de Grijalva's Expedition, 98. Hernando 
Cortes, 99. Battle of Tabasco, 99. Dona Marina, 99. Montezuma's Embassy, 100. 
Power of Cortes over his Soldiers, 100. Battle with Tlascalaus, 100. Cortes in the City 
of Mexico, 100. Montezuma Seized, 100. Panama Founded, 100. Magellan on 
South American Coast, 100. Montezuma's Tribute, loi. March of Cortes to the 
Coast, loi. Death of Montezuma, loi. The Sorrowful Night, loi. Battle of Otumba, 
102. De Ayllon in Carolina, 102. Magellan's Straits, 102. Pacific Ocean Named, 102. 
March of Cortes against City of Mexico, 102. Death of Magellan, 102. Death of 
de Leon, 102. Capture of City of Mexico, 103. Nicaragua Explored, 103. Bermuda 
Islands, 103. First \'oyage Round the World, 103, First Negro Insurrection, J03. 
First Descent of American Volcano, 103. 



SECTION VI. 

GREAT EXPEDITIONS. 104-123 

1523-1550- 

Central America Conquered, 104. Granada and Leon, 104. Santiago, Central America, 
P'ounded, 105. North American Coast Explored by Verrazzano, 105. A Remarkable 
March, 105. Francisco Pizarro, 105. Pizarro Left Panama, 105. Execution of Gua- 
temozin, 105. Cape Horn first Seen, 106. Indian Revenge, 106. Pizarro's Explora- 
tions, 106. A Great Contract Relating to Peru, 107. A Great Uprising in Central 
America, 107. Sebastian Cabot in South America, 107. Pizarro's Persistence, 107. 
A Ship Canal Across the Isthmus first Proposed, 108. Disaster in Florida, 108. 
Pizarro and Cortes in Spain, loS. Pizarro bound for Peru, 109. The Dye-woods of 
Brazil, 109. Civil War in Peru, 109. San Miguel, 109. Caxamalca, 109. Capture^ 
Ransom, and Death of Atahuallpa, 109-110. Spaniards in Cuzco, no. Cartagena 
Founded, no. First Recorded Eruption of Cotopaxi, in. Quito Captured, iii. 
Jacques Cartier on the St. Lawrence, in. Lima Fovmded, in. Cartier's Second Voy- 
age, III. Site of Montreal, 112. Buenos Ayres Founded, 112. First Printing, 112. 
First Mint, 112. First History, 112. Rebellion of Peruvians, 112. Death of Juan 
Pizarro, 112. Asuncion Founded, 113. From Florida to Mexico, 113. Siege of 



XX CONTENTS. 

Cuzco, 113. Indians Declared Human, 113. Almagro Executed, 114. De Soto in 
Florida, 114. Juan Ortiz, 115. The Seven Cities, 115. Amazon Exj)edition, 115. The 
Mississippi Discovered, 116. Francisco Pizarro's Death, 116. De Soto's Death, 118. 
Government of New World, iiS. First Vessels on the Mississippi, 119. Cartier's Last 
Voyage, iiy. Blasco Nunez de Vela, 119. Potosi Silver Mines, 120. Highest City on 
the Globe, 120. Pedro de la Gasca in Peru, 121. Death of Cortes, 121. Gonzalo 
Pizarro's Defeat and Death, 122. La Paz Founded, 123. Settled Administration of 
Peru, 123. First Jesuits, 123. Gasca Returns to Spain, 123. Loss of Indians in 
Hayti, 123. 

SECTION VII. 

THE GREAT ENGLISH EXPLORERS. 124-134 

1551-1602. 

Pirates in Cuba, 124. Oldest Universities in America, 124. Huguenots in Brazil, 125. De 
Luna's Expedition to Florida, 125. Reverses in Chili, 125. The English Slave Trade 
Begun, 126. Huguenots in Florida, 126. Quicksilver Mines in Peru, 126. St. Augus- 
tine Founded, 127. Massacre at Fort Caroline, 127. De Gourge's Revenge, 127. In- 
quisition Established in America, 127. Sir Francis Drake, 128. Sir Martin Frobisher, 
128. Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Patent, 129. New Mexico, 130. Davis' Straits, 131. 
Another Freebooter, 132. Manteo Baptized, 132. Lost Roanoke Colony, 133. Saved 
by Fireflies, 133. Death of Drake and Hawkins, 133. A Forlorn Colony, 133. Tadou- 
sac, 134. Gosnold's New England Colony, 134. 



SECTION VIII. 

THE COMING POWER. 135-160 

I 603- I 630. 

Samuel de Champlain, 135. Acadia, 136. First English Charter, 137. First Indian Fight 
in New England, 137. Hudson's First Voyage, 138. First English Colony, 13S. Pop- 
ham's Kennebec Colony, 138. Capt. Smith and Pocahontas, 138. Hudson's Second 
Voyage, 139. Germs of Manufacture, 139. Quebec Founded, 139. First Woman 
at Jamestown, 139. Hudson River, 140. Starving Times at Jamestown, 141. Sad 
Death of Hudson, 142. Tobacco First Cultivated, 143. New England Named, 144. 
Adriaen Block in Long Island Sound, 145. First Mass in Canada, 145. Baffin's Bay 
Discovered, 146. Pocahontas, 146. Powhatan, 147. Sir Walter Raleigh, 148. First 
Colonial Assembly, 148. Sale of Young Women, 14S. Henrico College, 149. Negroes 
Brought to Jamestown, 149. The Pilgrims, 149. Mayflower Compact, 150. First 
Indian at Plymouth, 152. First Oftence at Plymouth, 152. Death of Gov. Carver, 152. 
First Duel in New England, 152. Origin of Thanksgiving, 153. Massacre at James- 
town, 153. First Fast Day, 154. Walloon Settlers, 155. Land at Plymouth, 155. 
Merry Mount, 156. Salem Founded, 157. Patroons, 157. Church in Salem, 158. 
Boston Founded, 159. Buccaneers, 159. American Colonization, 159. 



CONTENTS. XXr 



PART III. 



Colonial Life. 161-258, 

1631-1760. 



SECTION IX. 

GERMS OF SELF-GOVERNMENT. 163-189 

1631-1661. 

First Conflagration in Boston, 163. Election of Selectmen, 164. First Frame House in 
Connecticut, 164. Spirit of Liberty, 165. Representative Government, 165. First 
Ballot, 166. A Heavy Currency, 166. First Grand Jury, 166. Death of Champlain, 
166. Providence, R. I., Founded, 167. Earliest Code of Laws, 168. New Haven 
Colony, 169. First Cloth Making, 169. First Printing Press in English Colonies, 170. 
First Hospital, 170. First Nursery, 171. A Sunday Liquor Law, 171. Curious Finan- 
cial Peril, 172. Montreal Founded, 172. First Colonial League, 173. Miantonomoh, 
174. Opechancanaugh, 175. Elder Brewster, 175. Two Legislative Houses in Massa- 
chusetts, 176. First Poll-Tax, 177. First Scythes, 178. Canonicus, 178. First Tem- 
perance Meeting, 179. John Winthrop, 179. Maryland Toleration, iSo. Taxation in 
Barbadoes, iSi Prohibition of Slavery in Rhode Island, 182. Syracuse Salt Springs, 
183. First Quakers, 1S4. Miles Standish, 184 Governor Bradford, 18c;. Adam 
Daulac's Heroism, 186. The Brandy Quarrel, 18S. Last Quaker Execution, 188. 
Massasoit, 188. 

SECTION X. 

THE WIDENING FIELD. 190-21S 

1662 — 1692. 

First Connecticut Charter, 190. Alexander, 191 Eliot's Indian Bible, 192. Surrender of 
New Amsterdam, 192. John Endicott, 193. La Salle, 194. Marquette, 194. First Ball 
in Canada, 195. Wives for Canadian Settlers, 195. The Cathedral of Mexico, 195. 
Thankfulness for Ignorance, 197 Hudson Bay Company, 197. The First Mail, 199. 
The White Mountains, 199. First Internal Colonial Taxation, 200 An Effectual Re- 
buff, 202. Death of Marquette, 202. King Philip, 202. First Vessel on the Upper 
Lakes, 204. A Great Journey, 205. William Penn's Grant, 206. Louisiana Named, 
207. Peter Stuyvesant, 207. Uncas, 209. Roger Williams, 209. First School in 
Pennsylvania, 210. A Novel Currency, 211. Death of La Salle, 212. First Remon- 
strance against Slavery, 213. Sir Edmund Andros Arrested, 214. First American Con- 
gress, 215. First Newspaper, 216. First Paper Mill, 216. First Paper Money, 216. 
Mast Trees, 217. Witchcraft Delusion, 218. 



2^X11 CONTENTS. 

SECTION XI. 

THE MATURING FORCES. 219-243 

I 693-1 743 

Episcopacy in New York, 219. First Printing House in New York, 219. Connecticut 
Pluck, 219. William and Mary College, 220. First Rice Planted, 220. Maryland 
Schools and Libraries, 220. William Penn Reinstated, 220. Death of Gov. Phips, 220. 
John Archdale, Quaker, Governor of Carolina, 220. Slavery Among Quakers, 221. 
Piracy, 221 The Palmarese Nation, 222. Mrs. Dustin's Escape, 222. The Scotch 
Darien Colony, 222. Biloxi, Mobile Bay, Founded, 222. Captain Kidd, 223. First 
Emigration Pamphlet, 223. First New England Rum, 223. Natchez, 223. Dubuque 
Lead Mines, 223. Origin of Yale College, 223. E.KCCution of Captain Kidd, 223. De- 
troit Founded, 224. Queen Anne's War, 225. Indications of Independence, 225. 
Massacre at Deerfield, 225. First Permanent Newspaper, 226. Alexander Selkirk, 226. 
Petticoat Insurrection, 226. Germs of Liberty, 227. Saybrook Platform, 227. Ger- 
man Immigration, 227. First Government Post-Offices, 227. Wreck of the Nottingham, 
227. Diamo;.ds in Brazil, 22S. The Six Nations, 22S. The Logwood Tree, 229, First 
Coffee Culture, 229. The Mississippi Scheme, 229. New Orleans Founded, 230. 
William Penn, 230. Melodies of Mother Goose, 231. Dunkards, 231. Daniel Defoe, 
232. Failure of John Law, 232. First Inoculation for Small-Pox, 233. First Attempt 
at Marine Insurance, 233 , The Apostle of Greenland, 233. First Masonic Lodge, 233. 
University of Havana, 234. Repeating Fire- Arm, 234. Duel on Boston Common, 235. 
Berkeley in America, 235. First Subscription Library, 236. JFear of American Manu- 
factures, 236. Poor Richard's Almanac, 237. Georgia Founded, 237. First Jewish 
Synagogue, 23S. Free Press in New York, 239. First Moravian Colony, 239. John 
Wesley^s Sunday School, 240. First Bell Foundry, 240. Whitfield's Bethesda Or- 
phanage, 241. First Literary Magazine, 241. The Negro Plot, 242. Faneuil Hall, 242. 
Franklin Stoves, 242. First Cotton Gin, 242. American Philosophical Society, 243. 

SECTION XII. 

THE PREPARATORY DISCIPLINE. 244-258 

1 744- 1 760. 

King George's War, 244. Capture of Louisburg, 244. Moravians Expelled from New 
York, 246. Princeton College Founded, 246. Silk in Connecticut, 246. The First 
Cook'sook, 246. The Boston Mob, 246. First Telegraphic Attempt, 246. First Ex- 
ported Cotton, 246. First Muskets, 246. The Ohio Land Company, 247. Halifax 
Founded, 247. First Girl's School, 247. The Queen of the Creeks, 247. First Ana- 
tomical Dissection, 24S. The Public Whipper, 248. First City Directory, 248. First 
Theatrical Company, 249. First Fire Insurance Company, 249. Liberty Bell, 249. The 
Post Office in America, 249. George Washington's Western Mission, 250. Fort du 
Quesne, 250. An American Congress, 250. Columbia College Founded, 251. Braddock's 
Defeat, 251. The Exiled Acadians, 251. Dieskan's Defeat, 252. Hendrick, 252. 
Pennsylvania's Discontent, 253. Fort William Henry Captured, 253. Destitution in 
Canada, 2 S4. Jonathan Edwards, 254. Lord Howe Killed at Ticonderoga, 255. Fort 
du Quesne Captured, 255. Capture of Quebec, 256. Jorullo, the Mexican Volcano 
Created, 257. First Marine Insurance Office, 257. First Horn Combs, 257. Cherokee 
War, 257. Great Fire in Boston, 257. Attempt by French to Retake Quebec, 257. 
Downfall of Canada, 25S. First Printing in Texas, 258. United Brethren in Christ, 258. 



CONTENTS. XXin 



PART IV. 



Revoldtionary Struggles, 259-425. 

1761-1824. 



SECTION XIII. 

THE DAWN OF STRIFE. 261-279 

1761— 1774. 

Birth of Independence, 261. First Canal Route, 262. The Peace of Paris, 262. Pontiac's 
War, 262. Post-Master General's Trip, 264. The Right of Taxation, 264. The Famous 
Stamp Act, 265. The Resolutions of Patrick Henry, 265. Boston Riots, 266. Stamp 
Act Repealed, 266. Townsend's Bill, 267. Swamp Law, 267. The Ship-of-War 
Romney, 267. British Soldiers in Boston, 268. Earliest Church Discipline for Slave- 
holding, 269. First Life Insurance, 269. Pontiac, 269. Boston Massacre, 270. Death 
of Whitfield, 271. Boys of Plymouth, 272. Burning of the Gaspee, 272. Effectual 
Penalty for Intoxication, 273. Boston Tea Party, 273. Boston Port Bill, 274. Virginia 
Provincial Assembly, 275. Shakers, 276. Powder Alarm, 276. First Continental Con- 
gress, 276. The American Association, 277. Minute Men, 278. Slavery Among 
Quakers, 27S. 

SECTION XIV. 

THE DAY OF TRIAL. 2S0-325 

1775-1783- 
The First Blood, 280. Lexington and Concord, 281. Siege of Boston, 281. First Victory 
on the Atlantic, 282. Bunker Hill, 283. Dr. Joseph Warren, 284. First Continental 
Currency, 286. First Traitor, 287. Assault on Quebec, 288. Richard Montgomery, 
288. First Piano-forte, 288. Yankee Doodle, 288. First Union Flag, 2S9. Evacuation 
of Boston, 290. Lee's Famous Resolutions, 290. Declaration of Independence, 291. 
United States National Seal, 293. Battle of Long Island, 294. Execution of Hale, 295. 
Battle of Trenton, 296. The Stolen March, 298. Bounty Jumpers, 299. The Stars and 
Stripes, 300. Burgoyne's Invasion, 300. Battle of Bennington, 301. Battle of Still- 
water, 302. Burgoyne's Surrender, 302. Articles of Confederation, 304. Battle of the 
Kegs,' 304. Light Horse Harry, 305. The Meschianza, 305. Battle of Monmouth, 306. 
Capt. Cook, 30S. Nancy's Rock, 309. Clark's Famous Expeditions, 310. Putnam's 
Escape, 310. Stony Point Captured, 311. Paul Jones' Victory, 311. Col. White's 
Stratagem, 312. First Bank, 312. A Dark Day, 313. Destitution of American Army, 
313. Battle of Hanging Rock, 314. Treason of Benedict Arnold, 314. Execution of 
Andre, 315. Battle of King's Mountain, 315. Marion's Patriotism, 315. Logan, 316. 
Pennsylvania Revolt, 317. Battle of Cowpens, 318. The " Pine Log" Cannon, 318. 
Execution of Hayne, 319. Cornwallis Surrendered, 319. Bank of North America, 320. 
Charles Lee, 321. Society of the Cincinnati, 323. Treaty of Peace, 324. Webster's 
Spelling Book, 324. 



XXIV CONTENTS. 

SECTION XV. 

THE RISE OF A NATION. 326-375 

17S4-1799. 

First Episcopal Bishop, 326. First Agricultural Society, 327. First Law School, 327. First 
Daily Paper, 327. Brother Jonathan, 32S. Nathaniel Greene, 329. The Annapolis 
Convention, 330. Extent of Slave Trade, 330. Shay's Rebellion, 330. First Practical 
American Steamboat, 332. Marietta, O., Founded, 334. John Ledyard, 335. Constitu- 
tion of United States, 335. Queen City, 342 . The Doctors' Mob, 342. First Dentist, 

343. First Presidential Campaign, 343. Ethan Allen, 343. The Tammany Society, 

344. First Revenue Bill, 345. First Temperance Movement, 346. Benjamin Franklin, 
347. Gen. Israel Putnam, 348. Maple Sugar, 350. John Sears' Folly, 350. Yankee 
Enterprise, 351. First Census, 351. St. Clair's Defeat, 352. First Internal Taxation, 
353. Paul Jones, 353. The White House, 355. Canal Enterprise, 355. Postal Rates, 

356. Second Presidential Campaign, 356. Democratic Clubs, 357. Roger Sherman, 

357. John Hancock, 35S. Whitney's Cotton Gin, 359. First Spanish Merinoes, 359. 
Richard Henry Lee, 360. Whisky Insurrection, 361. Baron Steuben, 361. First 
Cotton Sewing Thread, 362. Francis Marion, 363. Treaty with vVlgiers, 364. First 
Scientific School, 364. Revolt of the Maroons, 365. Anthony Wayne, 365. French 
Depredations, 366. First Propellor, 366. Third Presidential Campaign, 366. The X. 
Y. Z. Mission, 367. Cast Iron Plow, 368. Alien and Sedition Laws, 368. Patrick 
Henry, 370. George Washington, 371. First Vaccination, 375. House Tax Insurrec- 
tion, 375. 

SECTION XVI. 

THE AWAKENED CONTINENT. 376-426 

1S00-1824. 

Congressional Library, 376. Second Census, 377, First College Paper, 377. Fourth 
Presidential Campaign, 377. Benedict Arnold, 378. West Point Academy, 380. Daniel 
Morgan, 380. Louisiana Purchase, 381. Samuel Adams, 381. Proposed Mississippi 
Steamboat, 382. Decatur's Achievement, 383. Alexander Hamilton, 383. Fifth Presi- 
dential Campaign, 385. First Fine Broadcloth, 385. William Moultrie, 386. Horatio 
Gates, 386. Henry Knox, 387. First Cargo of Ice, 388. First Trade Union Contest, 
388. Aaron Burr's Trial, 3S9. Fulton's Triumph, 389. First Temperance Society, 390. 
Prison Ship Victims, 391. Sixth Presidential Campaign, 391. First Modern Sunday 
Schools, 392. First Mexican Uprising, 392. Third Census, 394. First Blood in Chili, 
394. Breech-loading Rifle, 395. Declaration of War, 396. Surrender of Detroit, 397 
Joel Barlow, 398. Seventh Presidential Campaign, 399. Uncle Sam, 399. "Don't give 
up the Ship," 401. Perry's Victory, 402. Tecumseh, 402. The First Stereotyping, 403. 
Battle of Lundy's Lane, 405. Burning of Washington, 405. The Star Spangled 
Banner, 406. First Mexican Constitution, 407. The Hartford Convention, 407. Finan- 
cial Panic, 40S. Battle of New Orleans, 409. Eighth Presidential Campaign, 411. 
First Remington Rifle, 411. First Asylum for Deaf Mutes, 412. The Shoe-Peg, 414. 
First Horse-race, 414. Florida Purchase, 414. First Odd-Fellow Lodge, 415. First 
Atlantic Steam Voyage, 416. Missouri Compromise, 417. Stephen Decatur, Jr., 417. 
Daniel Boone, 418. Ninth Presidential Campaign, 419. Fourth Census, 419. Great 
Financial Distress, 421. John Stark, 422. Monroe Doctrine, 423. South American 
Independence, 425. Tenth Presidential Campaign, 425. 



COJVTENTS. XXV 



PART V. 



Political Development, 427-538. 

1825-1859. 



SECTION XVII. 

THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 429-48^ 

1S25-1844. 

First Reform School, 429. New Haven Blue Laws, 430. Thomas Jefferson, 431. John 
Adams, 433. The Willey Disaster, 435. Political Anti-Masonry, 436. First Railway, 
438. Eleventh Presidential Campaign, 439. John Jay, 440. Rotation in Office, 440. 
Silk Mania, 441. Great Debate in the Senate, 442. First Regular Mormon Church, 
443. First Steam Locomotive, 444. Fifth Census, 444. James Monroe, 446. Asiatic 
Cholera, 449. Twelfth Presidential Campaign, 450. McCormick's Reaper, 453. Tee- 
totalism, 454. First Sewing Machine, 455. Moras Multicaulis Mania, 455. Great 
Fire in New York, 457. Colt's Revolving Fis-earms, 45S. David Crockett, 459. Simon 
Kenton, 459. James Madison, 460. Aaron Burr, 462. Daniel Webster's Great Plow, 
463. Thirteenth Presidential Campaign, 463. Panic of 1837, 464. Murder of Love- 
joy, 465. Osceola, 466. F'ifteen Gallon Law, 467. Black Hawk, 46S. First Goodyear 
Patent, 469. Origin of Express Business, 470. First Normal School, 470. First Ship- 
ment of Wheat from Chicago, 470. The Amistad Captives, 471. Fourteenth Presi- 
dential Campaign, 473. William Henry Harrison, 474. Revolving Turret Model, 475. 
First Steam Fire Engine, 476. William E. Channing, 477. Dorr's Rebellion, 478. 
Bunker Hill Monument, 481. Millerism, 482. Success with the Telegraph, 482. Fif- 
teenth Presidential Campaign, 484. Fourierism, 484. 



SECTION XVIII. 

THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 485-53S 

1 84 5- 1 859. 

Franklin's Last Voyage, 485. Andrew Jackson, 4S6. First Regular Regatta, 487. Copper 
Fever, 488. Petroleum, 489. First Blood in Mexican War, 489. Volunteers, 490. 
The Wilmot Proviso, 491. First Success with Ether, 491. First Isthmus Steamers, 493. 
Treaty of Hidalgo, 495. The California Gold Fever, 495. John Quincy Adams, 496. 
Spirit-Rappings, 497. Astor Library, 497. Free-Soil Party, 498. Sixteenth Presiden- 
tial Campaign, 499. Bloomerism, 499. James K. Polk, 500. Apostle of Temperance, 
501. John C. Calhoun, 502. Zachary Taylor, 504. The Fugitive Slave Law, 505. 
Seventh Census, 505. Uncle Tom's Cabin, 506. Northwest Passage, 506. The Yacht 
America, 507. First Cheese Factory, 509. Henry Clay, 510. Daniel Webster, 512. 
First Street P.ailway, 513. Seventeenth Presidential Campaign, 514. Kansas Nebraska 



AAV/ CONTENTS. 

Bill, 515. Successful Whaling, 515. Paper Collars, 515. Present Fire Service, 515. 
Insurance Company Swindle, 516. Great Fire at Quebec, 516. Birth of Republican 
Party, 516. San Salvador Destroyed, 517. First Railroad in Brazil, 51S. First Kero- 
sene Oil Company, 518. Lieut Strain's Isthmus Exploration, 518. Ost.<aiid Manifesto, 
518. First Train on Panama Railroad, 519. Plan of Ayutla, 519. Bleeding Kansas, 519. 
Dr. E. K. Kane, 520. Filibusterism, 520. Law of Juarez, 521. American Reapers, 521. 
The Associated Press, 521. Know Nothing Convention, 522. Mormon Troubles, 522. 
Assault on Sumner, 522. Political Conventions, 523. The Sewing Machine War, 523. 
Eighteenth Presidential Campaign, 523. Kansas War, 524. The Sorghum Mania, 524. 
California Vigilance Committee, 524. First Black Hawk Horse, 524. The Heaviest 
Man, 525. New Constitution of Mexico, 525. Dred Scott Decision, 525. Panic of 
1S57, 527. Great Revival, 527. Kansas Troubles, 527. Fenianism, 52S. Central 
Park, N. Y., 529. Mexican Troubles, 529. British Columbia, 530 Atlantic Cable, 
530. Parker Cleaveland, 531. First Sleeping Car, 531. William H. Prescott, 532. 
Rufus Choate, 534. Horace Mann, 534. John Brown's Raid, 535. Washington Irving, 
537. Great Comstock Lode, 537. Oil Fever, 53S. Colorado Potato Beetle, 538. 



PART VI. 



National Crises, 539-678, 

1860-1868. 



SECTION XIX. 

THE RESORT TO ARMS. 541-598- 

1860-1S62. 

Pemberton Mill Horror, 541. Anna Dickinson's First Speech, 542. Covode Investigation, 542. 
Japanese Embassy, 542. Democratic Convention, 543. Pony Express, 543. Theodore 
Parker, 543. Political Conventions, 544. Great Eastern, 544. Prince of Wales in 
America, 545. Nineteenth Presidential Campaign, 546. Revolutionary Message of 
President Buchanan, 546. Secession of South Carolina, 546. Eighth Census, 546. 
The Parrott Gun, 547. First Act of War, 547. Victory of Juarez, 547. Confederate 
Stales of America, 54S. Proclamations, 550. Bloodshed in Baltimore, 550. Loyalty 
of West Virginia, 550. Sewell's Point Conflict, 551. Occupation of Arlington 
Heights, 551. Contraband of War, 552. Acquia Creek, 552. Fairfax Court House, 
552. Philijipi, 553. Stephen A. Douglas, 553. Pig Point, 554. Little Bethel, 554. 
Big Bethel, 554. Romney Bridge, 555. Booneville, 555. Matthias Point, 555. Falling 
Waters, 556. Carthage, 556. Rich Mountain, Va., 556. Carrick's Ford. 557. Vienna, 
557. Bull Run, 558. Capture of the Petrel, 559. Invasion of Illinois Checked, 559. 
Grand Army of the Potomac, 559. Dug Springs, Mo., 559. Army Rations, 560. 
Wilson's Creek, Mo., 560. Blockade of Hatteras Inlet, 561. Carnifex Ferry, 561. 



CONTENTS. XX VII 

Capture of Lexington, Mo., 562. Decisive South American Battle, 562. Events on 
Gulf Coast, 563. Ball's Bluff, 563. The Trent Affair, 566. A Mistaken Proclamation, 
566. The Stone Fleet, 567. Dranesville, Va., 567. Web Printing Press, 567. Shoddy, 
56S. First Iron-Clad Rams, 568. Rarev, the Horse Tamer, 568. Prestonburg, Ky., 
568. John Tyler, 569. Mill Spring, 569. Fort Henry Captured, 570. Burnside's 
Roanoke Expedition, 570. Fort Donelson, 571. Mashville Panic, 571. Expedition to 
New Orleans, 572. Confederate Privateers, 572. Pea Ridge, Mo., 572. Bell-metal 
for Cannon, 573. Merrimac and Monitor, 573. New Madrid, 575. New Berne, 575. 
Shiloh or Pittsburgh Landing, 576. Island No. 10, 577. Mitchell's Cavalry Raid, 577. 
War Upon Mexico, 57S. Capture of New Orleans, 578. Fort Macon, 579. Evacuation 
of Yorktown, 579. Williamsburg, 580. Capture of Norfolk, 5S0. Fort Pillow, 5S1. 
Butler's Woman Order, 581. Army Medical Museum, 581. Winchester, 581. Han- 
over Court House, 582. Fair Oaks, 582. Stuart's Raid, 5S3. Oak Grove, 583. Me- 
chanicsville, 583. Malvern Hills, 584. Guerilla Warfare, 585. Colored Troops, 585. 
National Cemeteries, 585. Exchangeof Prisoners, 585. Martin Van Buren, 5S6. Cedar 
Mountain, 587. Groveton, 5S8. Second Battle of Bull Run, 588. Bragg's Invasion, 
588. Carlos Antonio Lopez, 589. South Mountain, 590. Antietam, 590. Corinth, 591. 
Bragg's Invasion of Tennessee, 592. Butler superseded by Banks, 593. Prairie Grove, 
Ark., 594. Fredericksburg, 594. Murfreesboro', 596. Greenbacks, 597. Gatling Gun, 
597. The War in Mexico, 597. 

SECTION XX. 

THE RETURN TO PEACE. 599-67^ 

1S63-1868. 

Emancipation Proclamation, 599. Dr. Lyman Beecher, 601. Banks' Raid in Western 
Louisiana, 601. Good for Evil, 602. The Sioux War, 602. The Impostor Gunboat, 602. 
Banks at the Red River, 603. The Veteran Reserve Corps, 603. The Responsive 
Chord, 603. Port Gibson, 604. Chancellorsville, 604. Stoneman's Cavalry Raid, 605. 
Vallandigham's Arrest, 605. Colombian Constitution, 606. Draft Difficulties, 6c6. 
Stonewall Jackson, 606. Big Black River, 608. French in City of Mexico, 608. Lee's 
Second Invasion, 608. Gettysburg, 609. Vicksburg, 611. Surrender of Port Hudson, 
612. Mexico an Empire, 613. Draft Riot in New York, 613. Sam Houston, 614. 
Capture of Morgan, 614. Quantrell's Raid, 614. Siege of Charleston, 615. Chicka- 
mauga, 615. Bristow Station, 616. Military Affairs in the West, 617. Beecher in Eng- 
land, 617. Boston Music Hall Organ, 61S. Lincoln's Gettysburg Speech, 618. Chat 
tanooga, 619. Andersonville, 620. Close of Siege of Knoxville, 620. A Monster Can- 
non, 621. The Eureka Mower, 621. Sherman's March Through Mississippi. 621. 
Wistar's Raid, 622. Florida Expedition, 622. Kilpatrick's Raid, 622. First Accident 
Insurance, 622. Thomas Starr King, 623. Red River Expedition, 623. Massacre of 
Fort Pillow, 624. Battle of the Wilderness, 624. Sheridan's Raid toward Richmond, 
625. Spottsylvania Court House, 625. Nathaniel Hawthorne, 626. Radical Conven- 
tion, 626. Cold Harbor, 626. Emperor Maximilian 1,627. Alabama and Kearsage, 627. 
Attack on Petersburg, 628. Important Congressional Action, 629. Early's Raid in the 
North Checked, 629. Peace Attempts, 630. Hall's Second Arctic Trip, 630. Cham- 
bersburg, Pa., Burned, 630. Mine Explosion at Petersburg, 630. Blockade of Mobile 
Port, 631. Seizure of Weldon Railway, 631. Capture of Atlanta by Sherman, 631. 
Papal Nuncio to Mexico, 632. Capture of the Florida, 632. Roger B. Taney, 632. 
Sheridan's Campaign, 633. Last Invasion of Missouri, 633. Twentieth Presidential 
Campaign, 634. Sherman's March to the Sea, 634. Henry R. Schoolcraft, 634. Pull- 
man Cars, 635. Insurrections in South America, 635. Grasshopper Depredations, 636. 
Edward Everett, 636. Fort Fisher, 637. The Thirteenth Amendment, 637. Sherman's 



j: XV 2 II CONTENTS. 

March Through the CaroHnas, 63S. The Freedman's Bureau, 638. Averasboro, 639. 
Fort Steadman, 639. Five Forks, 640. Capture of Petersburg and Richmond, 640. 
Lee's Surrender, 641. Lincohi's Last Speech, 642. Assassination of Lincoln, 643. At- 
tempt upon Seward, 643. Abraham Lincoln, 644. Death of Booth, 651. Johnston's 
Surrender, 651. South American Alliance, 651. Proclamation of Rewards, 651. 
Jefferson Davis Captured, 652. Last Battle, 652. Disbanding of the Army, 652. Pay 
Department, 653. Army Medical Department, 653. Sanitary Commission, 653. Chris- 
tian Commission, 654. The Shenandoah, 655. Execution of Assassins, 655. Execution 
of Wirz, 656. Thomas Corwin, 656. Soldiers' Homes, 657. Virginia City, Nevada, 657. 
Patao-onian Colony, 657. Eliphalett Nott, 658. Valparaiso, Chili, Bombarded, 659. 
Civil Rights Bill, 659. Gen. Scott, 659. Fenian Raid on Canada, 660. Fourteenth 
Amendment, 661. Lewis Cass, 661. Portland, Me., Burned, 661 Great Trip up the 
Yukon, 661. Successful Atlantic Cable, 662. Agassiz's Amazon Trip, 662. Swinging 
Around the Circle, 663. Impeachment Proposed, 664. N. P. Willis, 664. A. D. Bache, 
665. Chicago Water Works, 666. British North American Act, 666. Capture and 
Execution of Maximilian, 667. Purchase of Alaska, 667. Haydn Surveys, 667. Elias 
Howe, 668. John A. Andrew, 669. Fitz-Greene Halleck, 669. Patrons of Husbandry, 
670. Sluyvesant Pear Tree, 670. Peruvian Revolution, 671. Ku-Klux Klan, 671. 
Impeachment of Johnson, 672. James Buchanan, 673. Indiana Vigilance Committee, 
674. Thaddeus Stevens, 675. Violent Earthquake, 676. Outbreak of Cuban Revolu- 
tion, 677. Twenty-First Presidential Campaign, 677. Jefferson Davis Discharged, 678. 



--0— e»<»e— o- 



PART ¥11. 



Present Development. 679. 

1869-1881. 



SECTION XXI. 

THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAY. 6S1-776 

1S69— 1876. 

John Cassin, 682. The Fifteenth Amendment. 682. James Harper, 682. Fire in Comstock 
Lode, 683. Cuban Constitution, 6S4. Board of Indian Commissioners, 684. Pacific 
Railroad Opened, 6S4. Powell's Colorado Expedition, 685. First Peace Jubilee, 685. 
Henry J. Raymond, 6S5. Expedition for Cuba, 686. French Cable, 686. William Pitt 
Fessenden, 688. Black Friday, 688. Franklin Pierce, 689. George Peabody, 689. 
Shooting of A. D. Richardson, 690. Edwin M. Stanton, 691. Troubles in Hayli, 692. 
First Colored U. S. Senator. 693. Anson Burlingame, 693. Francisco S. Lopez, 694. 
George H. Thomas, 695. Emma Willard, 696. Rebellion in Argentine Republic, 697. 
San Domingo, 698. Admiral Dahlgren, 698. The Nathan Murder, 699. Admiral 
Farragut, 700. Insurrection in Peru, 701 Gen. Robert E. Lee, 701. Great Earth- 
quake, 703. First Narrow Gauge Railroad, 703. Ninth Census, 703. Isthmus Ex- 



CONTENTS. 



XXIX 



ploration, 704. George Ticknor, 704. War Between Honduras and San Salvador, 705. 
U. S. Fish Commission, 705. Alice Carj, 705. Treaty of Washington, 706. Civil Service 
Reform, 706. Stanley and Livingstone 706. Ku-Klux Bill, 707. Corean War, 707. 
Phoebe Carj, 70S. Whaling Disaster, 70S. Forest Fires and Burning of Chicago, 709. 
Gen. Anderson, 709. Thomas Ewing, 710. Tammany Ring Broken up, 710. Grand 
Duke Alexis, 711. S. F. B. Morse, 714. James Gordon Bennett, 715. Benito Juarez, 717. 
The Metis Disaster, 719. W. H. Seward, 720. San Juan Boundary, 722. Gen. Meade, 
723. Great Boston Fire, 723. Horace Greeley, 724. Edwin Forrest, 726. Eight-Hour 
Movement, 727. Credit Mobilier Exposure, 729. Salary Grab, 729. Modoc Massacre, 
730. Salmon P. Chase, 731. The Panic of '73, 734. The Virginius Affair, 735. Hoosac 
Tunnel, 736. Polaris Survivors, 737. The Telephone, 73S. Woman's Crusade, 739. 
Charles Sumner, 740. Charley Ross, 743. Louisiana Embroglio, 746. Emma Mine 
Scandal, 747. Beecher Trial, 74S. Pacific Mail, 756. Spelling Mania, 750. Whiskey 
Ring War, 751. First Red Ribbon, 754. W. C. Ralston, 75S. Fast Mail, 759. Henry 
Wilson, 761. Tweed's Escape, 762. Belknap's Exposure, 767. Centennial, 76S. Santa 
Anna, 770. First Cremation, 776. 



SECTION XXII. 

THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 

1S77-1SS1. 



777-S56 



Electoral Commission, 778. John D. Lee executed, 779. Parson Brownlow, 781. John L. 
Motley, 783. Mollie Maguires, 785. Robert Dale Owen, 785. Great Railroad Strikes, 
786. Brigham Young, 788. Oliver P. Morton, 791. Samuel Bowles, 794. Silver Bill, 
795. Great Defalcations, 797. Savings Bank Panic, 79S. William C. Bryant, 799. Sutro 
Tunnel, 801. Great Heat, S02. Kearneyism, 803. The Plague of '78, 804. Bayard 
Taylor, 806. Father Purcell's Failure, 807. Phonograph, 808. Resumption, S08. The 
Learned Blacksmith, 811. Negro Exodus, 812. Ponca Troubles, 813. W. L. Garri- 
.son, 816. The Uncle Sam, 820. Reform of Oneida Community, S21. Gen. John B. 
Hood, 822. The Ute Outbreak, 823. Gen. Joseph Hooker, 824. Zachariah Chandler, 825. 
Prostrate Peru, 827. Troubles in Mexico, 82S. A Great Inventor, 829. Maine Election, 
830. West Point Outrage, 834. Dr. Tanner's Fast, 838. Fast Trotting, 839. Chief 
Ouray, 840. The Morey Letter, 844. Garfield Campaign, 846. Fall of Lima, 851. 
Egyptian Obelisk, 852. Mentor, S55. Garfield's Cabinet, 856. 





LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Abraham Lincoln, steel plate Frontispiece 

Passion Flower of Peru VIII _ 

Landscape XXXII 

Grave Creek Mound, W. Va 38 

Sepulchral Urn from Laporte, Ind - 40 

Ancient Works at Marietta, Ohio 41 

Copper Implements 45 

Stone Axes 46 

Sculptured Pipe 46 

Cloth from Ohio Mounds 47 

Ancient Idol and Altar at Copan 48 

Ancient Vessel from New Mexico 49 V 

Ancient Ruin in Yucatan 50 

Ruin at Tuloom in Yucatan , 52 

Indian Bag, Drum, etc q? "' 

Indian Weapons 58^ '^ 

Crow Chief in Full Dress 61 

Scalp Stretched to Dry 62 

An Indian Dance 64 

Squaw and Child .... 65 

Medicine Men 67 

Sun Worship by Coroados in Brazil. Full page. 69^ 

Half Breed 71 

Tomahawk... 72 . 

Christopher Columbus So 

Codfishing on Newfoundland Banks. Full page 91^/ 

Cape Horn 106 ■/ 

Jacques Cartier 11 1 

De Soto's March 114 

Sir Martin Frobisher 129 - 



L IS T OF ILL US TRA TIONS. XXXI 

Sir Walter Raleigh Smoking 13^ 

Pocahontas 139 

Capt. Smith and the Compass 141 

The First Indian Toper 143 

Landing of the Pilgrims 151 

Front of Cathedral of Mexico. Full page 196'^ 

Canadian Trapper 198^ 

Marquette Descending the Mississippi 200 ' 

Peter Stuyvesant 208 

Indian Attack 215 

Mrs. Dustin and the Indians 221 

Scold Gagged 24S 

Removing Cannon from the Battery 285 ' 

The Stolen March 297^'' 

Gen. Bcrgoyne 303 

Vale of Wyoming. Full page 307 -"■ 

Washington's Army Chest 323 / 

A Revolutionary Flag Z-S 

Benjamin Franklin 3-17 

Paul Jones 354 

Ge&rge Washington 37^ 

Washington's Sword and Cane 375'*^ 

Benedict Arnold 378 "^ 

Mormon Characters 443 . 

Andrew Jackson 486 

John C. Calhoun y^'}, 

Henry Clay 51°^ 

Daniel Webster 5'- v\,' 

Cypress (3rove in Mexico. Full page 526-"^'^ 

Jefferson Davis 55^ 

Benjamin F. Butler 593 

Stonewall Jackson Praying 607 

William T. Sherman 683 v 

Devil's Castle, East G r eenland. Full page 687 -"'V 

Robert E. Lee 702 ^ 

Horace Greeley 724 

First Steamer on Orinoco .» 72S • — 




A-ll otir sun and starligJit Jicrc^ 
Voices of our lost ones sounding 
Bid us he of heart and cheer ^ 
Through the silence^ dozvn the spaces 
failing on the inzvard ear. 

" Let us draxv their mantles o^er us 
Which have fallen in our ivay ; 
Let us do the xvork before us 

Cheerly^ bravely., zvhile zvc niav.. 
Ere the long night-silence Cometh.^ and 
with us it is not day.'''' 

VVHITTIER 



PART I. 



IilT^ODHCTo^Y Studies. 




« Word/ess moans the onciciit j)inc ; 
Lake and viountain give no sign ; 

Vain to trace this ri)ig of stones ; 

Vain the search of crnmbling bones j 
Deepest of all mysteries 
And the saddest, si/ence is. 
******* 

IVhat stranoe shore or chart/ess sea 
Holds the azifnl mystery. 
******* 

Therefore icell may nature keep 
Equal faith icith all ivho sleep. 

Set her watch of hills around 

Christian grave and heathen mound. '' 

WHITTIER. 



SECTION I. 



THE antiquities of America do not 
' yield in interest to those of any 
other part of tlie world. There is 
a certain fascination in finding 
within the limits of what is known as the 
New World, relics which take us back 
into previous ages, and assert that the 
human life of the continent dates from a 
remote period. The number and activity 
of those who are engaged in this delight- 
ful study, ai^e daily increasing. The 
scientific collections of the country are 
daily enlarging their lists of prehistoric 
treasures. In certain sections many j^er- 
sons may with ease become collectors of 
specimens, and add something to the gen- 
eral fund of knowledge relating to the 
life and civilization of prehistoric races 
upon the American continent. A piece 
of broken pottery with a glaze or a figure 
upon its surface, a mound and an inclos- 
ure thrown up regularly in perfect 
mathematical figures, an arrow-head 
picked out from its bed among the re- 
mains of the mastodon, and hundreds of 
other things turned up in the cultivation 
of the soil, or in excavations for mining 
purposes, speak eloquently of forgotten 
peoples and prehistoric times. Every 
record obtained is an unintentional one, so 



far as the persons who left it were con- 
cerned. The study has most literally to 
do with remains, and remains only. This 
gives a peculiar zest to the work. The 
reconstruction of customs and thoughts 
and pursuits which have long ago disap- 
peared from the face of the earth, and are 
now known only by their partial and de- 
caying products carelessl}'' thrown up from 
the soil, or uncoveretl amid the tangle of 
almost impenetrable forests, may well 
serve as a problem which shall rest and 
calm the mind when it is at times worn 
with the press and labor of the j^i'esent 
day. 

In Europe the discoveries which bear 
upon the antiquity of the human race, 
are greatly more numerous than the 
same kind of discoveries in America. 
The ancient things of historic times, 
which were formerly worshiped for their 
age, are young, compared with some of 
these prehistoric revelations. Much more 
evidence will doubtless be gained in many 
sections of the Old World, which have 
not yet yielded up their treasures. Lake 
dwellings, shell heaps, and bone caves, 
abound in relics from which the story of 
former days is drawn by a close scrutiny. 
Yet enousfh scattered hints have been 



36 

gleaned from the soil of America to 
show that when our country becomes 
more fully investigated, there will be 
found here also rich evidences which 
will delight and reward the faithful stu- 
dent. The reality of the testimony to 
be obtained has been already very clearly 
demonstrated. 

There is, then, a real prehistoric Amer- 
ica which divides itself very naturally into 
two portions. The first portion is that to 
which the isolated relics which have been 
found here and there upon the continent 
relate, and which is much the older of the 
two. The evidences bearing upon this, 
so tar as man is concerned, are too meager 
to permit the drawing of any certain con- 
clusions. The remains of prehistoric ani- 
mals have been found in considerable 
abundance. Well-preserved skeletons of 
ancient mammoths are from time to time 
discovered, and are put into the museums 
of the country to astonish us by their 
gigantic size. But the remains which 
point unequivocally to the remote an- 
tiquity of man upon the continent, are 
comparatively few. Almost all of them 
require verification. It is a dithcult work 
to draw correct conclusions froin the po- 
sition in which a single human cranium 
has been found. There are many excep- 
tional geological changes which may have 
been in some respects quite the opposite 
of that which they are confidently 
affirmed to have been. The deposition 
of soil by a river at its mouth, the decay 
of different substances in different kinds 
of soil and at different times, the position 
of the bones of the human skeleton in 
deep strata of the earth or in caves, the 
mingling together of them with the bones 
of extinct animals, and many other ever- 
present problems, require a flexible judg- 
ment in their examination, that the cir- 



INTRODUCTORT STUDIES. 



cumstances of one age may not be 
heedlessly fixed upon another age. Hu- 
man skulls have been found, it is asserted, 
and probably with truth, in the bone 
caves of Brazil with the remains of ani- 
mals no longer known upon the earth. 
Relics of pottery have been found in the 
coast terraces of Ecuador, in what is 
thought by some to be a very old deposit. 
A skull was claimed to have been taken 
more than ten years ago from a mining 
shaft near Angeles, Calaveras County, 
California, at a depth of one hundred and 
fifty feet. Implements of unknown use 
have been found in the gravel deposits of 
California at a depth of thirty feet or 
more. A few years ago a piece of bas- 
ket-matting was found on Petit Anse Isl- 
and, Vermillion Bay, Louisiana, below 
the remains of a fossil elephant. A 
human skeleton was found in excavating 
for the foundations of gas works at New 
Orleans, at a depth of sixteen feet, be- 
neath the remains of four successive 
cypress forests. Dr. Dowler assumes 
an age of 14,400 years for it. The pelvic 
bone of a human being was found near 
Natchez by Dr. Dickeson, in such a po- 
sition as to affirm, at first, a great age. 
Human remains have been found with 
the remains of extinct animals elsewhere 
along the Mississippi Valley. In 1839 
the remains of a mastodon were found in 
Gasconade County, Missouri, partially 
consumed by fire, which was supposed to 
have been kindled by human beings for 
the purpose of destroying the animal 
after it had been mired by its own weight 
in a swamp. Other evidences of the 
presence of man were found in the same 
place. At different times, arrow-heads 
and implements, and portions of skele- 
tons, have been found in geological posi- 
tions, which seem to teach a high an- 



PREHISTORIC AMERICA. 



37 



tiquity. Each of these asserted " finds " 
is made the pivot upon which a theory 
is hinged. But the discoveries have not 
been numerous enough in the same sec- 
tion or same deposit to make the verdict 
in any of the cases an entirely conclusive 
one. Often a single witness is the only 
one who can testify concerning the relic 
or relics. It is no depreciation of any 
witness to say that for scientific purposes 
this is not sufficient. In all other depart- 
ments we rigidly demand a great number 
of experiments, and an exact agreement 
of witnesses. Very frequently the geo- 
logical age of a discovery is disputed by 
different scientists, even when it is ac- 
knowledged to be authentic. Until, 
then, similar remains are found in other 
sections in positions to make the conclu- 
sion a decisive one by the weight of evi- 
dence, the most that can be said is, that 
the present state of the testimony carries 
back human life upon this continent some- 
where into the age of prehistoric animals, 
without revealing to us anything of the 
life and government of the period. We 
cannot make a people out of the present 
scattered fragments. All we can do is to 
grope back into the almost utter darkness 
with blinded eyes and blundering hands. 
But the prehistoric age of America in- 
cludes a second and later period, the re- 
mains of which are much more abund- 
ant and conclusive. We step aside from 
the puzzling questions of earlier life, to 
trace the life, government, customs, man- 
ufactures, of nations once filling a large 
portion of the New World. Here is a 
work of great distinctness and of peculiar 
pleasure, arising from the accessibility, ex- 
tent, and nature, of the object of study. 
To gaze upon these mute legacies 
which have come down to us out of the 
past, is like stepping into some place 



where the stillness is oppressive. The 
silence of the deepest forest solitude is 
totally unequal to the silence of a place 
where we know that human beings have 
been, and human voices have spoken. 
Vacant rooms with dusty furniture and 
echoing walls testify very minutely of the 
ones who have occupied them. The 
quality, position, and wear, of each article 
speak volumes concerning the character, 
tastes, and education,of the ones who have 
used it. To wisely discriminate the les- 
sons to be learned, to reject conclusions 
from imperfect data, are processes of great 
delicacy, and require the utmost care. 
Every possible trace of life must be gath- 
ered. The positions and kinds of earth- 
works, the age of trees and the depth of 
mould upon the banks, the apparent use 
of fire in the making of pottery or in the 
celebration of sacred rites, the smallest 
bits of wrought clay, half-burned shreds 
of cloth, pictured walls, sculptured stone, 
buildings matted with vegetation, and the 
crumbling skeletons which drop to dust 
upon exposure to the air, all require care- 
ful study and wise judgment. The dull 
dead things which were ages ago sur- 
rounded by a busy life, will reveal their 
secrets only to the true worker. 

The prehlstoi'ic people who have left 
their works very abundantly throughout 
the present territory of the United States, 
are now known as the Mound Builders. 
This simple name designates a large, 
powerful and mtelligent population once 
occupying the great central valleys of the 
land. Any one can heap up dirt, and yet 
under this term lie many questions of 
character and civilization. Their re- 
mains have not been traced north of the 
Great Lakes or within the Atlantic States, 
except in a few doubtful instances. They 
fill the Central States up and down the 



38 



INTRODUCTORT STUDIES. 



Ohio and Mississippi Valleys and are 
found in traces in certain States which 
border upon this section. 

The works left by this people vary in 
character. Prominent in the list and the 
special cause of bestowing the name, are 
mounds. One of the few individual 
mounds most worthy of mention, which 
has been called the "monarch of all such 
structures in the United States " stands on 
the plain of Cahokia, east of the Missis- 
sippi River at St. Louis, and within the 
present State of Illinois. A careless ob- 
server might pass it as a small hill, but a 
quick glance would assure one of its arti- 
ficial position 

a n d r c g u 1 a r ^tt- 

form. It is al- ^^ ^ 

most exactly of 
a rectangular 
shape. Its slopes 
and angles are 
weather - worn, 
but essential- 
ly true. The 
mound is seven 
h u n d r e d fe et 
long and five 
hundred feet wide, and rises to a level of 
ninety feet above the base. The ascent is 
made at one side to a terrace one hundred 
and sixty feet by three hundred in extent, 
and thence to the summit platform, which 
is two hundred feet by four hundred and 
fift}'. A conical mound about ten feet 
high stood at one point upon the highest 
platform. In this were found bones, 
vases,and stone implements. The struc- 
ture covers eight acres and contains 
nearly twenty millions cubic feet of earth, 
a vast inass to be collected into one 
gigantic pile. Most mounds are smaller, 
although there are others which nearly 
equal this one. There were at least two 




UV. \\ F CKCHv MOl ND, \\ tST \ IKCIM \. 

[Foster's Prehistoric R:icesl. 



hundred of all sizes within the same sec- 
tion of Illinois. Large numbers of 
mounds were removed in building the 
great city of St. Louis, in Missouri, for 
which reason it is known as the " Mound 
City." At Miamlsburg, Ohio, was a 
great circular mound eight hundred and 
fifty-two feet in circumference, and sixty- 
eight feet high. At Grave Creek in 
Virginia there was another circular 
mound about one thousand feet in circum- 
ference, and seventy feet high. At a 
very thorough examination of it made 
forty years ago by running shafts into it, 
two burial ^ aults were found, one in the 
_ very base of the 

=-*^^^ structure, con- 

taining two 
skeletons, and 
another thirty 
feet higher in 
the mound con- 
taining one skel- 
eton. The vaults 
were formed of 
upright timbers 
with beams laid 
across the top 
to supjDort the roof. Several thousand shell 
beads, together with mica and copper 
ornaments, and a few carved stone ob- 
jects, were found in the two vaults. The 
most of these objects were in the upper 
vault with the single skeleton. A stone 
with an inscription in odd characters upon 
it has been exhibited as having been 
found in the excavation, but it is thought 
by a large number to be a fraud. It is 
of no certain value. At Scltzertown, 
Mississippi, was a mound covering nearly 
six acres. It was six hundred feet long 
and four hundred feet wide. The sum- 
mit, which contained four acres, was forty 
feet above the base, and upon it stood 



PREHISTORIC AMERICA. 



39 



three conical mounds, one at each end, 
and one in the middle. One of these 
cones was forty feet high, the others were 
slightly less. There were traces of eight 
other mounds upon this extensive summit 
area which was I'eached by a graded 
way up the side. Skeletons, pieces of 
pottery and vases which had evidently 
been used in offerings, were found within 
the small mounds. The north wall of 
the large mound was partially held in 
place by sun-dried brick filled with 
rushes, leaves and grass, to a thickness of 
two feet. At some points marks of hu- 
man hands are said to have been visible 
where the brick was pressed to its shape. 
Other cases of this wall building have 
been found, but no signs of the use of fire 
are visible upon any of them. The 
mounds above mentioned are among the 
best known, because of their size. But 
through those same regions are thousands 
of smaller ones which are no less charac- 
teristic, though not so large. In Ohio 
alone it is estimated that there are ten 
thousand of these structures. In Wiscon- 
sin there are hundreds upon hundreds of 
them, .having a peculiar character con- 
fined mostly to the mounds of that State. 
They bear a stamp of their own in that 
many of them are in the shape of some 
animal or bird. A few instances of the 
form of a man have been discovered. 
The outlines are rude, but the intentions 
are visible. One of the most noticeable 
is what is known as the Turtle Mound at 
Waukesha, the body of which is fifty-six 
feet long and the tail two hundred and 
fifty feet. It is raised about six feet above 
the earth. Many curious forms are found 
in all parts of the State rising from one to 
four feet above the surface of the earth, or 
hollowed out v/ithin the soil. There are 
birds with long extended wings, and rep- 



tiles with a total length of one hundred 
to four hundred feet. Many of these 
mounds have been destroyed in order 
that houses might be built, or in the culti- 
vation of farms. But they are still found 
around Milwaukee, along the valleys of 
rivers, and upon the borders of the many 
beautiful lakes which fill the State. 
Their situation is almost uniformly cho- 
sen for purposes of elevation and beauty. 
Very few of these animal mounds are 
found elsewhere. In Adams County,. 
Ohio, is a wonderful embankment one 
thousand feet in length running away in 
flowing curves to a threefold coil at the 
end like the coil of a serpent's tail. At 
the other end the ridge divides to a pair 
of jaw^s which are open, and in the act of 
swallowing an oval figure. The oval is 
very nearly perfect in form, being one 
hundred and three feet in one diameter and 
thirty-nine in the other. The embank- 
ment is about five feet high at the center, 
and a little less at the extremities. It is 
about thirty feet wide at its base, and lies 
upon the bank of Brush Creek, occupy- 
ing a sort of long projecting bluff by the 
side of that stream. In Licking County, 
in the same State, there is what is known 
as the Alligator Mound, with a body two 
hundred and fifty feet long and forty feet 
wide, and legs, each thirty-six feet in 
length. The other mounds which have 
been referred to, are of all shapes and 
sizes. They are four, six, eight-sided, 
square, rectangular or circular. Most 
mounds show traces of having been 
ascended by a spiral or a graded path. 
We come to some, square or otherwise^ 
which have a long, inclined bank of earth 
leading from some distance away from 
the base up to the top. We also come to 
others in Mississippi, which are connected 
by long causeways leading from the 



40 



INTRODUCTORY STUDIES 
one mound to the summit of 



summit of 
the next. 

But what were the uses of these struc- 
tures? The answer to this question is in 
some cases very clearly discerned. Many 
of the mounds were undoubtedly sepul- 
chral or mortuary. The remains of hu- 
man bodies are found in them in such po- 
sitions as to indicate that the mounds were 
constructed for their burial. Sepulchral 
urns of considerable beauty are found in 
numbers. Other mounds probably served 




SEPULCHKAL URN FROM LAPOKTE, INDIANA. 

[Foster's Prehistoric Races.] 

as the bases of great temples, which have 
now fallen whollv to dust; or were used 
as platforms for the performance of sac- 
rificial rites, perhaps to elevate the holy 
ceremonies to the view of large multi- 
tudes. In some sections the great public 
buildings or communal dwellings may 
have been situated upon the largest 
plateau mounds. Evidences of this are 
found in Mexico and Central America, 
where the structures upon similar mounds 
were built of more enduring materials 
than were used in the Mississippi Valley. 
There are other elevations which may 
have served as signal or lookout stations. 
They are so situated as to command ex- 
tensive views, and were probably Obser- 
vation Mounds. One of our be.st and 
most enthusiastic students of American 
Archaeoloov thinks that the animal struc- 



tures are the totems of the clans of the 
several regions, and that complete .sys- 
tems of these totem mounds will be dis- 
covered when their relative positions are 
fully investigated. Other puiposes than the 
above may have been served by portions 
of this extensive class of remains. 

Another class of works demands equal 
attention. In exploring the regions where 
the mounds are situated, immense inclos- 
ures reveal themselves. It is estimated 
that there are fifteen hundred ni Ohio 
alone. They consist of embankments of 
earth or stone, often with ditches either 
inside or outside. Near Chillicothe,Ohio, 
are what have been known as the Hope- 
ton Works. There is a circle containing 
twenty acres. Touching one side of the 
circle lies a square, which likewise con- 
tains twenty acres. At the point where 
square and circle meet, two parallel em- 
bankments start, and run for quite a dis- 
tance. Other celebrated inclosures are 
near Newark, Ohio. About one mile 
west of the town is a very extensive sys- 
tem. There is a circle one mile in cir- 
cumference, the embankment being ten 
or twelve feet high, and sloj^ing at an 
angle of forty-five degrees. The summit 
is w^ide enough for one person to walk 
upon. There is an entrance one hundred 
feet wide, from which the walls extend 
in a direct line outwardly, a distance of 
ninety feet, with a height of twenty feet. 
Around the inside of the embankment is 
quite a deep ditch, and on the side next 
the bank is a narrow pavement of cobble 
stones. In the center of the level ground 
within the circle, is a small elevation 
about five feet high, in the form of a bird 
with outstretched wings. A gentleman 
from Newark says that "the whole ap- 
pearance of the structiu-e indicates that 
its form has not materially changed by 



PREHISTORIC AMERICA. 



41 



lapse of time; the angles are sharp and 
clear; and but for the massive trees and 
decayed trunks upon the banks, the visi- 
tor might imagine himself looking upon 
a work of recent date." About half a 
mile from this inclosure is another one. 
There is, as above, a circle nearly as large. 
There is also half a square, the other half 
having been destroyed by the plow. 
The square and the circle are con- 



through the long avenue. From this, an 
entrance was made into the square. 
From the square, the circle's interior was 
hidden because of the breastwork. But 
passing around the breastwork through 
the connecting avenue, passage was made 
into what seems to have been the inmost 
retreat of all. If anything \vas sacred, 
it was within that circle. If there 
\vere any religious rites they were un- 




ANCUlNF WORKb AT MARItTTA, OHIO. 

[Foster's Prehistoric Races.] 



nected by an avenue two hundred or 
more feet long, and one hundred feet 
wide. In the wall of the circle opposite 
the entrance from the square, is a mound 
twenty feet high. Just witliin the square, 
and hiding from any one standing in its 
center the interior of the circle, is a breast- 
work running across the entrance, one 
hundred feet or more in length. Beyond 
the square, two parallel ridges run away 
for nearly three miles. From the arrange- 
ment we judge that the ajDproach was 



doubtedly connected with the circle. At 
Cedar Bank, Ohio, there are thirty-two 
acres inclosed by an embankment inside 
of which is a mound two hundred and 
forty-five feet long, and one hundred and 
fifty feet broad. Near Liberty, Ohio, is 
a series of circles running into each other, 
and covering sixty acres of land. A square 
containing twenty-seven acres, lies in the 
midst of them. Extensive works were 
found between the Ohio and Muskingum 
Rivers, on the site of Marietta, Ohio. 



42 



INTRODUCTORT STUDIES. 



The inclosures covered about seventy-five 
acres in a beautiful situation, and presented 
the features which ha\e ahx-ady been de- 
scribed in connection with other remains, 
except that four mounds in the shape of 
truncated j^yi'amids were within the larg- 
est inclosure. This form is more peculiar 
to the Southern States and Mexico. 
These works were mostly removed in 
founding and building Marietta. Three 
mounds were retained by special arrange- 
ment. Near Randolph, Indiana, is a rec- 
tangular* embankment, with an entrance 
guarded by a ridge which starts from one 
side, runs out in the form of a small 
square, and comes back nearly to the 
other side of the entrance. It forms a 
complete vestibule. Besides these regular 
inclosures, there are upon the summits 
of hills, heavy embankments, evidently 
meant for fortification, and shaped accord- 
ing to the contour of the hill-top. In 
such cases, the entrances are guarded by 
protruding lines which run out from one 
side and the other, alternately, over-lap- 
ping each other, the whole made more 
secure by an outer raised breastwork 
covering the passage-way. Such an one 
is found in Butler County, Ohio, inclosing 
sixteen acres upon the top of a hill, the 
approach to which, along a narrow neck 
of land, is heavily protected in the man- 
ner just indicated. These are a few out 
of the great many inclosures in the 
coinitry, some of which contain as many 
as fourhundi^ed acres each. Except those 
which were for defence, they are in exact 
geometrical figures, showing on the part 
of the builders a desire for regularity, and 
a knowledge of the means by which it 
could be attained. 

In 184S the announcement was first 
made that evidences of ancient copper 
minms: had been discovered in the re- 



gion of Lake Superior. Mr. S. O, 
Knapp, agent of the Minnesota ]Mining 
Company, stated that excavations had 
been found which \vere evidently made 
by human beings at a remote period. 
Upon investigation, numerous pits filled 
Avith leaves and other rubbish were traced 
along the veins of copper at the surface 
of the earth. They very i-eadily es- 
caped attention except by a close scru- 
tiny, but upon being cleaned out, stone 
mauls and other implements were found 
in them. The knowledge concerning 
these pits has been constantly increasing. 
Some are small. Others are very large, 
being fifteen feet deep, and more than a 
hundred feet wide. The deposits within 
them indicate great age. An excavation 
twelve feet deep, fifteen feet high, and 
twenty-five feet long, was found upon the 
side of a bluflf. In front was a large pile 
of excavated rock, some of the pieces of 
^vhich were so large, that they must have 
been removed by means of levers. Large 
blocks of metal, and stone mauls with 
grooves around them, were found. An- 
other excavation, thirty feet deep, and 
partially filled with decayed wood and 
earthy deposits, was discovered. A 
mass of copper weighing nearly six tons, 
was found to have been raised some dis- 
tance above the bottom of the excavation, 
and to be resting upon skids, which were 
evidently adjusted by means of wedges. 
The upper surface of tne mass had been 
thoroughly beaten, and an edge was 
turned down around it. A stone maul, 
weighing thirty-six pounds, and ha\ing a 
double groove around it, was found in the 
debris. Trees were growing in the rub- 
bish and excavated matter, which showed 
an age of three hundred and four hun- 
dred years. These ancient mines will 
probably be found in abundance in por- 



PREHISTORIC AMERICA. 



tions of the forest wliich tlie modern 
miners have not yet penetrated. There 
are no evidences of residence at the mines, 
in the ruins of cities, mounds, or roads. 
But copper, which is known to be Lake 
Superior copper by the spots of silver in 
it, has been found in most of the mounds 
of the Middle and Southern States. It 
seems to have been wrought cold, in every 
instance. It is thought, therefore, that the 
mines must have been w^orked by annual 
expeditions from the warmer regions 
of the South. These mines must have 
been deserted, also, centuries before the 
first Jesuit missionaries visited the region. 
The Indians had a slight amount of cop- 
per in use, but they seemed neither to 
know of these ancient mines, nor how to 
mine in any place. They took only what 
they found lying at hand, upon the surface, 
in places where they stumbled upon it. It 
is now known, also, that the Mound 
Builders mined in North Carolina for the 
mica which is found in large slabs in 
many of their mounds, and seems to have 
had a sacred value in their eyes. The 
present supply of the country is largely 
obtained from the same localities. 

There are several arguments used in 
determining the age of all these works. 
The trees which are found growing upon 
them are carefully studied. Instances of 
trees with two hundred and fifty, three 
hundred and fifty, and even eight hundred 
rings of annual growth, have been found, 
rooted directly in embankments. But 
these aged trees only carry us back to the 
time when the region had become an 
entire wilderness, not to the close of the 
ancient civilization. It has been shown 
that the growth of a forest and the 
changfe of veg-etation would indicate a 
period much greater than the age of any 
single tree now known. In some cases 



43 

evidences of successive generations of 
trees are found in fallen and decaying 
trunks. Many of the mortuary mounds 
have been opened, and portions of skele- 
tons found within them, but in such a con- 
dition as to show great age, often ci^umb- 
ling to dust upon exposure to the air. It 
was formerly stated that no one of these 
remains was to be found upon the lowest 
river-terrace of the present day. But 
this has since been show^n to be a mis- 
take, as traces of mounds are known to 
exist in several such places. This shows 
how cautiously statements must be made 
as to the age and origin of these works. 
Horace Greeley once visited the remains 
near Newark, Ohio, saying before he 
went that he could easily tell by whom and 
when they were built. When he reached 
the spot, he silently surveyed the whole, 
noted the evidence of some kind of 
engineering skill, the correctness of the 
forms, the great trees growing out of the 
ridges, together with fallen and decayed 
ones lying in different directions, and last 
of all, the inside paved ditch. He then 
sat down and wrote a detailed description 
of it for the New York Tribune. Some 
one looked over his shoulder to see what 
explanation he would append to his de- 
scription, and read as follows : " As to 
the origin, by whom built, and for what 
purpose, all we can say is, ' It is here.' '* 
This was the end of one attempted solution 
of the mystery. It seems to be certain 
that the close of this ancient civilization 
must have been at least a thousand years 
ago. 

The Indians have no knowledge or 
traditions concerning the origin of the 
mounds and inclosures which have been 
described. They seem to be utterly igno- 
rant of the construction of them. Some 
students think that this fact conclusively 



44 

shows that these curious works were 
produced neither by the Indians nor their 
ancestors. Others think it to be incon- 
clusive, because of the instances in which 
the Indians have lost all tradition of events 
in a previous generation. The truth 
seems to be that they would not lose 
knowledge or tradition concerning what 
must have been such an intimate part of 
a nation's life and work, from generation 
to generation, as the construction of these 
elevations and defences. The Indians 
have in a few cases built mounds, but 
only to a very limited extent. They 
have never been, since they were known 
to Europeans, a mound-building people. 
They also covered the whole country, 
while the Mound Builders filled the 
central valleys of the United States. 
These, and other indications found in the 
character of the works, seem to affirm a 
great distinctness between the life of the 
Mound Builders, and that of the Indian 
races of the United States, too great to be 
bridged by any supposable period of time. 
The great centers of population occu- 
pied by the Alound Builders are as well- 
known as are the centers of population 
to-day. The best sections of the Ohio 
and Mississippi Valleys, and of the States 
bordering upon the Gulf of Mexico, are 
filled with works which attest a large 
and busy population. The outlying com- 
munities swept over large areas, more or 
less thinly, but the central seats swarmed 
with inhabitants. The outer limits of 
their occupation ate not certainly known, 
for the whole field has not yet been thor- 
oughly investigated. The thickly popu- 
lated regions ai"e, however, known beyond 
any possibility of contradiction. From 
all appearances, the Mound Builders came 
in to occupy the land with settled govern- 
ment or governments, and onlv disap- 



IN TROD UC TOR 7' ST UDIES. 



peared because they were obliged to give 
way before an overpowering force. The 
numerous great elevations and inclosures 
which they erected with such energy, 
were not meant to be transiently occupied. 
The evidences are all in favor of a settled 
habitation. The Mound Builders must 
also have been given to the arts of peace. 
Their civilization inclosed enough of 
religious and secular effort within its 
bosom, to make them capable of sustain- 
ing the large amounts of unproductive 
labor used in erecting the works we now 
gaze upon with such curiosity. Agricul- 
tural and trade relations must have existed. 
So many citizens as must have been 
employed in labor which would not 
directly yield food, could not have been 
sustained by the chase in a country filled 
with people. Copper, which is known 
to have been mined at Lake Superior, 
has been found in Peru. Obsidian, which 
has been found in the mounds, cannot, to 
present knowledge, be obtained in the 
central valleys of the United States. The 
inference is clear that a trade must have 
existed along the continent; if in stones 
and metals, then in other products like- 
^vise. The intelligence of the ISIound 
Builders must have been of a somewhat 
high type. Many of then- structures 
exhibit a knowledge of, and taste for, 
form, which could not ha\e been at all 
incidental, but were to all appearances 
inherent elements of their civilization. 
Inclosures and mounds exhibit an accu- 
racy which is, sometimes, when the great 
extent covered is regarded, very surpris- 
ing. A recent writer states that they 
must have had knowledge sufficient to 
enable them to lay out an exact circle 
before building any part of it, as some 
remains are found which nidicate that 
diflferent parties began throwing up the 



PREHISTORIC AMERICA. 



45 



wall at different points of the circumfer- 
ence at the same time. Favorite sizes 
appear in their structures. They must 
have had a way of estimating amounts 
and laying out plots of land. Their 
defensive inclosures upon the summits of 
headlands or bluffs are irregular, accord- 
ing to the contour of the height to be 
fortified. These, and the animal, or sym- 
bolic, or totem, mounds, are the only cases 



the marks of fire. The government, 
undoubtedly, had a great sway over the 
people through its alliance with some 
extensive religious ideas and forms. The 
home-life of the Mound Builders is a 
thing of the vmknown, through the entire 
obliteration of buildiiigs which served 
them for dwellings. The only conjecture 
possible is, that it may have been com- 
munal in abodes erected of perishable 





COPPER IMPLEMENTS OF 'WARFARE AND THK CHASE. 

[Foster's Prehistoric Races.] 



In which they varied from regular geo- 
metrical figures. 

The presence of some great religious 
convictions and ceremonies, is dimly seen 
In the remains of their civilization. The 
exact forin and nature are unknown, but 
the element is known. Mounds are found 
which seem to have been used for altar 
purposes. Sacrificial rites are judged to 
have entered Into the life of the day. 
Sacred ceremonies appear to have been 
used in the burial of the dead. In burial 
mounds ashes are found in vases, accom- 
panied by other substances, which show 



material upon some of the large platform 
mounds. This Is also in accord with the 
sujDposed purposes of some of the more 
durable buildings fovuid on similar plat- 
forms In Mexico and Central America. 
The relation of members of the fiimlly 
to each other, the rearing of children, the 
training of the young In skill and knowl- 
edge, and other associated things, are 
hidden in deepest mystery. 

It is clearly seen that the Mound 
Builders were of a military character 
sufficiently pronounced to attempt the 
fortification of their possessions, and the 



46 



INTRODUCTORY STUDIES. 



skillful defence of them against invaders. 
Blazing fires on the tops of signal niounds, 
lighted one after the other in quick 
succession, would expose the enemy's 
approach. Defensive inclosures along 
the frontier, kept back the foe who 
attempted the conquest of the country. 
Stone and copper weapons are found. A 
people capable of mining copper so suc- 
cessfully in a region beyond their own 



viewing distant objects, together with 
numerous other articles. Some of the 
weapons are finely made. Some of their 
vessels are handsomely ornamented. 
Stone mauls, wooden shovels and other 
mining tools, are found in the Lake 
Superior region. Iron, galena and chert, 
are known to have been used to a lim- 
ited extent. Sculpture has appeared in 
some of the remains. Fisfures occur 







STONE AXES. 



[Foster's Prch 

proper territory, must have been of suf- 
ficient energy to at least make a brave 
stand against assaults. Tliis much we 
can see; but the swaying of passions in 
war, the rallying of the communities to 
the defense of their beautifully chosen 
sites and laboriously constructed works, 
the success or downfall of military chief- 
tains, have all passed into oblivion. 

The mechanical and artistic products 
of the IVIound Builders are constantly 
increasing through the opening of moinids 
and careful search for remains. Copper 
implements are very plentiful. In dif- 
ferent excavations have been found chis- 
els, gouges, rimmers of many patterns, 
pestles, gads, axes, spear-heads and 
arrow-heads, triangular, barbed, indented, 
knives, bracelets, pipes, vessels of all 
kinds, ornaments of great variety, tubes 
either for Ion"; beads and whistles or for 



istoric RaoL'S.] 

upon their vessels and other constructions. 
Cloth-weaving w^as evidently known. 
The imprint of cloth texture has been 
repeatedly found. This was an art 
iniknown to the 
Indians. Slabs, 
\yith hieroglyphic 
characters upon 
them, are among 
the more recent 
a ecu mulations, 
but there is much 
dispute over them 
as yet, and so 
much uncertain- 
ty, as to keep them from being put into 
the absolutely genuine relics. Mortuary 
remains are greatly sought after and 
studied. Skulls have been exhumed with 
great care. The attempt has been made 
to 2"ct a cast of the form of a Mound 




[Foster's Prehistoric Races.] 



PREHISTORIC AMERICA. 



47 




CLOTH FROM OHIO 
MOUNDS. 

[Foster's Prehis- 
toric Races.] 



Builder, with partial success, by the use 
of clay. 

But with all the light yet gained there 
is much doubt attending the life of the 
Mound Builders. Are the 
la remains chronologically of 
the same, or of different 
periods? What significance 
did the emblematic eleva- 
tions have ? What were the 
political forms of govern- 
ment? Was there one 
great government, or were 
there several distinct, yet 
harmonious peoples? 
Whence did they come, and 
whither did they go? If 
they were united, stable, industrious, how 
did they lose their territory ? These and 
other questions can only be answered sug- 
gestively. The Mound Builders were, in 
great likelihood, the overflow of earlier 
Mexican races, and were pushed back 
from our fertile valleys by the fiercer, 
bloodier Indian, whose tradition asserts 
that a previous people was in possession 
of North America when he came into it. 
The territory of the United States west 
of the Mississippi River, contains another 
large class of remains which to the arch- 
aeologist possess a fascination quite equal 
to that which attaches to the remains of 
the Mound Builders. In some respects 
the interest is a more peculiar one. For 
while mounds of all patterns and for all 
purposes, and inclosures regular and 
irregular, present many baffling questions, 
yet new features, possessing a vastly more 
romantic spell, have been discovered in 
the Southwestern territories of the United 
States by the scientific explorations of the 
last half dozen years. Through large 
portions of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, 
and the State of Colorado, exist curious 



structures, only a small part of which 
were known before 1874. Some of the 
most unique were not known at all till 
that date. The entire remains may be 
enumerated as Casas Grandes, pueblos, 
cave-houses, cliff-houses, and elevated tow- 
ers. The pueblos have been known for 
a long time. Some of them are inhab- 
ited at the present day. Upon the river 
Zuni, between the stream and tall cliffs 
in the rear, stands the pueblo town of 
Zuni. Near the site of this modern 
pueblo can be traced the ruins of what 
are supposed to be the " seven cities of 
Cibola," which Coronado vi.sited in 1540, 
and which caused so much speculation in 
his time. Through the different terri- 
tories quite a large number of pueblos are 
inhabited, but many are everywhere seen 
in ruins. It appears that their occupants 
have slowly been reduced in numbers till 
thev are obliged to give up one after 
another of their towns. The pueblo 
buildings are large stone structures, raised 
to a height of two, and sometimes three 
stories. The lower one projects beyond 
the upper and is entered from this plat- 
form roof through trap-doors. The 
ascent is made to the roof on the out- 
side by means of ladders. There are no 
entrances in the walls of the lower story. 
Each pueblo has a large number of 
rooms, sufficient for the accommodation of 
quite a townful of people. These rooms 
open into one another in various ways, 
indicating a certain community of life. 
The buildings are made of stone, covered 
over quite heavily with mud. It is 
thought that some of them had as many 
as one thousand rooms each. The pueb- 
los usually cover three sides of a rectangle, 
but vary from this to a circular form. 
The full extent of these pueblo ruins 
has by no means been known till very 



48 



INTRODUCTORY STUDIES. 



recently. They have been discovered in 
out-of-the-way recesses in the river can- 
yons where least suspected. Around them 
are found a <^reat many piles and frag- 
ments of broken pottery. Beautiful ar- 
row-heads are in some places picked up 



In the valley or tlie Gila in vSouthern 
Arizona, and in Chihuahua in jNIcxico, are 
found the ruins of a class of structures 
known as Casas Grandes. Unlike the 
pueblos further north, which are aiitiost 
uniformly built of stone, these were built 







ANCIENT IDOL AND ALTAR AT COPAN. 



in abundance. Rock inscrij^tions occur 
at different points on the faces of the 
cliffs. The pottery is found to have been 
ornamented with work in relief. Fig- 
ures of small animals have been found 
upon finely shaped vases. 



of adobe or mud. Wherever the walls 
have fallen, the blocks of mud have 
washed back to shapeless earth again. 
But enough walls are still standing to 
make it certain that many large edifices 
filled the region. In some cases the out- 



PREHISTORIC AMERICA. 



49 




lines can be made out quite clearly. They 
present plans similar to those of the pueb- 
los. The pottery found in the vicinity 
was decorated by painting in a superior 
manner to anything now made. The 

problems pre- 



sented by 
these ruins are 
entirely simi- 
lar to those 
presented by 
the pueblos. 
The cliff 

ANCIENT VESSEL FROM SAN JOSE, rl WelllnCS aud 
NEAR MEXICO. 

[Foster's Prehistoric Races.] C a V e dwell- 

ings of those same gi'eat regions have 
scarcely been known till since 1874. No 
more unique abodes are found in the 
world than some of the ones discovered 
by United States exploring parties in that 
and subsequent years. The precipitous 
walls of the river canyons are the chief 
points where these dwellings are situated. 
One of the cliff houses in the canyon of 
the Mancos River is described as built 
" over six hundred feet from the bottom 
of the canyon in a niche in the wall. Five 
hundred feet of the ascent to tliis aerial 
dwelling was comparatively easy, but a 
hundred feet of almost perpendicular wall 
confronted the party, up which they could 
never have climbed but for the fact that 
they found a series of steps cut in the face 
of the rock leading up to the ledge upon 
which the house was built. This ledge 
was ten feet wide by twenty feet in 
length, with a vertical space between it 
and the overhanging rock, of fifteen feet. 
The house occupied only half this space, 
the remainder having been used as an 
esplanade, and once was inclosed by a 
balustrade resting on abutments built 
partly upon the sloping face of the preci- 
pice below. The house was but twelve 



feet high, and two-storied. Though the 
walls did not reach up to the rock above, 
it is uncertain whether it ever had any 
other roof. The ground plan showed a 
front room of six by nine feet in dimen- 
sions, in the rear of which were two 
smaller rooms, each measuring five by 
seven feet. The left-hand room pro- 
jected along the cliff beyond the front 
room in the form of an L. The rock of 
the cliff served as the rear wall of the 
house. The cedar beams, upon which 
the upper floor had rested, had nearly all 
disappeared. The door opening upon 
the esplanade was but twenty by thirty 
inches in size, while a window in the 
same story was but twelve inches square. 
A window ia the upper story which com- 
mands an extended view down the canyon 
corresponds ' in diinensions and position 
with the door below. The lintels of the 
window were small, straight cedar sticks 
laid close together, upon which the stones 
rested. Opposite this window was another 
and smaller one, opening into a semi-circu- 
lar cistern, formed by a wall inclosing the 
angle formed by the side wall of the 
house against the rock, and holding about 
two and a half hogsheads. The bottom 
of the reservoir was reached by descend- 
ing on a series of cedar pegs about one 
foot apart, and leading downward from 
the window. The workmanship of the 
structure was of a superior order ; the per- 
pendiculars were true ones and the angles 
carefully squared. The mortar used was 
of a grayish white color, very compact and 
adhesive. Some little taste was evinced by 
the occupants of this human swallow's 
nest. The front rooms were plastered 
smoothly with a thin layer of firm adobe 
cement, colored a deep maroon, while a. 
white band eight inches wide had been 
painted around the room at both floor and 



50 INTRODUCTORY STUDIES 

An examination of the immcdi 



ceiling 

ate vicinity revealed the ruins of half a 
dozen similar dv\^ellings in the ledges of 
the cliffs, some of them occupying posi- 
tions, the inaccessibility of which must 
e\'er be a wonder when considered as 
places of residence for human beings." 



with considerable difficulty, and many 
with great dang-er. The walls of the 
houses upon the very edges of precipices 
are firin and strong to-day. It is fre- 
quently found that crevices in the face of 
the cliffs have been walled up with small 
stones, to keep, it may be, intruders from 




\N(.ItN r KLIN 



This detailed description, from a standard 
authority made up from the reports of the 
surveyors, gives an idea of this class of 
abodes, which are found in great abund- 
ance in the river valleys of our South- 
western territories. Soine of them were 
reached only by descending from the top 
of the cliff. All of them are reached 



ascending in unexpected directions. 
Clusters of cliff-houses are sometimes 
found, indicating village life. At certain 
points it is impossible to see how any 
human beings could have scaled the 
dizzy heights to gain their abodes. 

The cave-houses differ little from the 
cliff-houses, except that instead of being 



PREHISTORIC AMERICA. 



51 



built on a shelf of the cliff, they are built in 
an opening into the face of the cliff walled 
up more or less to form a secure dwell- 
ing. Some of them are quite extensive 
and seem to have been intended to serve 
as fortified places in time of danger. 
They are found in caves eight hundred 
feet above the level of the valley be- 
low. Some were evidently reached by 
little holes cut in the surface of the cliff. 
In the valley of the Chelley a large cave 
village evidently existed in a cave which 
extends along the cliff for quite a distance. 

Through these regions are also found 
towers built on elevated places for purpo- 
ses of observation. Some of them com- 
mand extensive views. There are in 
certain sections of these territories remains 
"vsdiich bear a certain resemblance to the 
remains of the Mound Builders in the great 
central valleys of the United States. 
The present inhabitants of the Moqui 
and Zuni pueblos have traditions which 
link the disappearance of these earlier and 
partially-civilized tribes with the com- 
ing of the more savage and less 
stable red Indian. The results of the 
study of these matters are, as yet, very 
crude. 

In the extent and magnificence of 
ancient ruins, Yucatan, Central America, 
with portions of Mexico, excel all other 
parts of the continent. The civilization of 
ancient America seems to have reached 
its greatest height in those sections. 
Ruined cities have been discovered which 
were unknown to the inhabitants when 
the Spaniards pushed their way into the 
country. So secluded were they by the 
matted vegetation which overgrew and 
hid them, that they escaped the eyes of 
travelers till comparatively recent years. 
In some cases it was only by accident 
that persons in penetrating the tangled 



forests, came upon extensive ruins, rich 
in architectural and sculptural remains. 
Since the first disclosures, however, ardent 
students have pressed in every direction, 
sometimes cutting their way through the 
otherwise impenetrable vegetation. It is 
known that explorers have passed within 
a half mile of extensive ruins without dis- 
covering them, so completely were they 
hidden. But one by one these ancient 
cities and villages have given themselves 
up, till in Yucatan alone, about twoscore 
have been more or less thoroughly exam- 
ined. Enthusiastic travelers have made 
explorations and reports until the ruined 
cities of Copan, Uxmal, and Palenque, 
are well and widely known. The first 
mentioned remains are situated near a 
village of the same name, in the Re- 
public of Honduras, Central America. 
A large space sixteen hundred feet long 
and nine hundred feet wide, is co\-ered by 
the ruins. Substantial walls inclose the 
area. These ruins are thought to be 
older than any other upon the continent, 
and the time of their abandonment is not 
known with any certainty. A large plat- 
form, known as the temple, occupies a 
space six hundred and twenty-four bv 
eight hundred and nine feet, and is 
elevated to a height of seventy feet. Next 
the river, the wall of this supposed tem- 
ple is perpendicular, but on the other sides 
the walls are sloping. It is estimated 
that 26,000,000 cubic feet of stone entered 
into the construction of this elevation. 
Depressions in the surface occur at different 
points, and figures and small structures at 
other points. Some of the figures have 
in front of them, sculptured stone blocks, 
which are thought to have served as altars. 
Elaborate carvings abound on every side. 
The massive character of the remains 
indicates engineering skill of considerable 



TNTRODUCTORT STUDIES. 



extent on the part of the builders. In all 
that section of the continent stone was 
used as a building material. Hence the 
solid character of the ruins. Yet they 
suffer from the inhabitants of the region 
to such a degree as to endanger some of 



principal ruin at Uxmal is a large plat- 
form. This pyramidal structure has two 
terraces besides the summit, which is 
over forty feet high. The lower terrace 
is five hundred and seventy-fi\'e feet long, 
and fifteen feet wide. A temple stands 




RUIN AT TULOOM 

the finest relics. Ignorance and indiffer- 
ence threaten to do sad work. 

Yucatan is exceedingly rich in remains. 
Uxmal is situated in this region. The 
ruins known by this name are very mag- 
nificent. Obelisks, with the face and 
form of some deity carved upon each, are 
found in numbers. As at Copan, the 






IN YUCATAN. 



upon the summit platform, with a front 
of three hundred and twenty-two feet. 
The sculpture upon this temple is among 
the richest specimens yet found in ancient 
American remains. The temple con- 
tains twenty-two chambers or apartments, 
in two rows of eleven each. There are 
no windows in the structure, light being 



PREHISTORIC AMERICA 



admitted to the inner apartments through 
the doors of the outer ones. These 
features occur in the other ruins of the 
i-egion. Differences are found, but the 
conclusion is quite certain that one race 
formerly occupied all that portion of the 
continent now covered by Mexico, Yuca- 
tan and Central America. Palenque, 
situated in the Mexican province of Chi- 
apas, was the first extensive ruin discov- 
ered. The largest building is supported 
by a platlbrm, as in the other cases, and 
beai's a resemblance to the others. 
Painted stucco is found in certain jDarts of 
the ruins at Palenque. Mitla, in the 
State of Oajaca, furnishes an example of 
massive remains. Portions of the front 
of the palace are covered with beautiful 
mosaics. Frescoing is also found. In 
other sections exist ruins which have not 
yet been examined by the archaeologist. 
The work will progress slowly, because 
of the difficulty of making surveys. 
But the examination of these ruins, 
coupled with the study of Maya and 
other historical traditions, promises to 
throw still greater light upon the period 
of American civilization, once so unsus- 
pected. 

In South America the ruins through 
the regions held by the Peruvian Incas at 
the conquest of the country, constitute 



58 

the great field of study. It has been 
maintained by eminent scholars that the 
Inca civilization was preceded by another, 
to which certain extensive remains belong. 
A thorough and final settlement will 
require further study of the ruins which 
abound near Lake Titicaca, and upon 
the islands within it. They are mas- 
sive, and very ancient. The ancient 
Peruvians are known to have been intel- 
ligent and skillful. 

The American continent presents a 
very interesting archceological field. The 
ethnological researches of scholars will 
bring a portion of the ruins into the 
clearer light of history. But the haze of 
uncertainty will always rest upon some 
of them. The study of the architecture, 
the sculpture, the hieroglyphics, the eth- 
nological traditions and records,of ancient 
America, will show, however, that nations 
have risen and fallen on our shores, while 
the nations of the Old World were going 
through similar mutations. Rise and 
decline have marked the pathways of 
the leading nations of the earth, from the 
beginning. The drama which took place 
in the kingdoms of the Orient, the North 
African powers, Greece and Rome, has 
had a part of its great enactment within 
our continent, in the ages of Prehistoric 
America. 








-itT" 



SECTION II. 



¥HEN Columbus stepped upon 
the beach of San Salvador, he 
supposed that he \vas standing 
upon the soil of India. The 
name Indies was, therefore, very natu- 
rally applied by him to the islands he 
had discovered, and the name Indians to 
the inhabitants of them. Through nearly 
four centuries this term has been univer- 
sally applied to the native races of 
America, having become, in the course 
of time, a well-settled designation for 
them in all ordinary description. It 
includes in Its use, all the tribes dwelling 
within the Western continent at the time 
of its discovery, and covers, therefore, the 
Mexicans and Peruvians with their appar- 
ent civilization, as well as the wilder tribes 
of South America, and the red men of 
North America. 

As the American continent was opened 
more and more widely to the knowledge 
of the world, a great variety of tribes 
was found to exist within it. This was 
very noticeable, even within the few 
islands to which the first explorations of 
Columbus were confined. There were 
the peaceable tribes of the Bahamas and 
the larger West India Islands, and the 
fiercer, more warlike Caribbee tribes, 



which made their raids upon other islands 
for captives and booty. in the single 
island of Havti these clans wei'e found in 
a considerable number. Along the coast 
were such tribes as the one ruled by 
Guacanagari \vhen Columbus discovered 
the island, while in the interior, among 
the mountains, were other intractable 
ones, Avith whom no reliable intercourse 
could be held. The same variety existed 
throughout the entire continent. It was 
most apparent in the regions where the 
least civilization was found. In the vast 
territory now covered by the United 
States, there ^vere scores of tribes with no 
common center of life and government. 
This was true in most cases, even of those 
tribes which belonged to the same gi*eat 
fiimily. Each tribe wandered, hunted, 
fished, made war, according to its own 
likes and dislikes. But this variety was 
as real where the great governments of 
the continent spread themselves abroad 
in power. Cortes found different tribes 
subject to Montezuma, some willingly, 
some unwillingly. PIzarro came upon 
the same state of things in Peru, and 
both leaders availed themselves of It, In 
their respective conquests. 

Yet beneath this fragmentary and jar- 



THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 



55 



ring life of American tribes there existed 
a unity which was real enough to have 
made them much stronger against the 
encroachments of the new comers, if they 
had known enough to have availed 
themselves of it. There are physical, 
and to some extent, intellectual character- 
istics, which have been said by inany to 
affirm an identity of race throughout the 
continent. There are siinilarities running 
through the customs and works of the 
various parts of the continent, which hint 
at the same thing quite clearly. Mr. 
Lewis H. Morgan, one of the most 
learned writers upon Indian affairs, finds 
a common principle running through the 
architecture of the American tribes, from 
the perishable " long house " of the Iro- 
quois in Central New Yoi'k, to the " pue- 
blo houses " of New Mexico, and the 
deserted but durable "Palace" at Pa- 
lenque, or " Governor's House" at Uxmal, 
m Central America. This he names 
the principle of cominunism in living. 
He finds it illustrated in the fact that the 
Indians hunt in parties, and traces it dis- 
tinctly through other parts of tribal life 
and customs. Dr. Morton claims that 
there is a distinction in cranial character- 
istics which affirms a twofold race. Eth- 
nology has not yet settled this question. 
Much discussion has been had upon the 
question of the origin of the American 
races. Theories bordering upon the 
finciful have been broached by writers of 
great learning, who have had curious 
notions to support. Among these is one 
affirming that the Indians are descendants 
of the ten lost tribes of Israel. Mr. 
George Jones, of England, spent years in 
establishing an argument to that effect, 
and finally issued it to the public in a 
printed work. He but followed a path 
trodden by quite a number of Span- 



ish and other writers. The subject is 
wrapped in very great obscurity. Little 
light is shed upon it, save by the tradi- 
tions of different tribes. While these 
testify very clearly in some cases to a 
migration, and assert that it took place 
from the West, they give no circumstan- 
ces to which certain knowledge can be 
attached. The Athabascans, of North 
America, have perhaps the most clearly- 
defined tradition of a journey across the 
Pacific. Most of the tribes of North 
America, however, have been found to 
think that their own acquisition of the 
soil of this continent is of a comparatively 
recent date. This very doubtful histor- 
ical evidence, if it can be called historical, 
points to a time when the native races of 
America made their entrance into the 
land from the Northwest. 

The languages of the American In- 
dians have been diligently searched for 
testimony concerning this question. But 
they afford none which is decisive, as yet. 
They appear to stand by themselves 
without a clear affinity even of obscure 
roots to any other languages in the world. 
It is true they are comparatively little 
known, and the large number of dialects 
not fully understood makes it difficult to 
affirm anything as to what may be ex- 
pected to be revealed in this quarter in 
the future. The dialects of South Amer- 
ica are far more numerous than those of 
North America, and furnish no end of 
comparisons for the student. Much work 
has been done upon some of the Eastern 
dialects of North America. Scholars 
upon both sides of the Atlantic have 
been fascinated by the study of them till 
a good basis of grammatical knowledge 
has been laid for future use. We have 
grammars and dictionaries in many dia- 
lects which are monuments of faithful 



56 

research. The growth and progress of 
American nations are constantly opening 
more of the original dialects of the country 
to the study of the learned. We may 
hope for a more certain classification at 
some time, of the tongues which have 
ceased to he heard over a great part of 
the New World. 

The civilization, or lack of civilization, 
in America at its discovery, was of a 
great many different degrees. There 
were tribes which were entirely roving 
in all their instincts and modes of life. 
They formed no local attachments, and 
fled like the wind from place to place, 
according as they could best supply 
their temporary needs. For this reason, 
among others, their dwellings were of 
the most movable kind, and all their ar- 
rangements for living were of the least 
possible permanency. Most of the North 
American tribes paitook somewhat of 
this feature. Many of them secured 
great sections of country, within the lim- 
its of which their roving bands hunted, 
fished, and cultivated the soil so' far as it 
was cultivated by them at all. Some of 
their villages were built and palisaded in 
a comparatively strong manner. But 
even this was not a sign of permanence 
for a long series of years. When Jacques 
Cartier, the bold French mariner, first 
visited the present site of Montreal, he 
found such a village, and was received 
within its defences hospitably. But 
when Champlain reached the spot sixty- 
eight years afterward, not a trace of the 
former inhabitants remained. On the 
other hand the ferocious Iroquois held 
their abode for a long joeriod in Cen- 
tral New York, around the beautiful 
lakes which are the delight of that re- 
gion. They were there in 1609 when 
Champlain discovered the lake which 



INTRODUCTORY STUDIES. 



bears his name, and were never displaced 
by any Indian race. Their power faded 
only before that of the white man, for 
no tribe of Indians could ever hope to 
break it. In Mexico and Peru the dwell- 
ings of the natives were still more per- 
manent, and their life therefore was much 
more stead}-. Stone, A\hich was unknown 
as a building material in the Eastern 
United States, was used very largely 
by the Southern nations. Hence, when 
Cortes entered the City of Mexico he 
was surprised to see the solidity and 
durability of the structures which lined 
the streets on either hand. Not many of 
the buildings were more than one story in 
height. The so-called Palace, built by 
Montezuma's father, in which Cortes 
quartered his troops, was a long, one- 
story stone building with a second story 
rising from the center of the flat roof. 
Everything was solid with stone. In 
Peru similar cities were found by Pizarro. 
Tumbez and Cuzco were fine examples 
of the permanent work of the higher 
American tribes. 

The methods of self-support among 
the Indians partook closely of this perma- 
nency, oi- lack of permanency, which 
characterized the different tribes. The 
roving tribes lived upon what they could 
easily get, of game or fish. Perhaps 
during the summer the squaws scratched 
a little maize or a few beans and squash 
seeds into the earth, with just enough 
labor to induce them to grow. Agricul- 
ture was unknown among them, save of 
this most vague and desultory kind. 
From these we ascend to the Mexican 
Indians, who cultivated the fruits of the 
earth in a systematic manner, and liad 
their beautiful floating gardens upon the 
lake around the City of Mexico, for the 
raisins: of flowers and vegetables. To- 



THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 



57 



X 



bacco was in quite common use through- 
out the continent. There were no do- 
mesticated animals save the dog, and the 
llama which was found only among- the 



upon the needs of the tribes, just as the 
agricultural operations were. But they 
were also largely moulded by the delight 
in ornamentation which existed every- 




INDIAN BAG, 



Peruvians, who used its hair in the weav- 
ing of garments. Thousands of these 
latter animals were pastured vipon the 
slopes of the Peruvian mountains. The 
manufactures of the continent were based 



DRUM, ETC. 

where. Each tribe constructed articles 
which were necessary for its use. The 
Northern Indians made snowshoes which 
the Southern Indians never constructed, 
because thev never needed them for their 



58 



INTRODUCTORY STUDIES. 



own use. Many oi the wandering tribes 
prepared the skins of animals as cover- 
ings for wigwams, or a« garments. Pot- 
tery-making was common to the whole 
country to some extent. Pipes were fosh- 
ioned in a great variety of ways. Fine 
baskets were made by the Pacific tribes. 
Some of them were so closely woven that 
they would hold water. In Peru and 
Mexico the range of manufactures was 
considerably greater, without being exten- 
sive. The bow and arrow were made by 
all tribes. Different kinds of spears, and 
hatchets or tomahawks, were made by 
them. Weapons and clubs of various 
other sorts were made in abundance. The 
lasso was used in some portions of the 
continent, as was also the net for fishing. 
Water was drunk by the northern tribes 
until they became acquainted with the 
white man's terrible "fire-water" or rum, 
which has been such a curse to the land, 
even in its native races. Southern tribes 
had various extracts of plants or fruits, 
which were somewhat intoxicating. All 
tribes had arrangements, though exceed- 
ingly slight in many instances, for re- 
membering events. Hieroglyphics and 
other devices aided the memory, and en- 
abled them to preserve history to some 
extent, though not in such a manner as 
to benefit the modern student very 
greatly. Picture writing was in use for 
conveving intelligence. Ornamentation 
was common to all the tribes of the con- 
tinent. Anything which would catch the 
eve, such as feathers, shells, quills and the 
tails of animals, were used by them in 
various ways. Paint was used upon the 
skin by the wilder tribes, at certain times 
very profusely, sometimes covering the 
entire face and body with startling and 
hideous contrasts of color. The " war 
paint" of the North American Indian 



has become a well known thing. In the 
richer parts of the continent very valua- 
ble ornaments were often made out of the 
precious metals which the Indians of the 
South mined to some extent by the mere 
digging of holes upon the surface of the 
earth. They found gokl and silver where 
to-dav some of the richest mines of Mex- 
ico and Peru are situated. The wealth 
which Atahuallpa secured from his sub- 
jects for his ransom, which Pizarro after- 
ward found in Cuzco, the treasures which 
Cortes found in the closed room of the 
palace which was put at the disposal 
of the Spaniards, had all been a long 
time in accumulating, and did not repre- 
sent, of course, the annual product of the 
realms. Mexico and Peru each had 
millions upon millions of dollars in its 
soil which the Indian races would never 
have extracted. This wealth of the New 
World can only be reached by the mod- 
ern methods of shaft and tunnel. • 

In none of their efforts did the Indians 
reach the idea of sustained and perma- 
nent work, as it prevails in civilized lands. 
There was not enough endurance among 
them to enable them to follow up hard 
work closely. The great results of their 
labor in many parts of the continent were 
accomplished by the combined efforts of 
a great manv, rather than by the skill and 
trained strength of a few. The immense 
numbers who perished in the West 
Indies as soon as they were set to work 
by the Spaniards, is a proof of their in- 
herent weakness. Among the North 
American tribes the squaws did the 
drudgery, while the noble " lords of crea- 
tion " lay round at their ease, or joined in 
the athletic sports and games of their peo- 
ple. The endurance of the Indian upon 
the chase was very great, but his capa- 
bility of sustained daily labor was very 



THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 



59 



small. Yet the cities in Mexico and 
Peru could not have been built without 
great labor. The great road of Peru 
along the sides and across the immense 



organization, we well know. In this we 
have an exhibition of the higher civiliza- 
tion of the Southern tribes, and an indica- 
tion of a somewhat higher capacity for 




INDIAN WEAPOIVS. 



ravines of the Cordilleras was built at 
some time with a vast expenditure of 
effort. That these greater works have 
been produced under the authority of 
governments possessed of some degree of 



labor. But nowhere upon the continent 
did the idea of work exist as it is now 
manifested, in the uninterrupted and pro- 
longed enterprises of civilized countries. 
The governments of the New World 



60 



INTRODUCTORY STUDIES. 



varied as the other arrangements of life 
did. In the wilder tribes, the government 
■w'as apparently of a Aery slight, though 
really of a very strong character. Each 
tribe had its civil leader called a sachem, 
and its military chief. The former was 
entitled to his position by descent, the 
latter by deeds. The distinctions of blood 
and valor were devoutly recognized, and 
constantly maintained. Personal heroism 
has raised many a young Indian warrior 
to the position of an acknowledged mili- 
tary chief. On the other hand, the fam- 
ilies of blood were sacredly preserved in 
their hereditary rights. In Mexico and 
Peru the royal lines were kept in the 
possession of their peculiar distinctions 
very diligently. The pride of Powhattan, 
the father of Pocahontas, was a pride of 
blood as well as of valor. Indeed, the 
faniilies of rank iia\e often sedulously 
maintained their position in some of the 
wilder tribes, till the last lingering mem- 
ber has given up his life without issue. 
In the government of Indian tribes, each 
leader was expected to retain his inheri- 
tance, whether he was of royal blood or 
not, by a display of wisdom and courage. 
The prince who shrunk in times of doubt 
or danger, would be to them a prince 
only in name. Each tribe had its svmbol 
or totem, usually some animal, as the fox, 
the bear, the wolf, by which each war- 
rior in the clan was known. The totem 
of the Hurons, for exatnple, was the 
porcupine. The tribes were governed by 
councils, which decided when war should 
be declared, and when any other import- 
ant step should be taken. In these 
councils the wisdom of the older men 
was greatly sought for. Age in a war- 
rior produced great veneration for him. 
In these general characteristics the mass 
of South American tribes was like the 



North American. The Inca of Peru, 
and the rulers of Mexico, were emperors 
in a more absolute sense, than were any 
tribal rulers in the rest of North and 
South America. Yet e\'en in these cases, 
the hurhng of the missiles at Montezuma 
by his own people after he had submitted 
to the Spaniards, shows how quickly they 
dishonored a ruler who tamely yielded in 
time of danger. Boys were trained from 
the very first dawn of intelligence, in the 
idea of courage. An outward bearing un- 
disturbed by anvthing, however strange 
and awful, was the height of personal 
character. After Pizarro had reached 
Caxamalca upon his march into the inte- 
rior of Peru, he sent a few mounted soldiers 
to the camp of Atahuallpa, just outside 
the city. The Inca sat immovable during 
the interview. At last, Hernando De 
Soto, noticing that the horses drev/ great 
attention from the Peruvians, w^ho had 
never seen the like before, put spurs to 
his uneasy steed and dashed through their 
midst at a headlong pace, turning, wheel- 
ing, prancing, till the mettle of the ani- 
mal had been thoroughly shown. He 
then reined him up by the side of Atahu- 
allpa so suddenly that the Inca was 
sprinkled with foam which fell upon him 
by the closeness of the fiery charger. 
But not a muscle of the monarch moved, 
and not a change of position indicated 
that he felt any fear. He sat as quietly 
as before. Some of the Spaniards claimed 
that certain Peru\ian officers who had 
shrunk with evident timidity from the 
path of the wonderful beast, were put to 
death after De Soto and his companions 
returned to the town. However this may 
be, the example of the Inca illustrates 
what was expected of every Indian war- 
rior, from the Arctic Ocean to Cape Horn. 
Pontiac, with one quick blow, struck his 



THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 



61 



tomahawk through the brain of one of 
his followers who was startled by a gun 
fired at Detroit in the night, by an Eng- 



front in times of danger. But, however 
slightly they exhibited any emotion in the 
midst of danger, or during the infliction 




CROW CHIEF IN FILL DRESS. 



lishman. The teaching was stern, but in 
most cases it was effective. Indian war- 
riors usually maintained an unchanged 



of injury upon them by an enemy, they 
felt a hurt none the less keenly in spirit. 
They treasured the memory of wrongs 



62 



IN TROD UC TOR T ST UDIES. 



for years, with a constant watch for 
opportunities to redress them. When 
old Major Waldron met his death at 
their hands in Dover, N. H., they cut him 
to pieces at the last before life was extinct, 
with horrid eagerness, exclaiming as they 
did so, that they were crossing out the 
score of their capture by him thirteen 
years before, when he deceived them by 
calling them to a mock parade, and took 
them all prisoners. They were quick to 
avenge the death of an Indian. Many 
cruel outbreaks have been occasioned by 
the thoughtless murders which have been 
committed by roving white adventurers. 
But if the Indian never forgave an injury, 
he was equally sensitive to a benefit. He 
remembered the latter as long as he did 
the former. King Philip is said to have 
charged his warriors, just before his 
intended outbreak was perfected, not to 
touch a family by whom he had been 
hospitably entertained. Friendly Indians 
have in many cases warded off the worst 
effects of savage descents upon pioneer 
settlements, by their desire to save some- 
body from whom they had received a 
favor. Yet the savage character is fiercely, 
tremendously cruel. Defenceless men and 
women, or innocent children, did not 
touch their hearts when they were upon 
the war path. They were sometimes so 
much intoxicated with their wild work as 
to lose almost the semblance of human 
beings, and prove themselves fiends incar- 
nate. To tear a scalp from an enemy's 
head was a great delight. Such treasures 
were carefully preserved. But it should 
never be forgotten that so long as civil- 
ized governments wage a terrific war for 
the possession of a little territory, or to 
maintain a so-called interest, and batter 
down cities with shell and ball, destroying 
property by the million dollars, and the 



lives of young and old, so long should 
not much be said in anger, if the Indian, 
driven back from his old lands, and forced 
to make the concessions which put his 
territory into the white man's power, 




SCALP STRETCHED TO IJRY. 



wage war in his way by a little closer 
contact, with an^ow and tomahawk and 
scalping knife. The difference is more 
apparent than real, when we take into 
account the different circumstances. It 
is as bad for the one as for the other, and 
no worse. Wyoming and Cherry Valley 
massacres are horrible to contemplate, but 
the worst characters in those terrible 
destructions were white tories, not the red 
warriors, who plainly saw their own 
bloodthirsty deeds excelled by the hands 
of their allies. This inability to endure 
the encroachments of the invader, forms 
the key to one whole line of Indian 
troubles in the history of America, North 
and South, from the first until now. The 
early settlements of the Atlantic coast 



PREHISTORIC AMERICA. 



63 



and the little clearings out on the frontier, 
have alike been harassed by the cloud of 
the Indian's wrath. The friendly rela- 
tions which existed between William 
Penn and the Indians of Pennsylvania, 
show that it was possible to disarm them 
of their prejudices and make them gentle. 
The long regard for treaties at times in 
New England and in other parts of the 
country, exhibits their attempt to make 
the best of the situation, and respond 
heartily to the friendship of the superior 
race, until the accumulating sense of 
wrong from a succession of little slights, 
swept away all barriers, and brought a 
cliniax of blood, which \vas out of the 
power of any treaty to prevent. When 
we compare closely the histories of civil- 
ized governments and Indian tribes, we 
shall not find in the latter an over-propor- 
tion of excitable, irascible spirits, who, 
either in legislative halls or grand council 
wigwams, are ever ready to vent their 
fiery passions in hot attempts to lead 
others into retaliation for real or fancied 
wrongs. Many of the Indian conspir- 
acies were due to some leading braves of 
the fiercer kind, who induced their tribes 
by the arts of persuasion, which they 
knew how to use so powerfully, to rise in 
an endeavor to exterminate the invaders 
who were so rapidly filling the land. 
King Philip, Pontiac, Osceola, and in 
recent times a few Western chiefs, have 
in turn exercised this power, and gained 
a body of followers who were ready to 
fight or die. The great mass of Indian 
warriors was like the great mass of white 
population, easily led by some superior 
mind. The native eloquence of manv of 
the leading Indian warriors has swaved 
their inferiors according to their wish. 
This eloquence has appeared in councils 
held bv the whites and Indians for the 



arrangement of treaties. The savage 
orator, drinking in the influence of Nature? 
drew from the heavens and the earth the 
figures which he used both abundantly 
and beautifully. There is a touch of 
poetry in most Indian oratory. In some, 
it is the prevailing element, and subordi- 
nates eveiything else, statement, argu- 
ment, appeal, to itself. When employed 
by a skillful mind, full of imaginative 
resources, it was very powerful. All ob- 
jections gave way before it. Especially did 
such impassioned appeal gain its point 
when it was subtly interwoven with some 
of those implied reproaches which no 
warrior could endure. It is the truth of 
history that Captain Jack, the apparent 
leader of the Modoc massacre in the lava 
beds, was finally pushed to consent to the 
deed which he did not approve, by the 
taunts which began to be circulated 
against him. He could resist argument 
with argument, knowing it was best for 
his followers not to cominit such an out- 
rage. But he could not resist reproaches 
of cowardice. The bravery of an Indian, 
like the virtue or valor of the Roman in 
military affairs, was his peculiarly cher- 
ished possession. Anything which stained 
it could not be borne by the true warrior. 
His character was at stake. He would 
commit cruel deeds and lead in a forlorn 
hope, rather than rest jDatiently under a 
burden of imputed cowardice. Of course 
there were all grades in Indian life and 
character, as well as in those of other 
races. But there are certain peculiar 
characteristics which distinguish peculiar 
races, and none the less so because thev 
are faint in many individuals, and are not 
found at all in some. The highest type 
of Indian set forth bv Cooper in rose-col- 
ored light may not have existed at all, 
and certainly did not exist without defects, 



64 



INTRODUCTORY STUDIES. 



which, to most people, would make his 
virtues very obscure. The Indian char- 
acter may have been overrated by some, 
but it is in equal danger of an underesti- 
mate from others. When the living, 
ignorant, untrained, passionate savage, 
stands before us, it is difficult to look 
through the ex- ^ 

terior, which is -'r^'jz^'' — 

so contrary to — 
all our ideas of ^ 
life, and discern ■■£r^ 
the native gifts 
of manhood, n!; 
which came to ^ 
him from the 
hands of the 
Creator. A fiir 
average of the ^ 
prevalent judg- ;^ 
ments upon the $; 
Indian charac- - 
ter would be as ^ 
in so many oth- ;" 
er things, not 
far from the ^ 
truth. There ^ 
are peculiar eji - | 
bib i lions ot ^-.^s^fc^^- 
charactcr in In- 
dian life, and in 
the life of any 
other race, 
which will sup- 
port any one- 
sided view a 
person may choose to hold. 

The peculiar customs of Indian tribes 
appeared at almost every step of the way 
in their lives. In their peace councils a 
pipe was smoked by each party, as a 
sign that strife had ceased. A bundle of 
arrows, tied with the skin of a rattlesnake, 
was sent to the Plymouth colony as a 




AN INDIAN DANCE. 



sign of war. But the rattlesnake skin 
was sent back, filled with powder and 
shot, and nothing more was heard of war 
for a time. In the Southern tribes, sev- 
eral arrows with hair upon them, were 
sometimes stuck in the path near an 
enemy's village, as a sign of intended 

hostility. War 
dances w ere 
p r e -s- a 1 c n t i n 
most tribes, and 
the feelings 
were excited by 
wild midnight 
orgies, around 
a blazing fire, 
for the coming 
march. In cer- 
tain sections of 
the continent, 
the dance was 
liked for its own 
sake, and used 
on various oc- 
casions. Cap- 
tives were tor- 
n:iented in hid- 
eous ways, and 
put to death by 
a great variety 
of means. The 
mutilation of 
^-^^^^K the first Jesuits 
^ who fell among 
the Iroquois, 
was terrible to 
look upon. Captives were sometimes set 
to run the gauntlet between two long lines 
of women and children, or \vamors, armed 
with clubs, knives, and other weapons, 
with a prospect of saving their lives, and 
perhaps of liberty, if the fearful ordeal 
could be borne, and the end of the lines 
reached in safety. Few persons have 



THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 



65 



escaped by running the gauntlet. Some 

captives were saved and adopted into the 

tribe in place of dead v^^arriors. Guerrero 

and Aguilar, the two Spaniards who had 

lived in the tribes of Southern Mexico for 

several years previous to the arrival of 

Cortes upon the coast, rose to positions of 

great influence. The remnants of tribes 

were sometimes adopted into other 

strong tribes. Some of the Hurons, who 

remained after 

the fearful des- ^ ^ ^ ~ ~ 

truction visited .<<?^ 

upon them by 

the Iroquois, 

were adopted 

into the tribes of ^ 

their conquerors. ^ 

Some of the Pe- x, - 

quods, in New ^» 

England, who ^'' 

were left alive "c . 

after the Pequod 

war, became 

members of the 

Narragansett 

nation. In social 

life, the woman 

of the wilder 

tribes was the 

.worker. She 

often went to 

her labor with 

her babe upon 




SQUAW AND CHILD 



her back. The young men were trained 
in athletic sports, and in shooting. Games 
were frequent in many tribes. A game 
of ball was played in some sections of the 
country, for which great preparation w^as 
made, and in which great numbers joined. 
In the Southern tribes, as well as in Mex- 
ico and Peru, the station of woman was 
higher. In the West India Islands, some 
females rose to the position of acknowl- 



edged leaders, and became queens by 
right of ability, as well as of blood. Most 
tribes had peculiar funeral ceremonies. 
The sick were treated simply with reme- 
dies derived from roots and barks. The 
" Medicine Man " was a prominent 
character in certain sections of the land, 
and by his insane rites sought to cure the 
sick, who were, he claimed, under the 
power of foes. Poisons were used upon 
arrow - heads to 
^^s-^?S^ make them 

* >> more deadly in 

war, or in pri- 
vate acts of re- 
venge. The hu- 
man sacrifices of 
Mexico are well 
known from the 
accounts which 
Prescott gives. 
The bloody 
character of the 
Aztec nation in 
this respect, re- 
moves much of 
the glitter from 
their civilization 
in other respects. 
Dreams were 
regarded by 
most tribes with 
superstition, and 
were made a 
part of the governing forces of life. 
Superstition existed more or less in every 
part of the continent. The untutored 
mind of the savage saw spiritual signs in 
the heavens, and on the earth. Nature, 
to him, was alive. The religious rites of 
the continent varied very greatly. There 
was a belief in good and evil spirits. 
Curious theories of origin, and of super- 
natural appearances among them, were 



66 



INTRODUCrORT STUDIES. 



held by some tribes. When Cortes 
landed in Mexico, the natives were look- 
ing for the retiu-n of Quetzalcoatl, a 
divinity, who, they said, had lived among 
them in former days and taught them 
many things. At his departure he had 
promised to come again, and doubtless 
this • was associated at first with the 
strange entrance of the Spaniards into 
the country, and had something to do, it 
may be, with the ease of conquest. Long 
after the Monongahela fight in the French 
and Indian war, an old Indian came a 
long distance to see the man at whom he 
had fired fifteen times without hitting 
him. He believed that some supernat- 
lu'al power had given aid to Washington. 
The union between the native races of 
America and the conquering races, has 
been much greater in the Spanish 
American provinces than in others. 
Cortes began, immediately upon the con- 
quest of Mexico, to build up a state not 
composed of Spaniards alone, but of 
Spaniards and natives. Some of the 
Mexicans were educated at once, and the 
people of the two races began to inter- 
marry. These marriages, of course, 
were almost, if not quite entirely, of 
Spanish men and Mexican women, 
rather than the reverse. The Spanish 
soldiers remained in the country to a 
great extent, and few Spanish women 
had arrived in New Spain at this time. 
A similar process went on in Central 
America and Peru, so that in all these 
countries the Indian population is quite 
large, and the union of races somewhat 
real. Many Indians have risen to high 
political positions in the Central Ameri- 
can States, and some to the office of 
president. That great leader in Mexico, 
during the "war of reform, " from 1857 
to i860, and since president of that 



country, and instrumental in gaining 
much of the present stability of the gov- 
ermnent, Benito Juarez, w^as an Indian, 
the son of Indian parents in poor circum- 
stances. In North America we have had 
a few instances of men of Indian birth, 
who ha\'e become citizens of the United 
States, and useful servants of the govern- 
ment. Gen. Ely S. Parker, at one time 
Indian Commissioner, and a member of 
Gen. Grant's staflf during the Civil War, 
was a Seneca Indian. His abilities are 
excellent, and his education fine. He is a 
civil engineer by profession. Other in- 
stances of less prominence, prove the 
value of the Indian character, and the 
ability of the Indian mind. There has 
been little fusion of races by marriage, in 
North America, save in certain sections 
between the French and Indians. There 
have been, from an early period, eflforts 
for their education, chiefly in connection 
with missionary societies. Enough has 
been done to show that the Indian is 
capable of becoming a citizen, and con- 
ducting himself with all the dignity of a 
citizen. Christian education has wrought 
great changes in many tribes, and given 
them an idea that there is something to 
live for, besides the pleasure of passing 
one's days in an idle, dirty, roving nian- 
ner. The Bible has recently been given 
to the Dakotas in their own language, 
and in the course of a few years we may 
expect to hear of more extensive work 
done in behalf of the wild Indians who 
live within the great territories of the 
United States. We may hope that there 
will be less and less need of arms and 
war, which have cost the government so 
many million dollars, and a greater and 
greater resort to justice and education, 
and civil bonds and Christian faith, in 
dealing with these diminished tribes, who 



PREHISTORIC AMERICA. 



67 



once held full sway over the vast terri- 
tory now covered by a powerful nation. 
The savagism of some of them may be 



to the fate of those beings who, when 
Columbus touched San Salvador, were 
enjoying the freedom of the continent, 




MEDICINE MEN. 



well-nigh ineradicable, but it is worth the 
while, even in extreme cases, to cultivate 
patience. A pathetic interest is attached 



save as they were disturbed by internal 
wars. In the United States the tribes 
have been removed from place to place. 



08 



INTRODUCTORT STUDIES. 



during the growth of the nation, till they 
know not what spot to call home. Ex- 
plorers for gold and silver invade their 
last hunting grounds, and floods of adven- 
turers pour in around them. What 
w^onder if they grow sick, and obstinate, 
and desperate, and bloodthirsty? When 
will the end be ? 

There have been various estimates of 
the number of inhabitants in America at 
the time when it was discovered by 
Columbus. It is impossible to arrive at 
an exact statement, but the reckoning 
which assigns about five millions to the 
entire continent, is to be accepted as suffi- 
ciently accurate for use. This is based 
upon an estimate of somewhat less than 
one million for the present territory of 
the United States. Probably there were 
not far from three or four hundred thous- 
and east of the Mississippi River. In 
South America the tribes through the 
eastern and southern portions were very 
numerous. In Peru and Mexico there 
were several nations under each central 
government. The Aztec government in 
Mexico w^as a species of confederacy, like 
the Ii'oquois in Central New York. 
Within the present limits of the United 
States, east of the Rocky Mountains, 
there were found eight more or less rad- 
ically distinct nations, some of them 
quite small. They were the Algonquins, 
Huron-Iroquois, Cherokees, Catawbas, 
Uchees, Natchez, Mobilians, and Dako- 
tas or Sioux. The Algonquin family 
occupied, perhaps, the largest territory, 
running from Pennsylvania, Virginia, 
Delaware and New Jersey, through 
Southeastern New York, along the At- 
lantic seaboard of New England, thence 
inland along the St. Lawrence to the 
Great Lakes, and beyond down through 
Illinois, Indiana, and a portion of Ken- 



tucky and Tennessee. The tribes into 
which this great family was divided were 
more or less wandering in their habits. 
They moved according to the demands of 
hunting and fishing. Some of the tribes 
were the Montagnais, on the St. Law- 
rence, with whom the Jesuit priests liv- 
ing at Quebec, wandered in the winter in 
order to gain a hold upon them; the 
Algonquins proper, upon the Ottawa 
River; the Chippewas, Menomenees, 
Miamis, Sacs, and Foxes, Kickapoos and 
Illinois, through the West and on the 
Great Lakes ; the Abenaquis in Maine ; 
the Narragansetts, Pequods, Massachu- 
setts and Mohegans in Southern New 
England; the Delawai'es, Powhattans 
and Shawnees further south, together with 
some other less important clans. Massa- 
soit. King Philip, Powhattan and his 
daughter Pocahontas, Black Hawk, Pon- 
tiac and Tecumseh, were all members of 
this extensive family. When settlements 
began to be made, about the year 1600, 
it is thought that this nation numbered 
not far from two hundred and fifty 
thousand. 

Within this Algonquin territory, shut 
in closely on every side, lay the Huron- 
Iroquois family. Of these the Hurons, 
among whom was the field of the Jesuits* 
most successful labor, had their towns 
east of Lake Huron, the Andastes dwelt 
on the Susquehanna, the Eries upon the 
southern shore of Lake Erie, the Neutral 
Nation on the northern shore of the same 
lake, while the Iroquois proper, dwelt in 
Central New York, from the Hudson to 
the Genesee. The latter, who have ta- 
ken such a prominent place in the colonial 
history of the United States, were gain- 
ing great power when the country was 
discovered. The Iroquois confederacy was 
composed at that time of five tribes. 



70 



INTRODUCTORT STUDIES. 



distributed in the following order from 
east to west, in Central New York : Mo- 
hawks, Oneidas, Onandagas, Cayugas 
and Scnccas. h\ 1713 the Tuscaroras 
were admitted to the confederacy, and 
since then they have been known in his- 
tory as the ".Six Nations" instead of the 
" Five Nations," as before that date. 
Their league was of the republican order, 
and very strong. The different tribes 
were bound together by eight different 
totems, to each of which, some portion of 
the Senecas, Cayugas and Onandagas 
belonged, and to three of which some 
portion of the Oneidas and Mohawks be- 
longed. The totems were the Wolf, 
Bear, Beaver, Turtle, Deer, Snipe, Heron, 
and Hawk. The Mohawks and Onei- 
das belonged to the Wolf, Bear and Tur- 
tle. These difTerent tribes were thus 
crossed by several strong bands, like so 
many ties of relationship weaving their 
tough threads through all the affairs 
of the league. Hendrick, Cornplanter, 
Red Jacket, Brant, Dr. Wilson and 
Gen. Parker, were all members of the 
Iroquois. It is thought that they num- 
bered not more than twenty thousand at 
their greatest height of jDOwer. The 
remnants of these once pov^^erful tribes 
are scattered through Canada, New 
York, Wisconsni, and other States. 
During the seventeenth century they ex- 
tended their dominion over all the other 
members of the Huron-Iroquois family. 
The Jesuit missions among the Hurons 
were almost blotted froin existence by 
the teri'ible warfare of the Five Nations. 
Their strength faded away only before 
the face of foreign foes. 

Through Florida and the States west 
of it bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, lay 
the Mobilian family of tribes, stretching 
from the Atlantic to the Rio Grande, and 



characterized by greater agricultural ten- 
dencies than were the families further 
north. Some of these tribes, such as the 
Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws, and Chick- 
asaws, gave the United States great 
trouble at times in reference to lands and 
removals beyond the Mississippi. Osce- 
ola, the Seminole chief, was one of the 
leaders in trouble within the present cen- 
tury. 

The Catawba family dwelt partly 
within North, and partly within Souths 
Carolina, along the Yadkin and Cataw- 
ba rivers. They never gave much 
trouble to settlers, though they were 
frequently engaged in war with other 
tribes. Peter Harris, the last full blooded 
Catawba Indian, took an active and hon- 
orable part in the American Revolution. 
West of the Catawbas, among the 
mountains of Upper Georgia, dwelt the 
Cherokees, wdio were a bold, warlike 
people. They were removed to the In- 
dian Territory in 1S38 and in the late 
Civil War fought in large numbers in the 
Confederate army. When the cause of 
the Southern States began to hang in 
doubt, nine thousand of them withdrew 
to the Union army. 

The Uchees lived in the present State 
of Georgia. Their numbers were very 
small. They had no tradition of a mi- 
gration into the country, and claimed to 
be much older than the tribes around 
them. 

The Natchez, dwelling on the east bank 
of the Mississippi, afhrmed that they were 
the oldest nation within the country. In 
some respects they were like the Indians 
of the Gulf region of Mexico. They 
were sun or fire worshipers. They were 
almost exterminated by the French In 
the early history of the Mississippi Val- 
ley. 



THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 



71 



Tlie Dakotas or Sioux lived west of 
the Mississippi, with the exception of two 
or three bands of them, like the Winne- 
bagoes in Wisconsin, and some other 



tribes, constituted the mass of jDopulation 
where now the great industries of the 
United States are giving employment to 
thousands of operatives. The life of this 




HALF BREED. 



small, wandering clans. They covered 
the territory of the eastern slope of the 
Rocky Mountains north of the Arkansas 
River. 

These families, with their numerous 



country at that time was a roving, fretful 
one. Tribes were hostile to each other, 
and thus they were already diminishing 
one another's numbers and strength, in 
preparation for the coming of the Euro- 



72 



INTRODUCTORT STUDIES. 



pean. United, they could have been 
strong to resist for years. Divided, they 
could at best make only spasmodic efforts 
and sink dow^n each time into greater 
weakness than before. The Iroquois 
league was the point of greatest strength, 
but even that gradually wasted away be- 
fore the touch of adverse power. 

The Indians of the present time within 
the Eastern United States are but feeble, 
inefficient remnants of what they once 
were. In the territories lining the 
slopes of the Rocky Mountains some 
still maintain their old fierceness, and are 
constantly giving the nation occasion to 
mourn the loss of some of its bravest 
officers and soldiers. It has been cur- 
rently believed during the last few years 
that the Indians were dying out. But 
the best statistics show quite conclusivel}' 
that such is not the case. Without doubt 
some tribes have diminished in numbers 
from various causes, but that the Indian 
population of the United States is de- 
creasing, seems to be a mistake. It is at 
least holding its own, if not actually in- 
creasing. Men who have known them 
most intimately the last few years, de- 



clare it to be so. What does not this 
nation owe these tribes in the way of 
education, evangelization and citizenship? 
How important for the welfare of the 
nation that corruption in the work of 
supplying them be exchanged for hon- 
esty; and that broken promises be ex- 
changed for pledges which are made to 
be kept. The Indian history of the 
country is a sad one from the time when 
the followers of Columbusbegan to work 
the natives ot Hayti in the brooks and 
mountains to secure from them the reve- 
nue of gold-dust, down to the present 
day, when there are very few to respect 
the Indian's rights if the prospect of gold- 
mining in the Black Hills or elsewhere, 
holds out its flattering jorizes. The inde- 
pendence of the Indian's spirit, the 
haughtiness of his pride, the obstinacy of 
his will, all fundamental parts of his na- 
ture, make it difficult to weave him into the 
course of civilized life. But to make the 
distance wider, by an unjustifiable disre- 
gard, or by a process of extortion, or by 
an insatiable greed, is to be untrue to the 
mission which the United States has to- 
ward the native races of its own territory. 




-g^ ^ — c ' .^ - ^*,\x^^i-\^.^ =^)hm^^em^i^^ 



SECTION III. 



% 



A/ BRIEF review of the accidental 
_/ \_ maritime events which are alleged 
to have been connected with the 
American continent before the 
time of Cabot and Columbus, should pre- 
cede all study of the intentional and ef- 
fective explorations set on foot at the close 
of the fifteenth century. The geograph- 
ical awakening of the latter period is not 
fully understood until it is contrasted with 
the indefinite and roving enterprises of 
previous generations. IVIany of the less 
reasonable accounts, partially or wholly 
without foundation, claiin an interest sim- 
ply because they bear to some extent 
upon early ocean navigation. The 
Northmen were the chief sea rovers of 
that time, but they were venturesome 
sailors, not scientific navigators. They 
fell by accident upon the discovery which, 
at a later day, cost such a struggle, and 
proved such a boon, to the world. The 
story of their extensive voyages, drawn 
from their Sagas, teaches ho\v unprepared 
the age must have been for new terri- 
torial possessions, since it joassed by the 
fruits of their achievements, with scarcely 
a perceptible emotion. The efforts to 
colonize, puny as they were, and the final 
abolition of all knowledge of the New 



World, throw a great light upon the 
scientific and commercial deadness of the 
age of which such things could be true. 
The intrepid Vikings of the tenth and 
eleventh centuries were not a part of the 
civilization which about five centuries 
later, claimed every inch of soil it touched, 
and took possession of it with floating 
banners, erected ci'osses and buried plates. 
Neither had the great problem of a pas- 
sage to the Indies dawned upon the mind 
of the world, to give force to the greed 
of nations. The little Norse vessels went 
here and there in Northern seas without 
chart or compass. Driving storms forced 
them through wastes of water, and upon 
strange coasts. A great rift sej^arates the 
whole story from the modern determined 
conquest of the ocean. A mist, which 
will never be completely dissipated, cur- 
tains this olden time. The legendary 
seal rests upon much of the narration. 

499. The Buddhist Priest in Mexico. 
A tradition, founded upon the Year Books 
of the Chinese, in which a minute account 
of the country and its inhabitants is given, 
asserts that Hoei Shin, a Buddhist priest, 
visited a land " twenty thousand li east of 
Tahan," and named it Fusang. Much 
has been said to prove Fusang to be 



INTRODUCTORT STUDIES. 



Mexico, or perhaps California; and much, 
likewise, in depreciation of the whole ac- 
count, which has heen pronounced entirely 
deceitful. The evidence drawn from the 
description of animals and plants in the 
narrative, is wholly uncertain. The 
event in itself was not an impossible one, 
and the voyage described may have had 
a foundation in fact. The wrecks of 
eu.ca,nbridsre eastern vessels have been 

University, Eng- fouud UpOU the Paclfic COast 

' '""" ' ■ of North America in recent 
centuries. It seems entirely probable, 
however, that the country reached was 
nearer the priest's starting point than either 
Mexico or California would be. 

725. Irish in Iceland. According to the 
Islcndiuga bbk^ the oldest piece of Icelan- 
dic literature, Irish settlers and Culdee 
anchorites landed in Iceland and colonized 
two or three places, where they remained 
till nearly the time of the arrival of the 
Northmen in the next century. They 
left traces of their presence in little bells, 
books and crosiers. Their settlements 
were chiefly in the isle of Papoen on the 
east coast, and of Papyle on the south 
coast of the island. They were originally 
induced to go thither by some report 
gained from an Irish monk. 

861. First Northman in Iceland. Nad- 
doddr, a Norwegian Viking, was driven 
upon the coast of Iceland in a storm. He 
named it Snjaland, or Snowland, and 
after slight exploration, returned home. 

864. Svafarsson and Floki. A Swe- 
dish navigator named Garthar Svafarsson, 
having been driven to Iceland in a storm, 
spent the winter there, and carried back 
an excellent account of the island. 
Before long, other hardy mariners visited 
Iceland. Among them was Floki, who, in 
an attempt to settle on the island, wintered 
on the coast, but returned to his own land 



with less favorable accounts than others 
before hiin had given. 

874. The first permanent settlement 
in Iceland was formed at Reykiavik by 
Hjorleifr and Ingolfr, two Norwegian 
chieftains who had come here about three 
years before, to escape the tyranny of the 
home government. The place soon be- 
gan to flourish, because others came for 
the same reason. This is the settlement 
whose thousandth anniversary was cele- 
brated with such parade in 1S74. 

876. The Discovery of Greenland. 
Greenland was accidentally discovered 
by Gunnbjorn, a Northman, ^^^ q^^^,.^ j^.„,.. 
who was wrecked upon its i-ersity, Eng- 

T^ , land, founded. 

eastern coast, it was known 

for a century afterward as "Gunnbjorn's 

Rocks," and remained vmcolonized. 

928. Iceland became a republic in 
government, and remained such for about 
three centuries. During this period it 
reached a high degree of prosperity and 
wealth. It had, at one time, over one 
hundred thousand inhabitants. Learning 
and literature flourished. It was the 
golden period of Icelandic history. 

981. Christianity in Iceland. Chris- 
tianity was preached for the first time in 
Iceland by Friedrich, a Saxon bishop. 
He was brought to the island by Thor- 
wald, who had been converted to the 
faith by him in Denmark. 

983. Greenland was re-discovered 
by Eric the Red, who had been banished 
from Iceland because of his turbulence 
and crimes. He conferred its present 
name upon the country, and visited the 
western coast at an inlet which he 
named Ericsfiord, at which point he 
conceived the idea of founding a colony. 

985. Greenland Colonized. Eric the 
Red, having returned to Iceland after a 
short time, sailed again foi Ericsfiord 



PRE-COLUMBIAN HIS TORT AND TRADITIONS. 



499-1488] 

with a fleet of twenty-five vessels. Eleven 
of them were wrecked and lost upon the 
passage, but the rest arrived safely, and a 
prospei'ous town was formed. Other 
settlements were soon founded, and the 
country was explored in different direc- 
tions. Greenland was for centuries a 
flourishing region. , 

986. North American Coast. Biarne 
Herjulfson sailed from Iceland for Green- 
land, but on account of fogs and north 
winds, lost his coiu'se and came upon the 
coast of a strange land, which he sighted 
at different times in a northerly direction. 
It is thought that he came upon the Atlan- 
tic coast of North America, perhaps at 
Newfoundland or Labrador, and sailed 
along it until he arrived at the colony of 
Eric. No landing was made till Green- 
land was reached. 

1000. Northmen in Vinland. Leif, 
son of Eric the Red, with thirty-five 
men, explored the coast of North Amer- 
ica for a long distance. He landed first 
at a place which he named Helluland, 
from the appearance of slate upon the 
coast. This is thought to have been 
Labrador or Newfoundland. He then 
found a region which he named Mark- 
land, from the wooded shores. He finally 
reached a pleasant country and spent the 
winter at some spot in it. As nearly as 
can be told, it was in the region of Rhode 
Island. The adventurers named it Vin- 
land, because they found wild grapes in 
great abundance. In the spring they 
returned to Greenland. 

1002. Thorwald, a brother of Leif, 
sailed to Vinland and remained there two 
years. He came upon a cape which he 
named Kialarnes or Keel Cape. It was 
undoubtedly Cape Cod. 

1004. First Fight with Natives. 
Thorwald and some of his men in their 



75 



explorations along the coast of Vinland, 
came into contact with the natives for the 
first time. The Northmen killed eight, 
and soon afterward were attacked by a 
large number and driven to their boats. 
Thorwald was severely wounded, and 
soon died. The colony returned to Green- 
land. 

1005. Thorstein, a third son of Eric,, 
sailed for Vinland, but failed to find land» 
and returned. 

1007. Karlsefne's Colony. Thorfinn 
Karlsefne sailed to Vinland with a col- 
ony of men and women. An attempt 
was made, for a few years, to support the 
colony in the vicinity of Mt. Hope Bay, 
Rhode Island. But at last, after several 
fierce conflicts with the natives, these colo- 
nists also gave up the enterprise and re- 
turned to Greenland. A son had been 
born to Karlsefne in Vinland, and was 
named Snorri, the first child of European 
parentage born on the American conti- 
nent. It is claimed that Thorwaldsen, 
the celebrated Danish sculptor, and one 
or two Danish scholars of repute, de- 
scended froni Snorri. 

1011. Last Recorded Norse Colony 
in Vinland. Freydis, daughter of Eric, 
now led an expedition to Vinland. But 
after discord and murder this company 
sailed away from Vinland, of w^hich we 
do not hear after this time. It has been 
claimed that the old stone tower at New- 
port, Rhode Island, and the inscription 
upon Dighton Rock, which 1096-1272. 
lies upon the bank of Taun- ^-''^ Cncsades, 
ton River, are memorials of these visits 
of the Northmen. But other antiquari- 
ans have zealously opposed this view, and 
the origin of these relics is, therefore, by 
no means clear. 

1121. First Bishop in Greenland. 
Greenland was erected into a bishop- 



76 



INTRODUCTORY STUDIES. 



ric, and Arnold was consecrated as its 
first bishop. A considerable number of 
churches and monasteries had been built, 
and the ecclesiastical affairs of the country 
were on quite a firm foundation. 

1170. The Welsh Prince. A tradi- 
tion drawn from some of the registei-s in 
Welsh abbeys asserts that Madoc,a Welsh 
prince, discovered and colonized America. 
It has been supposed by some that traces 
of the colony established by him have 
been found among the Indians of the 
no2. Mariner's United States in a tdbe with 

compass invent- ,. , , . , , ■,. 

edat Naples, by lig^t skuis who spcak a dia- 
Gioia. lect allied to " Old English." 

1265-1321. T-. 1 -1 1 

Dante, ^^'t the evidence drawn 
from the reports of early travelers, is en- 
tirely inconclusive, 

1380. The Zeno Brothers. It is al- 
leged ujDon the authority of certain maps 
and letters published by one of their de- 
scendants, that Nicolo and Antonio Zeno, 
Venetian navigators, explored the whole 
1324-1384. Atlantic coast of the present 

iviciiiffe. United States. But the story 
is in some respects so singular that it is 
probably a fabrication almost or quite en- 
tirely. 

1387. Iceland acknowledged submis- 
sion to the King of Denmark and Nor- 
way. It soon suffered reverses which have 
greatly lessened ever since the strength 
of its civilization. 

1402. The Black Death, a terrible 

plague, carried off nearly two-thirds of 

1328-1400. the population .of Iceland, 

Chaucer, and about nine-tenths of the 



cattle died during the following winter, 
from the inclement weather. 

1406. The last bishop of Greenland, 
named Endride Andreason, was conse- 
crated. 

1409. Decline of Greenland. The 
bishopric of Greenland was abandoned 
because of the loss of population and 
wealth. The country had suffered from 
the Black Death, and from i^^. invention 
hostile incursions. It was "f Pfi''^'".?- 
now lost sight of, and had no more history 
till about the close of the sixteenth century. 

1484. Alonzo Sanchez is alleged to 
have been driven across to Hayti by a 
storm, and, having sjoent some time in 
exploration, to have returned and revealed 
to Columbus what he had 14S5-1509. Hen- 
discovered. This tradition rv vii., King 

11.11 , c of England . 

IS undoubtedly empty 01 
truth, having evidently originated since 
the achievements of Columbus took place. 
1488. Cousin, the Frenchman. A 
French writer claims that Cousin, a 
Dieppe navigator, discovered America by 
being driven o\er the ocean in a westerl}^ 
course by a storm. The account states 
that a man named Pinzon was with 
Cousin, and that he, having gone to 
Spain upon their return to Europe, inter- 
ested Columbus in the project, and sailed 
with him upon his first voyage. But the 
Pinzons were rich and energetic enough 
to have undertaken an enterprise of their 
own, if one of their nuinber had ever been 
across the Atlantic. We have no evi- 
dence that such was the case. 






PART II 



Discovery, Exploptioii m^ 

gETTliEEQEIlT. 



1492-1630. 




'-'•Look now abroad — another race hasjilled 

These populous borders — xvide the xvood recedes^ 
And towns shoot 7ip^ and fertile realms are tilled; 

The land is full of harvests and green meads ; 

Streams numberless^ that many a fountain feeds^ 
Shine^ disembowered^ a7id give to szai and breeze 

Their virgin waters ; the fill region leads 
JVezu colonies forth ^ that toward the western seas 
Spread^ like a rapidfiame a?fwng the aiiticmnal treesP 

■ — BRYANT. 



SECTION IV. 
TJB^U GnUjiT DISCO VUIi T. U92-:/506. 



*V WIDE collateral study of Euro- 
/JL pean science, government, and so- 
T \ cial life, in the fifteenth century, 
^j would show that the American 
continent would have been brought to 
light within a short time even if Columbus 
had not served as the foremost agent in 
its accomplishment. The New World 
could not have been much longer hidden 
in deep obscurity. The world had reached 
a point at which the discovery was to be 
neither accidental nor unnecessary. The 
attention of the learned was turned more 
and more to geographical science. Mar- 
itime enterprise was engrossing the 
thoughts of a great many upon the shores 
of the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic 
coast of Europe. Little vessels were 
gradually pushing their way into the 



ocean, though most sailors were as yet 
very timid when far from land. Explor- 
ers were following the coast of Africa, 
and at last rounded the Cape of Good 
Hope. The nations were eager for ter- 
ritorial expansion, and the increase of 
wealth. The question of a short and 
advantageous route to the riches of the 
Orient inflamed their passions. Hun- 
dreds of adventurers were ready for any 
enterprise which promised conquest and 
gold. The compass and astrolabe, then 
recent inventions, made victory over the 
ocean greater and more scientific. There 
were to be injustice, passion, bigotry, and 
many bloody deeds, to disgrace the sub- 
jugation of America, but in its virgin 
soil much true life was to root itself. By 
that life we live to-day. 



CSHlSTOTH^ai. COI.77MSUS. 



Many places lay claim to the honor of 
having been the birthplace of Columbus. 
No one of them all has better reasons for 
so doing than the beautiful city of Genoa, 
in Italy, upon the Mediterranean. The 
year of his birth is uncertain, but most 
authorities set it at 1435. In his early 



boyhood he formed the plan of pursuing 
the life of a navigator, and was sent by 
his father, for a very short time, to the 
University of Pavia, where he studied the 
necessary sciences. At the age of four- 
teen years he made his first voyage, and 
sailed much upon the Mediterranean dur- 



80 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AA^D SETTLEMENT. 



ing his youth. In 1477, after he had be- 
gun to mature the great purpose of his 
life, he sailed on a voyage into Northern 
seas, passing Iceland, as is thought, to lat- 
itude 73° or beyond. He had already 
gone, in 1470, to Lisbon, Portugal, at- 
tracted thither probably, by the zeal of 
Prince Henry in geographical study. 
His attention had already been aroused 
by the floating stones of unknown lands 
far off in the seas, and by the speculation 
of geographers 
upon the shape of 
the earth, and the 
position of the 
continents. He 
held communica- 
tion before long, 
with some of the 
scholars of the 
time, about these 
questions, and 
what he learned 
from them fixed 
in him a purpose 
to attempt a solu- 
tion of the prob- 
lem. While en- 
gaged in the 
work of construc- 
ting charts and 
maps at Lisbon, 
for his own support, the project of reach- 
ing Asia by sailing directly west, began 
to take greater possession of his mind. 
He soon made proposals for an expedi- 
tion, to the court of Portugal, and per- 
haps to the governments of Venice and 
Genoa, but could effect nothing. He af- 
terward sent his brother, Bartholomew, 
to the court of England to negotiate with 
Henry VII. While in Lisbon he mar- 
ried the daughter of a deceased naviga- 
tor, and thereby gained possession of 




CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 



many charts and plans. His \vife having 
died he left Lisbon in 14S4, with his little 
son, Diego, and began his application to 
the learned men and royal court of 
Spain. He pleaded his cause before the best 
minds of the day at Salamanca, and 
gained access to Ferdinand and Isabella. 
The views he j^i'esented met with favor 
from some, but were constantly hindered 
by the crude intellectual and religious 
notions of the time. Discouraged at last 
by the unceasing 
opposition, he left 
the court of Spain 
in February, 1493, 
and set out for 
France. Through 
the impassioned 
solicitation of Luis 
de St. Angel and 
Alonzo de Quin- 
tanilla, Queen 
Isabella sent a 
courier to over- 
take Columbus,, 
and summon him 
again to court. 
Upon his return 
the expedition 
was finally agreed 
upon. Queen Isa- 
bella promising 
to assume the expense for her own crown 
of Castile, by the pledge of her jewels, a 
step rendered unnecessary by a loan from 
St. Angel, who was at the time ecclesias- 
tical treasurer of Aragon. This was the 
long-expected and patiently-awaited mo- 
ment of a score of years. The scientific 
and religious ambitions of Columbus 
seemed about to be realized. The defeats 
of his life were apparently, though not 
really, at an end. 

1492. April 17. The Written Agree- 



1492-1506. j THE GREAT 

ment. Ferdinand and Isabella signed an 
agreement to undertake an expedition. 
The offices and honors of admiral and 
viceroy over the lands which w^ould be 
discovered, vs^ere conferred upon Colum- 
bus and his heirs forever. It was also 
stipulated that one-tenth of all valuable 
substances found in the new realms should 
be reserved for him, and that he should 
receive an eighth of the profits whenever 
he chose to assume an eighth of the cost. 

1492. April 30. A Letter of Privi- 
lege was drawn up by the monarchs, 
which repeated the agreement in the 
form of a commission, and authorized 
Columbus and his descendants to use the 
title Don before their names. 

1492. Aug. 3. The First Departure. 
Columbus sailed before sunrise on the 
morning of Friday, from the Roads of 
Saltes, near Palos, with three vessels 
and one hundred and twenty persons, in- 
cluding ninety mariners. The largest 
vessel, named Santa Maria, was decked, 
and was commanded by Columbus him- 
self The other two were caravels with- 
out decks, but each of them had a fore- 
castle, and a cabin in the stern. The 
Pinta was commanded by Martin 
Alonzo Pinzon; the Nina by his brother, 
Vincente Yanez Pinzon. A third brother, 
Francisco Martin Pinzon, was pilot on 
board the Pinta. The Pinzons had added 
the third vessel to the expedition by their 
own wealth, and had enabled Columbus 
to provide an eighth of the whole cost. 

1492. Aug. 9. The Canary Islands 
were reached, where the Pinta was re- 
paired, and stores were obtained. 

1492. Sept. 6. The Unknown Ocean. 
The little fleet sailed from the Canary 
Islands directly west into the Atlantic, 
much to the disheartening of the more 
timid sailors, who now began to realize 



DISCOVERT. 



81 



very vividly, the nature of the enter- 
prise. 

1492. Sept. 13. Variation of the 
Needle. Columbus for the first time 
noticed the variation of the compass 
needle from the North Star, and kept the 
knowledge of it from his officers and 
men for several days. When the pilots 
discovered it, the dejection they felt at 
losing sight of land was greatly increased 
through fear that the ordinary laws of 
nature would no longer hold good. Dur- 
ing the next few weeks the sailors \vere 
several times on the point of mutiny, 
and at last threatened the life of Colum- 
bus. They were constantly deceived, 
however, by signs of land, and were thus 
held on their ^vay. 

1492. Sept. 21. The Sargasso Sea. 
They entered that mysterious mass of 
floating seaweed in the middle Atlantic, 
known as the Sargasso Sea. The minds 
of the sailors were greatly excited with 
the fear of rocks, reefs and shoals. The 
Sargasso Sea lies in the center of the 
North Atlantic system of currents, near 
the Azores. At this point a large section 
of the ocean is nearly motionless. An 
area larger than France is co^'ered with 
a seaweed commonly called Sargassum 
natans, more properly, Sargassum bacci- 
ferum, with which is mingled another 
curious weed, called Macrocystis pyrifera, 
with stems a thousand or fifteen hundred 
feet long, the size of a man's finger. 
From a distance the weed looks perfectly 
solid. Columbus, however, knew the 
ocean well enough to be convinced that 
his vessels were still in deep water. He 
therefore quieted his men, and kept his 
course. But in the management of such 
difficulties, the great explorer found need 
for all the resources of his wonderful 
nature. Few men have exhibited a more 



82 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



complete self-possession in the midst of 
unexpected emergencies, or have united 
so great a skill with so sublime a faith. 

TH^ ^A'BW WO'RL'D. 

1492. Oct. 12. Land was at last dis- 
covered about tv.'O o'clock on the morning 
of Fridav, ten weeks, almost to an hour, 
from tlie time the fleet sailed from Palos. 
A moving light had been seen by Colum- 
bus earlier in the night, and had been 
confidently judged by him to be a sign of 
inhabited land. At daylight each com- 
mander landed with a boat's company, 
and Columbus took possession with the 
royal standard, in behalf of Ferdinand 
and Isabella, naming the island San Sal- 
vador. The natives manifested great 
curiosity. San Salvador, the native name 
of which was Guanahani, is one of the 
Bahamas, at a distance of two hundred 
and fifty miles from Florida. Columbus 
obtained from the natives a few gold or- 
naments in exchange for glass beads, and 
little hawks' bells. To the question 
where gold was jorocured, an invariable 
response was made by pointing to the 
south, across the water. After a few 
days Columbus cruised among the rest of 
the Bahama group, landing and naming 
several of the islands. He then sailed 
toward the south in search of the land cf 
gold. 

1492. Oct. 28. Cigars and Maize. 
Land was discovered, the Indian name of 
which was found to be Cuba. It was 
here that Columbus and his followers first 
saw the natives, both men and women, 
smoking rolls of leaves, either by holding 
them in the mouth, or in the ends of 
reeds, through which the smoke was in- 
haled. This was the tobacco plant which 
grew wild on the island, and whose name 



is thought, though other derivations have 
been projDosed, to have since been drawn 
from the tabacos, the pipe or reed through 
which the Caribbee Indians smoked it. 
The Aztecs also used it as a roll of 
leaves sometimes, in a silver or shell 
holder. This is the origin of the modern 
cigar. The Spaniards pronounced the 
perfume " fragrant and grateful." Maize, 
which was cultivated by the natives, was 
now for the first time seen by Europeans. 
The name Indian corn was conferred 
upon it at a later day by the Pilgrims, at 
Plymouth, Mass. 

1492. Dec. 6. Hayti was discovered 
and named Hispaniola, or Little Spain. 
Columbus everywhere treated the natives 
with great kindness, and prohibited any 
abuse of their confidence. 

1492. Dec. 24. The Santa Maria 
was wrecked upon a shoal near Hayti by 
the carelessness of the pilot. By the aid 
of the natives the ammunition and stores 
of all kinds were safely landed. A fort 
was built out of the beams of the vessel, 
and named La Navidad. The native 
prince, Guacanagari, treated the Spaniards 
with great honor, and gave them gifts of 
gold. 

1493. Jan. 4. Columbus left thirty- 
nine men at La Navidad, and sailed for 
Spain on board the Nina. He gave the 
little colony earnest injunctions to behave 
honorably toward one another, and the 
natives. In the meantime the Pinta had 
deserted in search of gold, but was found, 
and sailed in company with the Nina. 
The vessels were beaten about by severe 
tempests, and were at last separated from 
one another. 

1493. March 4. Columbus arrived 
at the inouth of the river Tagus, in Port- 
ugal, and sent a courier to the Spanish 
sovereigns to announce his coming. 



1492-1506.] 



THE GREAT DISCOVERT. 



83 



1493. March 15. Columbus arrived 
at Palos, and was welcomed with great 
acclamations. At evening of the same 
day the Pinta aiTived. Her commander, 
Martin Alonzo Pinzon, thinking that the 
Nina had been lost at sea, or hoping to 
arrive first and secure the glory, had for- 
warded a letter to Ferdinand and Isabella 
from Bayonne, on the Bay of Biscay. 
His plans being thwarted, and a letter of 
I'eprimand being received from the sov- 
ereigns, Pinzon sank away in chagrin, and 
died in a short time. Yet he should not 
be misjudged. He had been eager to 
take part in the expedition, and more 
than any other except Columbus, had 
helped carry it out to a complete success. 
He was evidently impatient at the thought 
that the honor would all descend upon one 
person. He was a leading navigator of 
his time, and as such, was proud and 
sensitive. His real and thorough partici- 
pation in the discovery, when so many 
were ready to falter, should be great 
commendation for him, and serve to put 
into just relations his temporary deviation 
from the path of true manliness. Colum- 
bus was everywhere laden with honor, 
especially at the royal court. He dis- 
played ni public processions the products 
of the New World, together w4th a half 
dozen of the natives. 

1493. May 2. A Papal Bull was 
issued, granting to the Spanish sovereigns 
full rights, titles, and powers in the newly 
discovered lands. 

1493. May 25. The former contract 
between Columbus and the sovereigns 
was renewed, affirming the rights of 
Columbus and his descendants to the 
offices of admiral, viceroy and governor, 
in all the lands discovered. The royal 
seal was given to Columbus for use in 
giving letters patent and commissions. 



The honor shown to Columbus at this 
time began to excite envy in many 
breasts, and to prepare the way for that 
violation of all these solemn contracts 
against which he was obliged to contend 
for the rest of his life. 

1493. Sept. 25. The Second Depar- 
ture. Columbus sailed from Cadiz on 
his second voyage with fifteen hundred 
men, in three ships and fourteen light 
caravels. There were miners, mechan- 
ics, husbandmen, and many restless adven- 
turers. Different kinds of seeds, and do- 
mestic animals, including horses, were 
taken uj^on this expedition. It was dur- 
ing the preparation for this voyage in 
some trivial matters, that the hostility to 
Columbus on the part of Fonseca, arch- 
deacon of Seville, subsequently bishop, 
and for a long time at the head of In- 
dian affairs for the New World, origina- 
ted. The same man was at a later time 
a deadly foe to Cortes. 

1493. Nov. 3. Fierce Caribbee In- 
dians. Columbus having taken a route 
further south than on his former voyage, 
discovered the Caribbean Islands and 
landed at several, including Guadeloupe. 
After some intercourse with the natives, 
and some fighting, in which one or two, 
Spaniards were killed with poisoned ar- 
rows, he sailed for Hayti. 

1493. Nov. 27. The fleet arrived at 
La Navidad, Hayti, in the evening, and 
found next morning that the fort had 
been completely destroyed. The men 
left in it had failed to observe the faithful 
charge given them, and by jealousies 
among themselves and evil conduct to- 
ward the natives, had brought ruin upon 
their own heads. A part of the garrison, 
as was afterward learned, went into the 



84 



DISCOVERT. EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



interior of the island, where they were 
slain by the inhabitants, who soon sur- 
prised and slew the rest at the fort. 
This was the beginning of evil, because it 
caused the growth of hostile feelings 
which Columbus had done so much to 
prevent. He mournfully searched for 
another suitable spot and founded a col- 
ony on the same island, a little east of 
Monte Christi. This first real colony 
in the New World he named Isabella. 
Houses were speedily built; squares and 
streets were laid out. But the colonists 
began to grow sick in body, through 
change of climate and malarial influ- 
ences, and sick in inind, as they realized 
that wealth even in the New World, 
would be the result of hard labor alone. 
Columbus found this year that the cotton 
tree grew wild, and that the inhabitants 
used the product of it in dressing, and in 
making- fishino- nets. 



1494. January. Finding of Gold. In 

order to explore the island more fully 
and to allay the passion of some who 
only cared for the New World so far as 
it would bring them immediate riches, 
Columbus sent out a company under 
Alonzo de Ojeda to go into the interior 
and search for gold. They returned 
with fine specimens of gold ore, and 
with a quantity of gold dust which had 
been washed out of the sand of brooks. 

1494. Feb. 2. Columbus sent twelve 
vessels home to Spain with fruit, gold, 
and Caribbee captives. After the de- 
parture of the fleet he discovered an in- 
cipient rebellion, and punished the ring- 
leaders. 

1494. March 12. Fort St. Thomas. 
Columbus left Isabella under the com- 
mand of his brother, Don Diego, and 
started with four hundred men upon an 



expedition into the interior of the island. 
They crossed an extensive and beautiful 
valley, and then entered a region of lofty 
mountains. They soon found gold in the 
streams, and having selected a defensible 
position, built a fort, which they named 
St. Thomas. Fifty-six men were left as a 
garrison, and Columbus set out upon his 
return. 

1494. March 29. Misery at Isa- 
bella. Columbus arrived at Isabella and 
found sickness, discontent and un\villing- 
ness to work, rapidly increasing. Persons 
of rank complained at having a portion 
of labor assigned them. Columbus deter- 
mined to employ large numbers of them 
in further exploration of the island, and 
to sail with some himself to the west on 
a voyage of discovery. 

1494. April 9. Alonzo de Ojeda 
was sent with four hundred men to St. 
Thomas, with directions to have the re- 
gion thoroughly explored. 

1494. April 24. The Coast of Cuba. 
Columbus left Isabella with three cara- 
vels and sailed to the west along the 
south shore of Cuba, for several months 
in all, landing at different points until he 
deemed it best to go no further, on ac- 
count of the v^orn condition of the vessels. 
Before turning back, however, he took by 
a notary, the opinion of every person on 
board the three vessels that the land along 
which they were coasting was a conti- 
nent, and no one was afterward to contra- 
dict that assertion, except upon pain of 
severe punishment. They were then 
within a short distance of the west end of 
Cuba, which would have dispelled their 
illusion. 

1494. May 3. Jamaica was dis- 
covered by a short trip to the south from 
the coast of Cuba. 

1494. Sept. 4. Don Bartholomew 



1492-1506.] • THE GREAT DISCOVERT. 

Columbus. The vessels reached Isabella 
upon their return. Columbus, shortly 



85 



before their arrival, v^^as stricken down 
with over-fatigue, and lay in a critical 
condition. At Isabella he found his 
brother, Don Bartholomew, who had been 
sent to England before the Spanish sov- 
ereigns had agreed to enter upon the at- 
tempt of discovery, with a request that 
Henry VII. would fit out an expedition. 
The English monarch accepted the pro- 
posal, and Don Bartholomew was re- 
turning to Spain for his brother, when he 
heard that the voyage had already taken 
place, and that Christopher was then at 
the Spanish court in triumph. Hasten- 
ing his journey, he arrived just after the 
second expedition had departed, and fol- 
lowed to the New World as soon as other 
vessels sailed thither. His presence in 
Isabella was most opportune. His vigor 
and decision were of great assistance. 
He was immediately invested with au- 
thority by his brother, that he might 
set about the regulation of the affairs of the 
colony, which had got into an unfortu- 
nate condition during the absence of the 
admiral. The soldiers, in exploring the 
interior, had aroused the hostility of the 
natives by their cruelty and excesses. 
Discord had arisen, and some of the ene- 
mies of Columbus had sailed to Spain. 
The natives had risen in fierce attacks on 
St. Thomas, and in threatened assaults 
on Isabella. 

1494. Indian Slaves. Before the 
close of this year four ships arrived from 
Spain with provisions. Columbus sent 
them back soon with gold, metals, fruits, 
and five hundred Indian captives, to be 
sold as slaves. This blot on the fair fame 
of the great discoverer is to be ac- 
counted for by the condition of his times. 
These were the ones whom the compas- 



sionate queen ordered to be sent back at 
once. She at the same time sent com- 
mands that the islanders be treated 
mercifully. 

1495. March 27. Suffering of Hayti 
Natives. Columbus, having recovered 
from his long illness, set out with an army 
to subdue the island. He accomplished 
his object, and established a tribute of gold 
dust and cotton to be paid by the natives 
monthly or quarterly. This tribute was 
the cause of great suffering among the 
natives, and W"as afterward diminished 
in amount. This w^as the beginning of 
that enforced labor in mining, which 
nearly annihilated the Indian population 
of Hayti during the next fifty years. It 
was with the greatest difficulty that the 
poor beings could, by toiling all the time, 
procure enough gold to satisfy the de- 
mand for tribute. They had been to- 
tally unaccustomed to labor except just as 
they pleased, and thousands of thein per- 
ished beneath the burden. Add to this 
the fact that the Indian lands were soon 
given to Spanish settlers, who began to 
secure natives to work in cultivating the 
soil, or in mining, and it can be easily seen 
that their condition grew darker all the 
tiine in the strengthening of the slavery 
into which they had fallen. The hot sun 
of Hayti saw many of them perish miser- 
ably by the exactions of their cruel 
masters. 

1495. April 10. Opposition to Co- 
lumbus. A royal proclamation was 
Issued in Spain, granting the right of 
sailing on private voyages to the New 
World, and of trading there. This set 
loose a large number of adventurers and 
navigators. Just at this time a commis- 
sioner named Juan Aguado was sent out 
to study the affairs of the colony, and re- 
port upon the difficulties found there. 



86 DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



knowledge of which had been diffiised in 
Spain by the enemies of Columbus. 
Upon his arrival at Isabella, he began to 
collect information against Columbus 
from all quarters, through the misrepre- 
sentations of the colonists, who laid the 
burden of all their ills upon the shoulders 
of the admiral, 

1496. March 10. Columbus and 
Commissioner Aguado set sail for Spain 
in two caravels. Two hundred and 
twenty-five persons returned to Spain at 
the same time. Nearly fifty Indians 
were also carried. 

1496. June 11. The vessels arrived 
at Cadiz, after much suffering from lack 
of food. The reception of Columbus by 
the people was extremely cool. Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella, however, gave him a 
cordial gi'eeting. His reputation in the 
nation at large was on the decline, because 
his voyages had been no more profitable 
to those engaged in them. The com- 
plaints were disregarded by the sovereigns, 
and Columbus began to ask for a third 
expedition under his own command. But 
he met with indefinite delays of all kinds. 
These made it possible for English ex- 
plorers to discover the mainland of ihe 
western continent, over a year before 
Columbus set foot upon it. 

1496. San Domingo was founded at 
the mouth of the river Ozema, in Hayti, 
in order to afford another seaport. It 
rapidly took precedence of Isabella. 

1497. June 2. A royal edict was 
issued, retracting the right of private 
voyages and trade, so far as they conflicted 
with the claims of Columbus. 

KOBTH :AMERICA DISCOVERED. 

1497. June 24. John Cabot and his 
son Sebastian, having obtained a patent 
from Henry VII. of England, sailed in a 



vessel named " Matthew," to the north- 
west in search of a passage to India, and 
this day discovered the coast of Labrador, 
fourteen months before Co- j^,g.^5;5. Lonk 
lumbus discovered the main- xii. King of 
land of South America. 
They returned without jorofit from their 
voyage. It is asserted by some on the 
authority of certain maps upon which the 
date was put by the Cabots themselves, 
that this voyage took place in 1494. 

1498. May. After the death of his 
father, Sebastian Cabot sailed again to 
tlie New World, w^ith two ships and 
three hundred men. He coasted during 
the summer from Labrador to Chesapeake 
Bay, some say to Florida. Feeling sure 
that the land was a new continent, he re- 
turned to England. He had discovered 
and named Newfoundland, and reported 
at home the immense numbers of codfish 
which he had seen off its coast, which, he 
said, were nearly numerous enough to 
imjDcde the vessel \\\ its course. He thus, 
perhaps, originated the great fishery on 
the Newfoundland Banks, though there 
is some evidence that the Basques had 
been there before his voyage. The young" 
explorer was twenty-one years of age at 
the time of this expedition. These two 
voyages lay at the foundation of the 
claim which England afterward made to 
North America. 



1498. May 30. The Third Depart- 
ure. Columbus sailed from San Lucar 
de Barrameda upon his third voyage, 
with six vessels. His patience gave way 
at the moment of departure, when he 
knocked down and kicked Ximeno Bre- 
viesca, Fonseca's treasurer, a man who 
had harassed him in all his preparations. 
The long delay had worn out the re- 
markable patience of the admiral, and he 



1492-1 50G. ] THE GREA T DISCO VER T. 

could bear no more. The sovereigns 
were sonievvhat estranged by this unfor- 
tunate event. Columbus took a route to 
the south of his previous voyages. 

1498. July 31. Trinidad was dis- 
covered, and named from the appearance 
of its mountains. 



SOUTH >IMEKIC^ DISCOVERED. 

1498. Aug. 1. While cruising along 
the southern shore of Trinidad, Colum- 
bus beheld in the distance the low line of 
the vSouth American coast. He entered 
the Gulf of Paria within a few days, and 
landed upon the mainland, which he 
thought to be another island. The natives 
had large strings of pearls which they 
said were procured on the coast to the 
north. Through lack of provisions and 
the ill-health ot Columbus, the fleet sailed 
for Hayti. It was upon this cruise that 
Columbus experienced the high waves 
which in July and August mark the 
mouths of the Orinoco River. This river 
rises between April and October, thirty 
or more feet, and sometimes creates at its 
outlets a very dangerous sea for shipping. 



1498. Pearl Fishery. The islands of 
Margarita and Cubagua, since noted for 
their pearl fishery, were discovered. Co- 
lumbus obtained a quantity of pearls to 
be sent home to Spain. 

1498. Aug. 30. Columbus arrived 

at San Domingo, and was met by his 

1498. Vascoda brother, Dou Bartholomew. 

Gama doubled He learned that the natives 

the Cape of Good 

Hope, andreach- "''^d been a SOUrCC of COU- 

ed India. ^\^\\i troublc, and that a re- 

bellion of Spaniards, under Francisco 
Roldan, whom he had often befriended, 
was in existence. For two years from 
this time Columbus struggled with the 



87 

task of regaining his authority, and finally 
succeeded to a certain extent. 

TIMER I CI S VESPUCIUS. 



1499. May 30. Alonzo de Ojeda, a 
companion of Columbus in his second 
expedition, sailed from Spain with four 
ships, on a voyage of discovery in the 
New World. Americus Vespucius, a 
Florentine merchant, accompanied him 
as navigator and geographer. They fol- 
lowed the charts which Columbus had 
already sent home to explain his third 
voyage, and reaching the South Ameri- 
can coast, sailed through the Gulf of 
Paria. At the entrance of Lake Mara- 
caibo they found an Indian town built 
upon piles over the water, and named it 
Venezuela, or Little Venice. The name 
has since been extended to the gulf, and 
to the whole region of countrv. Thence 
they crossed to Hayti, and kidnapping 
natives on different islands, returned to 
Spain, where they sold their captives for 
slaves. This voyage lies at the founda- 
tion of the name afterward conferred 
upon the Western continent. The claim 
has been made that this expedition was in 
1497, and that Vespucius was the dis- 
coverer of the South American mainland, 
but the evidence that this is the true date 
of it is greatest. Columbus undoubtedly 
first saw the region. 



1499. June. Pearls. Pedro Alonzo 
Nino and Christoval Guerra sailed from 
Palos, with thirty-three persons, in a ves- 
sel of fifty tons. They coasted through 
the Gulf of Paria to the island of Mar- 
garita, where they obtained, by trading 
with the natives, the largest amount of 
pearls which had yet been secured, some 
of them of great size and value. They 



88 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



then returned safely to Spain with their 
riches. Nino was imprisoned for a time, 
because it was suspected that the voyagers 
had secreted a part of their pearls before 
taking out the royal portion. The charge 
was not sustained, and he was liberated to 
enjoy his wealth. 

1500. Jan. 28. Cape St. Augustine 
was discovered by Vincent Yancz Pinzon, 
who sailed on a voyage of exploration 
with four ships. He afterward discovered 
the Amazon by the freshness of the 
water far out at sea, and was the first to 
cross the equinoctial line in the western 
Atlantic, tic returned to Spnin with the 
loss of two ships and a large number of 
his men, bv a hurricane. 

1500. April 26. Brazil was discov- 
ered by Pedro Alvarez de Cabral, who 
sailed from Portugal for India by the way 
of the Cape of Good Hope, and kept far 
to the west. He took formal possession for 
the throne of Portugal. 

1500. Diego de Lepe sailed to the 
coast of South America and passed be- 
yond Cape St. Augustine a long distance, 
thus reaching further south than any 
explorer previous to himself, or for twelve 
years afterward. 

1500. Gaspar Cortereal, a Portuguese 
navigator, sailed to the coast of North 
America, and having reached as far as 
Labrador, kidnapped fifty-nine natives, 
and sold them profitably for slaves upon 
his return. It is thought that the name 
Labrador, laborer, was first used after this 
voyage, because of the good qualities of 
the natives for work. 

1500. Aug. 23. Arrest of Columbus. 
Don Francisco de Bobadilla, liaving been 
sent out to investigate the fresh charges 
made against Columbus, arrived in San 
Domingo. He at once assumed the su- 
preme authority, seized the house and 



efTects of Columbus in the latter's absence, 
and as soon as possible, took the admiral 
and his brothers prisoners, and put them 
in irons. 

1500. October. Columbus was sent 
to Spain in chains by Bobadilla. The 
officers of the caravel, pained at the sight, 
offered to remove the shackles, but Co- 
lumbus refused, saying that he would 
wear them till the further will of the sov- 
ereigns was known, and then preserve 
them as a part of the reward of his ser- 
vices. 

1500. October. Rodrigo de Bastides 
sailed from Cadiz with two ships, and 
explored the northern coast of South 
America. His vessels were destroyed by 
the shipworm, and he reached Hayti with 
his crew, at great hazard. He returned 
to Spain with considerable wealtli in 
pearls. Vasco Nunez de Balboa, after- 
wartl the discoverer of the Pacific Ocean, 
came to the New World in this expedi- 
tion. 

1500. Nov. 23. Columbus reached 
Spain, where a great reaction took place 
upon his arrival in chains. The sov- 
ereigns found that wrong had been done 
by the unjust methods of Bobadilla. 
They ordered Columbus and his brothers 
to be freed, and received the admiral 
with great honor. They promised to re- 
call -Bobadilla. 

1501. Gaspar Cortereal sailed a sec- 
ond time for the coast of North America, 
to continue the traffic in slaves, but was 
never heard from. 

FIRST S±\'CTIOy OF KEGRO SIM VERY. 

1501. A royal ordinance was passed 
permitting Spanish emigrants to the 
New World to take with them negro 
slaves which had been born among 
Christians. 



1492-1506.] 



THE GREAT DISCOVERT. 



89 



1502. Feb. 13, Don Nicholas de 
Ovando was sent out by the sovereigns 
after a long delay, to supersede Bobadilla 
as governor of the New World. He 
was directed to repair all the injuries done 
to the rights and property of Columbus 
and his brothers. 

1502. First Mainland Settlement. 
Alonzo de Ojeda sailed with four ships on 
a second voyage. He passed over his 
former route through the Gulf of Paria, 
and undertook to found a colony upon 
the coast beyond. It was soon broken 
up by discord among its members. 

1502. May 9. The Fourth Depart- 
xire. Columbu!?, with the authority of 
Ferdinand and Isabella, sailed from Cadiz 
upon his fourth voyage, which also proved 
his last one, with four hundred and fifty 
men in four caravels of from fifty to one 
hundred tons burden each. He designed 
to attempt the discovery of the strait 
which he supposed to exist at the south- 
west of Cuba. It had not yet been 
learned that Cuba was an island. 

1502. June 29. He arrived at San 
Domingo, but was refused admission to 
the harbor by Gov. Ovando, for some 
reasons unknown. He predicted a severe 
storm, and warned a fleet which was 
about to convey Bobadilla and many 
others to SjDain, not to put to sea. His 
judgment was rejected, the vessels sailed 
immediately, and were almost all carried 
down by the tempest which Columbus 
foretold. One vessel alone was able to 
keep on. A few put back to San Do- 
mingo in wretched condition. Many 
lives were lost, including Bobadilla; also 
much treasure. Columbus shielded his 
own vessel as well as he could under the 
lee of the island, and soon afterward 
sailed on his way to the west. 

1502. Aug. 14. Cape Honduras was 



discovered and landed upon by Colum- 
bus. 

1502. Sept. 14. Cape Gracias a Dios 

was discovered and named by Columbus, 
who then sailed southward along the 
coast of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and 
obtained slight quantities of gold from 
the natives. At last he abandoned his 
search for the strait, and returned upon 
his course. 

1502. Miguel Cortereal sailed from 
Portugal to the Noi'th American coast in 
search of his brother Caspar, but was 
also lost, 

1502. Brazil was visited by Americus 
Vespucius, under the authority of the 
king of Portugal. He discovered the 
Bay of All Saints, built a fort for his 
stay of five months, loaded a cargo of 
Brazil wood, and returned to Spain. 

1503. March. A settlement was at- 
tempted by Columbus in the district of 
Veragua, near the Isthmus of Panama, 
but the undertaking was broken up by 
the fierceness of the natives, who attacked 
the Spaniards, and killed many. The 
admiral was not to have the honor of 
planting the first colony upon the main- 
land. Leaving the coast he sailed to the 
east, passed through the mouth of the 
Gulf of Darien, and then bent his course 
northerly, 

1503. June 24. A Lonely Year. Pie 
was obliged to beach his worn-out and 
worm-eaten vessels upon Jamaica. He 
arranged them for defence and shelter, 
and lived in them about one year. But 
it was a trynig year. Troubles thickened 
about him. Differences broke out among 
his men, and at one time a portion of 
them revolted and separated from the 
vessels. A warfare took place, which, in 
addition to the hostility of the natives, 
made the position of Columbus one of 



90 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



extreme peril. The natives finally re- 
fused to furnish food. At one time, Co- 
lumbus, knowing- that an eclipse of the 
moon was about to take place, sent word 
to the Indians that the Great Spirit was 
angry with them for their treatment of 
the Spaniards, and that the moon would 
be darkened that night as a sign of his 
displeasure. The natives were overawed 
by the occurrence of the phenomenon, as 
it had been foretold, and for a time fur- 
nished an abundance of provisions. But 
they still hated the visitors to their shores. 

:i D>IRI.YG C±\OE VOYAGE. 

1503. It soon became apparent to 
Columbus and his followers at Jamaica, 
that they must have relief or perish. 
Food was still obtained upon the island 
with great difficulty, and sometimes only 
by force. Besides this, the differences 
among the sailors put a great burden of 
care and watchfulness upon the shoulders 
of Columbus, which he could not long 
endure. Hence some effort must be made 
to convey information concerning the con- 
dition of affiiirs to Hayti. Diego Mendez, a 
faithful follower of Columbus, volunteered 
to attempt the passage from Jamaica to 
Hayti in a large canoe. But the hostility 
of the natives broke up the first luider- 
taking after the preparations had been 
made, and the eastern end of the island 
had been reached, w^here Mendez was 
intending to embark upon his perilous 
adventiu'e. He made his way back to the 
admiral, and prepared once more for the 
trip. This time there were :wo canoes, 
one containing Diego Mendez and sev'eral 
companions; the other containing Bar- 
tholomew Fiesco, with several others. 
Fiesco was also a devoted friend of Co- 
lumbus. The little company set out upon 
their way across the open sea, the men 



taking turns in paddling their frail vessels 
day and night. The heat of the first day 
was excessive, and having no protection 
from the open sun, the men became ex- 
ceedingly thirsty, and by the second day 
all the drinking water on board had been 
exhausted. It was not long in the torrid 
atmosphere before the torments of thirst 
grew almost unendurable. A small 
quantity of water which had been kept 
back, was now given in small amounts to 
the weakened rowers. Through the sul- 
try calm they slowly made their way over 
the swells of the ocean, but could see no 
land. The Indians, of whom there were 
a number, began to die. Some lay help- 
less in the canoes. Mendez and Fiesco 
almost gave way to despair. The suffer- 
ings of all were almost unexampled. At 
last they caught sight of a small island 
named Navasa, about eight leagues from 
Hayti. Here they found rain water, 
but this boon proved the death of some, 
who drank of it immoderately. They 
remained here a day, resting and eating- 
the shell-fish which they found upon the 
shore. At night they crossed to Hayti, 
making the entire forty leagues in a little 
less than five days. They were now one 
hundred and thirty leagues from San 
Domingo, a distance which Mendez im- 
mediately set himself to accomplish. This 
he did with great toil, all for the sake 
of his beloved commander. The entire 
trip is one to -which great romance at- 
taches. Mendez was finally instrumental 
in securing relief for the admiral, as will 
be seen. 

1503. Negro slavery increased to 
such an extent, that Ovando, Governor of 
Hayti, wrote to the Spanish government, 
asking that the importation of negro 
slaves might be stopjoed. 




laiiiimiiiliB^^^^^ iiiiiiiiMiiiy!liiii!lllll!!iB 



92 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



1504. June 28. Columbus sailed 
for San Domingo in two vessels which 
were sent to his relief, one by the faithful 
Mendez, after great delay forced upon 
him, and the other by Ovando, w^io found 
that it could no longer be deferred. 

1504. Aug. 13. He arrived at San 
Domingo, and was received with great 
apparent favor by Ovando and the people. 
He found his own estates in confusion, 
and with difficulty could make arrange- 
ments for a return to Spain. 

1504. Sept. 12. Columbus sailed 
from San Domingo with two caravels, 
after having collected all the rents and 
dues he was able to secure. 

1504. Nov. 7. He reached San Lu- 
car, Spain, with one vessel, the other 
having been sent back to San Domingo 
after a tempest. He w^as carried to Se- 
ville because of his ill-health, and began 
at once to try to retrieve his fortunes and 
secure a better administration for the New 
World. But Queen Isabella, his best 
friend, soon died, and Ferdinand deferred 
attention to the long-neglected claims. 

1504. The Banks of Newfoundland 
are known to have been visited by fisher- 
men froin different parts of Europe, as 
eai'ly as this year. In all probability they 
were occupied at an earlier date. The 
notice of the immense numbers of codfish 
in this vicinity by Cabot, is the only cer- 
tain record of the place before this year. 

1505. May. Columbus visited the 
Spanish court and solicited from Ferdi- 
nand the i-estoration of his rights and 
privileges. But the politic king feared 
to give so much power to one subject, 
and paid little heed to the matter. 

1506. The Gulf of St. Lawrence was 
visited by John Denys, of Honfleur, 
France, who afterward published a map 
of the resfion. 



1506. The First Sugar Cane. Ovan- 
do, Governor of Hayti, worked the gold 
mines of the island with great enei"gy 
and secured a large revenue for the Span- 
ish government. But slips of sugar cane 
brought from the Canaries were found to 
floui-ish, mills were set up, and the inak- 
ing of sugar was in a few years a great 
part of the labor of the island. 

1506. No negro slaves could here- 
after be take<i to the New World, accord- 
ing to a royal decree, except from Seville, 
and such as had been taught Christianity. 

DE^TH OF COLUMBUS. 

1506. May 20. Columbus having 
sunk away under increasing infirmities, 
died at Valladolid, aged about seventy 
years. His body was laid in the convent 
of St. Thomas. His long and patient 
struggles for the rights to which he was 
so keenly sensitive, were at last ended. 
Seldom has a man moved through so 
many novel and exciting scenes, exhibit- 
ing such excellent and remarkable qual- 
ities. Many rare features were combined 
in him. His quick nature drew from all 
quarters the supplies necessary to its 
growth and productive work. He was 
extremely sensitive when a boy, to the 
great awakening in geographical science 
then taking place among the maritime 
nations of Europe. He became what 
he was, because of the age in which he 
lived. He was an outgrowth of the 
period. But he was also unusually spon- 
taneous. He became one of the great 
original producers of the world. Both 
his receptivity and his spontaneity^ arose 
from the activity of his mind. The great 
Mediterranean Sea made his boyhood 
familiar with the minute indications of 
storm and calm, which he was so quick 
to notice in later years. He ranks among 



1492-^1506.] 

the most eminent navigators which the 
world has ever had. Nothing escaped 
his eye. He could read the ocean and 
the sky as we read a book. His power 
of observation was extremely keen, and 
was trained to an exquisite degree. His 
imagination was also powerful, so that 
possibilities took shape before his mind as 
glowing probabilities. He never lost 
faith in his idea, either In the midst of 
the ridicule of scholars, or the inertia of 
royal courts.. His long years of weari- 
some waitinsf did not diminish the burning 
desii'e w^ithin his breast. There is a unity 
to the life of Columbus from tne begin- 
ning to the end, which is delightfully 
refreshing. 

His moral characteristics were also 
remarkable. He was almost always 



THE GREAT DISCOVERT. 



93 



commanding, not through harshness, but 
through the moral dignity of his spirit. 
The opposition he experienced from jeal- 
ous foes and from uneasy adventurers, 
the long disregard to his rightful claims 
by the Spanish sovereigns, the almost 
at times inextricable confusion of the 
colonies, only serve to bring out by sharp 
contrast the moral superiority of the 
man to all ordinary failings. His relig- 
ious sensibilities were elevated to such a 
degree that he loyally connected all his 
explorations with the faith of his heart. 
s Unselfish and pure in comparison with 
men of his times, he is a brilliant exam- 
ple of what can be done for the world 
by patience and wisdom. He is rightly 
entitled to the honor which is paid to 
noble spirits. 




SECTION V. 
^AZ^OA AJnZ) CO:STJS'S. fSO 7-/522. 



VyY'HE West India islands could not 
J I v, longer limit the efforts of the ener- 
i getic Spanish explorers whom the 
\^ discovery of America had now 
raised up. It began to be known that 
large continental lands were lying near, 
which offered remarkable scope for con- 
quest, and perhaps for wealth. The fas- 
cination of fitting out expeditions and 
attempting to fix settlements in these en- 
tirely new regions, possessed both capable 
and incapable men. Persons without 
standing and in debt at home, plunged 
into the recesses of the New World to 
make a fortune. Men of talent burned 
to make themselves a name. The record 
of successive disasters could not arrest the 
work. The discovery of the Pacific 
Ocean by the heroic Balboa, the first 
knowledge of the strange Mexican em- 
pire gained by Grijalva, and the sight of 
Florida forests by De Leon, gave Spain 
and Spaniards a truer idea of the addi- 
tions which the Spanish realm had re- 
ceived. The conquest of Mexico was 
the first great struggle on the continent 
for the jDOSsession of a kingdom. The 
terrible evil of slavery, both Indian and 
negro, grew with a tropical growth, 
enshrouding: much that was noble. We 



regret that the workers of that early 
time could not have laid broader and bet- 
ter foundations, that we might have had 
grander national structures in all that part 
of the continent which they were subdu- 
ing. But their life was as yet almost en- 
tirely military in its methods and spirit. 
It had, therefore, all the abuses of military 
life in that age. There was }'et no rooted, 
settled growth. 

THE KAMIKG OF AMERICA. 

1507. America was named this year 
by the suggestion of a European geo- 
grapher, Waldsee. Miiller (Martinus Hy- 
lacomylus) of Freiburg, who called it 
Americi Terra, in honor of Americus 
V^espucius, an account of whose voyage 
in 1499 had just been jDublished. It is 
not probable that Vespucius had any un- 
due voluntary connection with this cir- 
cumstance. The term was at first applied 
only to what is now South America, 
which was regarded as an Antarctic con- 
tinent, but in time it came to be used of 
the whole western world. Americus 
Vespucius thus received the honor of dis- 
covery, though Columbus and the Cabots 
had seen the mainland of the New World 
before he did. 



1507-1522.] 



BALBOA AND CORTES. 



1507. A board of trade was estab- 
lished by Ferdinand, to ha\'e supreme 
power over tine civil affairs of all the 
newly discovered lands, subject only to the 
crown. An ecclesiastical government 
was also instituted. The Indians were 
ixt this time wasting away very rapidly. 

1508. Yucatan was discovered by 
Vincente Yanez Pinzon and Juan Diaz 
de Solis. 

1508. Thomas Aubert, a Dieppe pilot, 
visited the Gulf of St. Lawrence and car- 
ried off a few natives of the region to 
France, where they were objects of great 
curiosity. 

1508. Cuba was first found to be an 
island, by Sebastian de Ocampo. 

1509. Don Diego Columbus, son of 
Christopher, was made governor of Hayti 
in place of Don Nicholas de Ovando, after 
a long effort in claiming the rights inher- 
ited from his father. 

1509. Porto Rico was subjugated by 

150ni-,47. Hen- J'-'''^^^ PoUCC dc LcOU, who 

ry vrn King of was appointed governor by 
Ferdinand, and founded a 
town named Caparra. 

1509. Jamaica was colonized by Juan 
de Esquivel. 

1509. Nombre de Dios on the conti- 
nent near the Isthmus, was founded by 
Diego de Nicuesa, with seven hundred 
men. It was afterwaid broken up by the 
Indians and famine. 

1509. San Sebastian, near the Isth- 
mus, was founded b}- Alonzo de Ojeda. 
After much suffering and the loss of many 
followers by the Indians, Ojeda returned 
to San Domingo for aid, having left 
Francisco Pizarro, afterward famous in 
the conquest of Peru, in command, but 
was never able to revisit the colony. Her- 
nando Cortes was prevented bv sickness 
from sailing in this expedition. 



95 

1510. Santa Maria. Before the ar- 
rival of Ojeda at San Domingo, Martin 
Fernandez de Enciso sailed with supplies 
for the former's settlement. Vasco Nu- 
nez de Balboa, afterward the discoverer 
of the Pacific Ocean, succeeded in escap- 
ing his creditors, and sailed with Enciso 
by secreting himself in a cask till they 
were at sea. When foinid, he was at first 
threatened with being put off the ship, 
but was retained after his own earnest 
solicitation. His presence proved a great 
help to the expedition. Having arrived 
on the coast, Enciso met Pizarro with 
the remnant of the colony in a brigantine, 
sailing for Hayti. They all returned to 
San Sebastian, where everything had 
been destroyed by Indians, and at the 
recommendation of Balboa, who had 
been on the coast before with Bastides, 
they proceeded to the Gulf of Darien and 
founded a city called Santa Maria de la 
Antigua del Darien. Enciso soon made 
himself unpopular by his authority, and 
was deposed by the people, who elected 
Balboa and Zamudio to serve as alcaldes. 

1510. Fifty negro slaves were sent 
by Ferdinand from Seville, to work in the 
mines of Hayti. 

1510. Bahia, in Brazil, was founded by 
Correa, the Portugese navigator, under 
the name of San Salvador. 

1511. The remnant of the colony at 
Nombre de Dios were brought to Santa 
Maria. Nicuesa came with a few at first 
by invitation, to serve as governor in place 
of Enciso, but upon his' arrival he was 
prevented from landing, and at last sailed 
for Hayti, and was never heard from. 
After his departure the rest of his follow- 
ers were brought away. Enciso and Za- 
mudio were sent to Hayti, and Balboa 
remained in sole command of the colony. 

1511. Increased Negro Importation. 



96 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



Ferdinand, learning that one negro was 
equal to four Indians for work, sent a 
large number to Hayti from Guinea. 

1511. Cuba was subjugated by Don 
Diego Velasquez without losing a man. 
He founded the city of Bara^oa, on the 
Northeast coast, the oldest settlement in 
Cuba. 

1512. Balboa was appointed captain 
general of Santa Maria, and heard thio 
year of a great south sea. 

1512. Romance in Yucatan. Val- 
divia having been sent from Santa Maria 
to Hayti for supplies, was wrecked. The 
survivors were stranded on the shore of 
Yucatan, and were all destroyed by the 
Indians, except two, Gonzalo Guerrero, 
who was adopted into a tribe and rose to 
great influence in it; and Jeronimo de 
Aguilar, who gained power in another 
tribe. Aguilar was found and taken 
away by Cortes in 1519, and served 
through the conquest of Mexico. Guer- 
rero refused to give up his Indian life, to 
which he had conformed like a native. 

1512. March 3. The rountain of 
Youth. Juan Ponce de Leon sailed with 
three ships to find the fountain which the 
Indians affirmed to exist in land at the 
North, whose waters, upon bathing in 
them, would make the old permanently 
young again. He searched through the 
Bahamas to no purpose, and then sailed 
to the Northwest. 

1512. April 2. De Leon landed near 
the spot where St. Augustine XN^as after- 
ward founded, Jmd named the country 
Florida, because of the abundant vegeta- 
tion, and perhaps because of the time 
when he first reached it. His first view 
of it was on Palm Sunday, and his land- 
ing was on Easter Sunday. He found 
neither gold nor living sj^rings and 
streams, and after a disappointing search. 



he finally returned to Porto Rico. The 
Gulf Stream was noticed for the first time 
by Alaminos, pilot of this expedition, who 
described it in a journal of the voyage. 

1513. Approval of Indian Slavery. 
Owing to the opposition of the Domini- 
can priests in the New World to slavery, 
a decree of the Privy Council of Spain 
was finally issued, declaring the bondage 
of the Indians to be warranted by the 
laws of God and of man, and that only 
so could the natives be led into the Chris- 
tian faith. The Dominicans were the 
first abolitionists of America. 

THE PACIFIC OCEA.V. 

1513. Balboa having heard that En- 
ciso had lodged a successful complaint 
against him in Spain, determined to set 
out from Santa Maria at once, for the 
discovery of the great sea which was 
said to lie at the south. He hoped by 
so doing to thwart the plans of his ene- 
mies, and re-establish his reputation with 
the king. 

1513. Sept. 1. He started with one 
hundred and ninety men, besides Indian 
guides and allies whose favor he had 
gained bv kindness. 

1513. Sept. 26. After a very diffi- 
cult march through the wilderness, he 
discovered the Pacific Ocean from the 
summit of a mountain. Thence he pro- 
ceeded with his followers to the coast, 
and took possession for the Spanish crown 
by wading into the water with a royal 
standard, and proclaiming it subject to 
the Spanish power. He called it the 
South Sea. Balboa during this expedi- 
tion heard of the rich kingdom of Peru 
at the south. 

1514. Jan. 19. Balboa having re- 
crossed the Isthmus, arrived at Santa 
Maria, and sent to Spain full accounts of 



1507-1522.] 

his discovery, together with pearls and 
gold, which he had obtained in large 
quantities. 

1514. June 30. Don Pedrarias Davila, 

who had been appointed governor of the 
region of Darien, arrived from Spain 
with two thousand cavaliers and adven- 
turers. He began at once to try to crush 
Balboa, and soon undertook legal action 
against him. A royal ordinance had 
instituted an ecclesiastical government 
for Darien, and a Franciscan friar was 
sent out with Davila as bishop. The 
large force of Davila was soon depleted 
very greatly by malarial diseases. Alany 
returned to Cuba. 

1515. Balboa was appointed governor 
of the provinces of the South Sea. 
Peace was apparently arranged between 
him and Davila. 

1515. July 25. San Cristobal in 
1515-1547. Francis I. Cuba was fouudcd and 
King of France. afterward became, by 

removal, the present city of Havana. 

1515. Copper was mined in Cuba for 
casting cannon, but the mines were not 
worked long, because of the burdensome 
lestrictions put upon them bv government. 

1516. Jan. 1. Juan Diaz de Soils 
discovered a river which he named Rio 
Janeiro, or River of January. He after- 
ward entered the mouth of the Rio de la 
Plata, and having landed with a portion 
of his crew, was captured, killed and 
eaten, within sight of his vessels. 

1516. Enlarged Slave Trade. Charles 
V. granted the Flemings a 

1516-1556. 1 - , , 1 

atarie.<: v.Kinff uiouopoly ot the slave trade 

of Spain and tht ^jt^ js^g^ Spain, Under a 

Netherlands. i • i 

patent which allowed the 
importation of four thousand Africans 
each year. Under Ferdinand, Cardinal 
Ximenes had been instrumental in restrict- 



BALBOA AND CORTES. 



97 



ing this traffic, because of his own moral 
opposition to it, or as some affirm, because 
of mere political and financial reasons. 
Whatever the reason, he at any rate set 
himself against it very decidedly. 

FIRST VESSELS OX THE PACIFIC. 

1516. Balboa's remarkable energy 
and skill as a leader came out in the trans- 
portation of lumber and rigging- across 
the Isthmus, for the building of several 
brigantines upon the great South Sea, 
now the Pacific Ocean. This wonderful 
deed was accomplished only after great 
pains. Indians, negroes and Spaniards 
were set to the work, under the personal 
supervision of Balboa. The timber 
which had been cut on the Atlantic coast, 
was dragged with almost infinite toil 
through the forests which covered the 
mountain sides. The Indians could not 
stand the severe labor, and many of them 
died. The timber, which was first trans- 
ported, proved to be worthless, because 
worm-eaten. Balboa speedily set about 
getting more. Rains began to flood the 
countrv, and almost destroyed all the un- 
dertaking. But Balboa would not desist, 
and at last he had the privilege of seeing 
a European sail spread upon the sea he 
had discovered. This deed was consid- 
ered one of the most eminent in the list 
of great accomplishments in those days. 
It was even said that " no leader save 
Balboa could have conducted such an en- 
terprise to a successful issue." Such was 
the man who was doomed soon to meet 
an unworthy end. He cruised beyond 
the Gulf of St. Michael, and heard fuller 
reports of the great kingdom of Peru. 



1517. Feb. 8. Francisco Fernan- 
dez de Cordova sailed from Santiago, 

7 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



Cuba, with three vessels and one hun- 
dred and ten men, on a voyage of 
exploration. He w^as driven about by 
tempests, and at last landed on an un- 
known shore. He named it Yucatan, 
and explored it as far as Campeachy. 
He was struck by signs of a higher civil- 
ization than had been seen among the 
Indians, found in stone houses, cloth gar- 
ments, and cultivated soil. After conflicts 
with the warlike natives, he returned to 
Cuba, where he died in a short time in 
consequence of the ills suffered upon the 
voyage home, or of a wound received in 
battle with the Indians. 

EXECUTION OF BALBOA. 

1517. Davila, governor of Darien, 
having again grown jealous of Balboa, 
contrived to secure his arrest, and after a 

1511. Outbreak fo^'^^^^^ trial, beheaded him 
of Rejormaiion. and scvcral Others. In Bal- 
boa the Spanish crown lost one of its 
best leaders. Although of noble birth, 
he knew how to deal with followers of 
all ranks. By valor and 

loll. Copernicus 

discovered the general popularity he won 
true system of ^ orvcat influence over most 

the universe. 

of those with whom he as- 
sociated. He was born at Estremadura, 
Spain, and had gone to Hayti to escape 
the pressure of his debts. At the Isthmus 
he soon gamed power by his real help to 
the colony, and began to revolve schemes 
of exploration. He manifested remarka- 
ble ability and energy in following up the 
report of a great sea to the south, and by 
his perseverance has linked his name for- 
ever with the Pacific*. This discovery 
seemed to work a change in the entire 
feelings and bearing of the man, and 
demonstrated thereby the innate worth of 
his character. He rose to the rank of the 
great explorers of his day. Very few of 



them have a record as free as his is, from 
what is dishonorable and impure. Cut 
off in the prime of life, in the forty-sec- 
ond year of his age, he illustrates the un- 
certainty of even great achievements. He 
fell a victim to the meanest jealousy and 
the most unscrupulous enmity, when he 
was just ready to enter upon the greatest 
efforts of his life. The pathos attached 
to his death is not lessened by any dark 
stains of ill desert, which blotted the fame 
of so many of the Spanish conquerors 
and explorers. 

1518. Francisco Garay, governor of 
Jamaica, fitted out an expedition which 
explored the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, 
from the Tortugas at the southern ex- 
tremity of Florida, to the province of 
Panuco in JNIexico. 

1518. Sable Island, near Nova Scotia, 
was colonized by Baron de Lery, but the 
settlement was soon broken up. Cattle 
were left upon the island, and their off- 
spring proved of great use to the expedi- 
tion of Marquis de la Roche, eighty years 
afterward. 

1518. May 1. Juan de Grijalva 
sailed froni Santiago in command of an 
expedition fitted out by his luicle, Don 
Diego Velasquez, governor of Cuba, to 
explore the lands discovered by Cordova. 
He visited the Mexican coast, landed at 
several points, named the country New 
vSpain, and obtained from the natives a 
large cjuantity of gold and jewels. He 
learned that the country was ruled by a 
great emperor named Montezuma. The 
value of cochineal as a dyeing material 
was discovered by the Spaniards in Mex- 
ico at this time, or a little later. The na- 
tives took great pains to rear the insect 
upon cactus plants. Grijalva's men were 
one night frightened by the large Mexi- 



1507-1532. J 

can fireflies, which give a very brilliant 
light. They imagined that an' army with 
matchlocks was advancing upon them. 
Grijalva discovered and named the island 
of San Juan de Uloa, near Vera Cruz. 

1518. Oct. 26. Grijalva arrived at 
Cuba to find himself condemned by his 
uncle for not attempting to found a col- 
ony, a work for which the expedition was 
not intended. At this very time, Velas- 
quez having become suspicious of Grijal- 
va, was fitting up a large expedition for 
the conquest and settlement of New 
Spain. He chose Hernando Cortes to 
command it. 

HERKANDO CORTES. 

This great general was born in Spain 
in 1485, of a good family, and during his 
youth acquired a fair education. He 
became a resident of Hayti at some time 
during the administration of Ovando. 
Upon his arrival at the island, he entered 
into private life, but frequently engaged 
in military expeditions, being naturally 
possessed of a war-like temperament. 
He intended to embark for the Darien 
colony in company with Nicuesa, but was 
severely ill at the time the expedition 
sailed. He took part in the conquest of 
Cuba under Don Diego Velasquez, and 
began to exhibit the popular qualities 
which afterward gave him such a strong 
hold upon his soldiers. He had, at times, 
some contention with Velasquez, but 
finally settled down upon a place near 
Santiago, and acquired considerable prop- 
erty. When the governor had fitted out 
his expedition for the conquest of Mex- 
ico, he was persuaded after much solicita- 
tion, to appoint Cortes captain-general of 
it. The latter at once began to give his 
entire mind to the project, and aided in 
the preparation of the armament by all 



BALBOA AND CORTES. 



99 



the money which he could raise. His 
heart took fire at the prospect, and he now 
felt that he had an undertaking worthy 
of his hig-hest ambition. 



1518. Nov. 18. Cortes, having heard 
that Velasquez proposed to remove him 
from the command through jealousy, 
sailed away secretly from Santiago, Cuba, 
and proceeded to Macaca, Trinidad and 
Havana, where he completed his outfit, 
and raised volunteers. Orders for his 
arrest w^ere sent to these places after him, 
but he baffled all attempts. 

1519. Feb. 18. The expedition of 
Cortes sailed from Cape San Antonio, at 
the extreme western end of Cuba, in 
eleven vessels, the largest being of one 
hundred tons, with one hundred and ten 
sailors, five hundred and thirty-thi-ee sol- 
diers, and a few Indian women. There 
were ten heavy guns, four light ones, and 
sixteen horses. 

1519. March 4. Jeronimo deAgui- 
lar, who had been shipwrecked and had 
lived among the Indians for eight years, 
was received at the island Cozumel by 
Cortes, who then set sail for the main- 
land. 

1519. March 25. A severe battle 
took place near the river Tabasco, where 
Grijalva had landed in 151S, and traded 
with the natives, in which the Indians, 
though in large numbers, were totally 
routed. The Spanish horsemen especially 
inspired great' terror. The town of Santa 
Maria de la Vittoria, the capital of the 
jDrovince for many years, was built upon 
the place of battle. 

1519. March 26. Dona Marina. In- 
dian chiefs visited Cortes and presented 
him gifts of gold, cotton and food. 
They also brought twenty Indian female 



100 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



slaves, among whom was Dona Marina, 
who became so much attached to Cortes, 
and did him such great service as an in- 
terpreter during the conquest. 

1519. April. An embassy from Mon- 
tezuma arrived, attended by one hun- 
dred natives bringing gold, ornaments and 
pearls, together with feather and thread 
work, and cotton cloth in great profusion. 
A Spanish helmet which had been sent 
by the previous embassy for Montezuma 
to see, was brought back full of gold. 
Two plates of gold and silver of immense 
size, were among the gifts. Montezuma 
sent word that he could not see the Span- 
iards, and that they inust return home. 
In a few days he sent a stricter message. 

1519. April. Power of Cortes. Cortes 
instituted the government of a colony, 
which he named Villa Rica de Vera 
Cruz, and was himself elected captain- 
general and chief-justice of it. He gained 
the adhesion of some of the neighboring 
provinces, to which Montezuma's power 
had been offensive, and caused the de- 
struction of all the vessels but one, thus 
cutting off immediate return to Cuba. 
When his followers learned that the ves- 
sels had been destroyed, they became 
enraged, and almost broke out into open 
rebellion. But Cortes plied them with 
ingenious arguments and heroic appeals. 
If any wished to desert him, they had full 
permission to take the remaining vessel, 
and return at once to Cuba. At last the 
reaction was complete, and they cried out 
to a man, "To Mexico! To Mexico!" 

1519. Sept. 5. A great battle was 
fought between the Spanish, now on 
their way to the City of Mexico, and the 
Tlascalans, in which a vast army of the 
latter was wholly cut to pieces. 

1519. Nov. 8. Cortes entered the 
City of Mexico, the seat of Montezuma. 



He had come through the city of Cho- 
lula, in which he had massacred a large 
number of the natives because he had de- 
tected a conspiracy to destroy his follow- 
ers. His journey had led him across the 
side of the great volcano, Popocatapetl, 
which was very active at the time. He sent 
some one to find out about the column of 
smoke which he saw in the distance, but 
no one could ascend the mountain because 
of the snow. Montezuma received the 
Spaniards into his great and prosperous 
capital with apparent cordiality. Here the 
eyes of the invaders were astonished by 
a civilization which they had no where 
else seen in the New World. Streets, 
dwellings, temples, gardens and bridges 
were all laid out and built with skill and 
beauty. A palace built by Montezuma's 
father, became the shelter of the Span- 
iards. In the palace they discovered a 
room which had been walled up, full of 
treasures of every kind. Cortes resolved 
upon the seizure of the emperor. He ac- 
complished his design by craft, securing 
the monarch while on a visit to the garri- 
son, and henceforth Montezuma abode a 
prisoner in the Spanish quarters. Cortes 
also, charging them with having mur- 
dered several Spaniards who fell into 
their hands, tried and executed the gover- 
nor of one of Montezuma's provinces, 
together with several of his officers. 
They were burned upon a pile of Mexi- 
can weapons in the great square of the 
palace. 

1519. Havana, Cuba, was founded 
by the removal of the village of San 
Cristobal to the present site. 

1519. Panama was founded by the 
removal ot Santa Maria to the west 
side of the Isthmus. 

1520. Jan. 12. Fernando Magal- 
haens, known as Magellan, arrived on 



1507-1522.] BALBOA 

the coast of Brazil with a fleet in which 
he had sailed from Spain in the attempt 
to reach the Spice Islands by a westerly 
course. He entered the La Plata, but 
soon recognizing it as a river, he took the 
coast again and sailed further south. In 
his voyage along the Brazilian coast he 
found the natives using vegetable down, 
probably cotton, for several purposes. 

1520. March 31. He discovered 
Patagonia, and found shelter during the 
winter in one of its harbors. He resumed 
his search for a strait in the spring, which 
corresponds to autumn in the northern 
hemisphere. 

1520. Montezuma was induced to ac- 
knowledge the authority of the kingdom 
of Spain, and confessed himself subject to 
it, before his nobles. He ordered his 
officers to collect tribute, and a large 
amount of treasure was accordingly 
brought to Cortes. The whole is reck- 
oned by Prescott, the historian, as amount- 
ing to $6,300,000. 

1520. March. Pamphilo de Narvaez 
was sent by Velasquez, governor of Cuba, 
with an expedition of eighteen vessels 
and nine hundred men, to assert the su- 
premacy of the governor over Cortes. 

1520. May. Cortes left a garrison 
of one hundred and forty men in the City 
of Mexico under Pedro de Alvarado, 
1445-1520. Leon- his lieutenant, and marched 
"i483-i5-^o '""' I'^pitlly to the coast with 
Raphael, scvcuty soldicrs, to resist 
Narvaez, of whose approach he had 
heard. He was reenforced by one hun- 
dred and twenty soldiers at Cholula. 
Having arrived near Cempoalla, w^here 
Narvaez was encamped, Cortes entered 
the city by night in a violent rain storm, 
and captured the entire force of three 
times the number of his own. The loss 
was very slight on either side. Word 



AND CORTES. 



101 



was soon brought that the Mexicans had 
taken arms against Alvarado, and Cortes 
at once started upon his return with a re- 
cruited force. 

1520. June 24. He arrived at the 
City of Mexico, and found the garrison 
in a state of blockade. Soon after his 
reentry into the city, the inhabitants at- 
tacked the Spanish quarters with great 
fury. The battle raged with great vio- 
lence, and hundreds were mown down in 
the streets by the artillery. At last Cortes 
induced Montezuma to address his sub- 
jects from the roof of the palace, and de- 
mand peace. Montezuma while doing 
so was struck and severely wounded by 
weapons thrown at him by Mexicans. 

DEATH OF MOKTEZUM± 

1520. June 30. Montezuma sank 
away and died, refusing to take food or 
medicine. Thus passed away one of the 
greatest native monarchs of the western 
continent. He was about twenty-three 
years old when he became emperor, and 
gave promise of great success as a ruler. 
The empire reached its greatest height 
under him, but when the Spaniards en- 
tered the country the inhabitants were 
complaining of the severity of his reign. 
He was forty-one years old at his death, 
and left children. Some of his daughters 
married Spanish cavaliers, and froin them 
are descended noble Spanish houses. 



1520. Julyl. The Sorrowful Night. 

The Spaniards evacuated the City of 
Mexico. Soon after their departure in 
silence from their quarters, they were 
fearfully beset upon all hands by the na- 
tives, who had found out their intentions. 
They had to fight for every inch of their 
way, and only reached the outskirts of 



102 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



the city at last with the greatest exertions, 
and the loss of many men. They were 
nearly overborne by the immense mass 
of infuriated Mexicans who crowded the 
narrow streets and attempted to blockade 
the moats of the city. Cortes probably 
lost several hundred men, besides all ar- 
tillery, muskets and ammunition. The 
natives lost several thousands. 

1520. July 8. A great battle was 
fought on the plain of Otumba, in which 
a large native force was routed by the 
remnant of the Spanish army. The bat- 
tle was saved to Cortes by the death of 
an Indian general who had very great 
influence. The city of Tempeaca was 
afterward taken and made the head- 
quarters of the army. A civil govern- 
ment was established within it. 

1520. Lucas Vasquez de Ay lion and 
others fitted out an expedition to what 
is now South Carolina, where they en- 
trapped a large number of unsuspecting 
natives on board their two ships, and 
sailed for San Domingo to make them 
slaves. One ship was lost on the return 
voyage, and many of the natives in the 
other vessel died. 

1520. Oct. 20. Magellan's Straits. 
Magellan having resumed his voyage 
along the coast of Patagonia, discovered 
the passage which has since been known 
by his name. This narrow channel is so 
crooked and full of unexpected rocks and 
strong currents, that one of Magellan's 
vessels was lost, and another deserted and 
returned to Spain. For several weeks this 
bold navigator struggled on his way. 
He named the land upon the south 
Terra del Fuego, or Land of Fire, from 
the large number of fires lighted by the 
natives at night along the shores. 

1520. Nov. 28. Pacific Ocean Named. 
The three remainingr vessels cleared the 



strait, and Magellan named the great 
ocean which met his view, Pacific. They 
sailed in an almost direct course nearly 
one hundred days, with great lack of food 
and drink. 

1520. Dec. 28. Cortes set out with 
his army from Tempeaca to march upon 
the City of Mexico. At Montezuma's 
death his brother, Cuitlahua, had assumed 
the government, but had died of the 
smallpox, which in the latter part of this 
year had swept away thousands of the 
natives through the provinces of Mexico, 
and down the Pacific coast. A negro 
who came with the expedition of Narvaez 
is said to have introduced it into New 
Spain. At the death of Cuitlahua, his 
nephew Guatemozin was chosen mon- 
arch, and was inspiring the Mexicans 
with a war-like spirit in view of the return 
of the Spaniards. 

DE:ITH OF M^LGELLtLX. 

1521. March 16. In an attempt to 
subdue the inhabitants of the Philippine 
Islands, Magellan was killed upon the 
island of Mactan. The only vessel now 
left of his fleet, named Vitoria, sailed on 
under the command of Juan Sebastian 
Cano. Magellan was a Portuguese by 
birth, but had entered the service of Spain. 
He was on the water from an early age. 
The eminence of Portugal in navigation 
confirmed his tastes and developed his 
qualities. He became one of the boldest 
and most persevering navigators whom 
the little kingdom had sent out. 

BE-ITH OF DE LEOX. 

1521. Juan Ponce de Leon embarked 
upon an expedition for the conquest of 
Florida. He landed on the coast, and in 
a battle with the natives, was wounded 
and carried aboard his ship. He returned 



1507-1523.] 

to Cuba and died, a broken old man. 
Possessing an eager, visionary tempera- 
ment, he could ill bear disappointment in 
any undertaking. He came to the New 
World on the second voyage of Colum- 
bus, and did good service in much of the 
fighting with the natives. He was a true 
soldier, without the genius of a great 
explorer. 

1521. Aug. 13. Cortes took the 

City of Mexico after a siege of seventy- 
seven days. He succeeded only after 
many repulses, by desti"oying everything 
as fast as he could gain access to it, thus 
narrowing constantly the limits within 
which the doomed inhabitants could exist. 
Guatemozin, the emperor, was captured 
during the final assault, while attempting 
to escape in a boat. Cortes had achieved 
a terrible victory, from the eflfects of 
which it took days to cleanse the city. 

1521. Nicaragua was explored by 
Gil Gonzales de Avila, who marched 
into its interior, but was at last convinced 
that he could not go further with his 
present force, and prudently retraced his 
steps. 

1522. Pascual de Andagoya at- 
tempted to explore the Pacific coast 
from Panama toward the south, but did 
not get beyond the limits of Balboa's 
voyage. 

1522. Juan Bermudez on his way 
from Spain to Cuba with a cargo of 
hogs, was wrecked upon the Bermuda 
Islands, thus discovering that group. 

1522. Sept. 6. First Voyage Round 



BALBOA AND CORTES. 



103 

the World. The Vitoria of Magellan's 
expedition arrived in Spain, having sailed 
on after Magellan's death by way of the 
Spice Islands and the Cape of Good 
Hope, thus completing the first circuit of 
the globe. She was commanded by Juan 
Sebastian Cano. 

1522. Oct. 15. A royal commission 
constituted Cortes governor, captain-gen- 
eral, and chief-justice of Mexico. He 
rebuilt the city in a substantial and beau- 
tiful manner, devised meth- 1522. Xazterin 
ods of drawing thither a ^"'^'•^■ 
Spanish and Indian population, estab-^ 
lished settlements in the whole region of" 
New Spain, and arranged for an enlarged 
and steady cultivation of the soil. He 
sent a force under Christoval de Olid to 
settle Honduras, and began to think of 
searching for the desired strait from the 
Gulf of Alexico into the Pacific Ocean. 

FIRST XEGRO IXSURRECTIOX. 

1522. Dec. 27. The negro slaves in 
Hayti rose in an insurrection for the first 
time. They committed murders and dep- 
redations, but were soon overcome by the 
prompt action of the Spaniards. The 
long New World tragedy of results from 
negro bondage began at this date. 

1522. The crater of Popocatapetl 
was descended by Francisco Mantano, 
who was one of the number sent by 
Cortes to ascend the volcano. He was 
let down into the crater by ropes, to a 
depth of seventy or eighty fathoms. 
There is no other recorded ascent for 
three hundred years. 




SECTION VI. 



gi^i:a2' uxt^ditioa's. 7523-/550. 



MHE fingers of Spanish power were 
gradually stretching themselves 
out over the New World. The 
A second great national subjugation 
now began. The crushing of Peru was 
an enterprise of much longer date than 
that of Mexico. The empire was a 
theater for the exhibition of the most 
disgusting bickerings, personal envies 
and retaliations between the Spanish 
leaders. But at last the Spanish govern- 
ment was as well established as it has 
ever been on the continent. By 1550 the 
fetters which the native races of America 
wore till the first part of the present cen- 
tury, were clasped upon them. We see, 
however, prophetic gleams of the light 
of liberty, as in Nicaragua in 1549. 
Meantime, .restless Spaniards had been 
seeking Florida with great expeditions 
which came to sad ends in those untrod- 
den malarial forests. The brave, humane 
De .Soto, was the greatest sacrifice. The 
march to the Amazon from Quito was a 
similar gigantic undertaking in South 
America. Other nations were behind 
Spain in finding their opportunity for 
colonizing America. Portugal was slowly 
establishing herself in Brazil. England 
was making only the slightest attempts, 



now somewhat obscure. France began 
to look with longing eyes across the 
Atlantic. Verrazzano made his care- 
ful examination of the Atlantic coast. 
Jacques Cartier entered the great St. 
Lawrence, and first of white men, saw 
the heights of Cape Diamond and the 
beautiful Isle Royale. The strife of ex- 
ploration had not yet come. 

1523. Central America. Cortes sent 
a strong force under Pedro Alvarado to 
subdue Central America, a work which 
this energetic leader accomplished during 
this and the next year. Alvarado led to 
the conquest three hundred infantr}- , thir- 
ty-five cavalry, two hundred Tlascalans 
and Cholulans, and one hundred Mexi- 
cans. 

1523. Granada and Leon, cities situ- 
ated, the former on the shore of Lake 
Nicaragua and the latter on the shore 
of Lake ALanagua, were founded by per- 
sons sent out from the Isthmus by the 
Spanish governor. 

1523. Cumana, capital of one of the 
states of Venezuela, was founded by 
Diego Casteilon. 

1524. May 14. A great victory in 
Central America gave Alvarado posses- 
sion of the fii'st province, the empire of 



1523-1550.] 

Utatlan. Thousands of natives were de- 
feated and swept away by the Spaniards. 
Multitudes had attempted to block the 
narrow defiles in the mountains, but 
Alvarado's men had hewn their way 
through. This defeat broke the spirit of 
the Indians. Two other provinces were 
readily secured. 

1524. July 25. Santiago, in Central 
America, was founded by Alvarado, be- 
cause the site was so fine as to attract 
many of his men to make it a permanent 
residence. A city was inaugurated, and 
eighty-seven citizens were enrolled. It 
is known now as Old Guatemala. 

1524. North American Coast. John 
Verrazzano, a Florentine navigator, in 
the service of Francis I. of France, ex- 
plored the coast of North America very 
carefully from North Carolina to Nova 
Scotia, entering the harbors of New York 
and Newport. He gave the first detailed 
and accurate description of the coast, and 
is said to have prepared a map of it. He 
made his voyage with one small vessel 
named the Dolphin. His expedition lay 
at the foundation of the French claim to 
North America. 

1524. Oct. 12. A remarkable march 
was begun by Cortes across the country 
from the City of Mexico to Honduras. 
He had heard that Christoval de Olid 
having subdued Honduras, was setting up 
a government of his own. Guatemozin 
and the Indian nobles w^ere taken upon 
this journey to prevent them from having 
a chance to rebel in the absence of their 
conqueror. 

FR±¥CISCO PFMRRO. 

The minds of the colonists upon the 
Isthmus had been frequently aroused by 
reports of that wealthy and powerful 
kingdom which was said to lie at the 
south. After a time, three inen named 



GREAT EXPEDITIONS. 



105 



Francisco Pizarro, Diego de Almagro 
and Fernando de Luque, made an agree- 
ment to explore and subdue it. The last 
named, w^ho was an ecclesiastic, was to 
furnish the greater part of the funds. 
Almagro was to oversee the preparations 
and the supplies of the vessels, while 
Pizarro was to command the expedition. 
The latter, who was afterward the chief 
spirit m the conquest of Peru, was born 
at Truxillo, Spain, about the year 147 1, 
and was the son of a soldier who had 
gained a reputation for valor. He grew 
up m a neglected condition, without edu- 
cation, and when fortune favored, came to 
the New World. He accompanied Alon- 
zo de Ojeda to Darien in 1509, and was 
one of the few who, with Balboa, crossed 
the mountains and discovered the Pacific. 
The reports of the kingdom of Peru ex- 
cited his adventurous spirit, and at last he 
entered upon that long conquest which 
will always be most intimately connected 
with his name. The romantic story of 
his energy and sufferings is full of fasci- 
nation. 



1524. Nov. 14. Pizarro left Panama 
with one vessel and about one hundred 
men. Almagro remained behind to fit 
out and follow in a second vessel as soon 
as possible. 

GUATEMOZIK. 

1525. Feb. 15. Cortes was told at 
one point on the march to Honduras that 
the Indian nobles were conspiring to slay 
the Spaniards in some difficult part of 
the journey. He immediately arrested 
Guatemozin and his lords, and finally 
executed them. He seemed to have felt 
driven to this cruel deed in order to make 
himself secure ever after. It is said that 
Cortes since the capture of the City of 
Mexico, had not gone the least distance 



1(36 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



without taking Guatemozin with him, so 
confident did he feel that the fallen but 
unconquered monarch would cause an 
uprising. After severe trials throughout 
his long and exhausting journey, Cortes 
arrived at Honduras, found that Olid had 
died, and that his own authority was re- 
established. He began to plan for the 
conquest of Nicaragua, but determined at 
last to return to Mexico, because of certain 
ill-reports from that province. 



onize South Carolina under a patent 
obtained for that purpose. He landed 
his followers, but the natives remember- 
ing the terrible cruelty he had been guilty 
of a few years before in kidnapping a 
large number of their race, allured the 
colonists to a feast by friendly treatment, 
and then falling upon them, killed nearly 
the entire force. The leader escaped and 
made no further exploration. 

1525. Pizarro continued his explora- 




CAPE HOKN. 



1525. Estavan Gomez, of Corunna, 
under the patronage of Charles V., ex- 
plored the Atlantic coast of North Amer- 
ica quite extensively, but the limits of his 
trip are unknown. He carried back a 
cargo of Indians, who were sold as slaves. 

1525. Cape Horn. It is claimed that 
Garcia Jofre de Loaya, a Spanish com- 
mander, was the first to see Cape Horn, 
though he did not double it. 

1525. Indian Revenge. Lucas Vas- 
quez de Ayllon made an attempt to coi- 



tion of the coast south of Panama, was 
several times terribly distressed for lack 
of supplies, for which the vessel once 
returned to the Isle of Pearls, and finally, 
after having had conflicts ^52.5. Peasani 
With the natives and having „ . 

^ Crtrmniiy under 

obtained a slight quantity T/iomax Munzer. 
of gold ornaments, sailed back to Chicama 
near Panama. Almagro had sailed south 
with another vessel and seventy men, but 
had at last concluded that Pizarro was 
lost. Durinof his return he heard that 



1523-1550.] 

Pizarro was at Chicama, where the two 
soon after met. 

1525. December. The conquest of 
the Central Amei'ican provinces was now 
complete. Here again a small force of 
trained soldiers was superior to hordes of 
natives. 

1526. March 10. A great contract 
between Pizarro, Almagro and De Luque 
was drawn up in the most solemn form, 
dividing the country which should be 
conquered by them, with all its products 
and resources, into three equal parts. 
Two vessels were fitted up in which 
Pizarro and Almagro sailed. They ex- 
plored the coast and found gold in the 
Indian villages, some of which Almagro 
took back to Panama in order to secure 
recruits. Pizarro explored the land still 
more, while the pilot of the expedition 
sailed further south in the remaining ves- 
sel, and was the first to cross the equinoc- 
tial line on the western coast of South 
America. He found evidences of a 
higher civilization, and sailed back to 
Pizarro, w^hom he found in considerable 
distress. Almagro returned with new 
adventurers from Panama, and all pro- 
ceeded south. 

1526. July. Luis Ponce de Leon 
having been sent out as a commissioner 
to inquire into the condition of New 
Spain and investigate the acts of Cortes, 
arrived in Mexico. He died soon after 
his arrival, and left the trust to another 
who also died soon, and bequeathed the 
duties to Estrada, who added to the diffi- 
culty of the situation by his hostility to 
Cortes. The power was afterward with- 
drawn and conferred upon a new com- 
mission called the Royal Audience of 
New Spain. 

1526. Arizona was explored by Don 
Jose de Vasconcellos. 



GREAT EXPEDITIONS. 



107 



1526. Nov. 22. A great uprising 
occurred in Central America. A severe 
battle took place between Alvaradq and 
the natives. The severity of Gonzalo 
Alvarado who had ruled in the absence 
of his brother Pedro for some months, 
had enraged the Indians. The latter 
were wholly routed. Two kings were 
taken and held in close captivity for fif- 
teen years. This defeat served to fix the 
Spanish power upon the broken-spirited 
Americans. 

1527. Sebastian Cabot now in the 
service of Spain, and commander of an 
expedition sent out in search of a south- 
western passage, entered the river La 
Plata and sailed up the stream one hun- 
dred and twenty leagues. 1469.1527. 

He explored the region for Mackiaveiu. 

several years, and discovered Paragviay. 
This is the last connection of this accom- 
plished navigator with the New World. 
He was in the employ of Spain for some 
time and subsequently in that of England, 
and made several voyages. He was liv- 
ing in the year 1557, but where or when 
he died or where he was buried, no one 
knows. His qualities were of the high- 
est order, and rightfully made him a man 
of great eminence in his day. No dis- 
honor is attached to his name. 

1527. Pizarro's Persistence, 
and Almagro continued their 
under great difficulty, 
when almost all wished to give up and 
go back to Panama, Pizarro drew a line 
on the sand, and pointing with his sword 
said, "There lies Peru with its riches; 
here lies Panama with its poverty. 
Choose, each man, what best becomes a 
brave Castilian. For my part I go to the 
south." Stepping across the line he was 
followed by a small number, who thus 
became the nucleus of the force which 



Pizarro 

journey 
At one time 



108 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



finally subdued the grreat kingdom. The 
timid ones sailed for home. The rest 
sailed south to the city of Tumbez in the 
Gulf of Guayaquil, which was found full 
of riches. The cultivation of the soil 
and the government of the country were 
of a higher order than further at the 
north, save in Mexico. Pizarro sailed to 
latitude 9° S. and then returned in order 
to report at Panama the success of his 
trip. The derision with which their 
efforts had been followed by many was 
now turned into wonder. Pizarro brought 
back with him several natives and llamas, 
cotton fabrics of different kinds, and gold 
and silver works of art. 

1527. A ship-canal from the Atlan- 
tic to the Pacific to run through Lake 
Nicaragua, was first proposed this year. 

1528. May. Cortes arrived in Spain 
from Mexico to free himself from false 
accusation, and to lay his achievements 
before the government for approval. He 
was paid distinguished honor and restored 
to the confidence of the emperor. 

1528. Pizarro went to Spain to lay 
the project of conquering Peru before the 
emperor, and to gain if possible the royal 
encouragement and support. He was 
thrown into prison upon his arrival, but 
was released as soon as the nature of his 
mission wa§ known. Pizarro exhibited 
the treasures he had brought with him, 
and gave a full account of the two jour- 
neys he had already made, and of the 
sufferings experienced upon each. He 
met Cortes in Spain, and received from 
the Conqueror of Mexico matei^ial assist- 
ance in presenting his petitions, 

1528. Disaster in Florida. Pamphilo 
de Narvaez, having received authority to 
invade and conquer Florida, landed there 
with three hundred men, eighty of them 
upon horse. They struck into the for- 



ests, and after eight hundred miles of 
wandering they came out near the Bay 
of Pensacola. The leader and most of 
his followers were ship-v/recked in boats 
they had made, and were u^l.l52n. 

lost. Others perished of Albert Durer. 

hunger. Four persons reached Mexico 
in 1536, after eight years of travel across 
the country. The expedition was a com- 
plete disaster. 

1528. San Salvador, capital of the 
republic of the same name, was founded 
by Jorge de Alvarado, brother of the con- 
queror, in a beautiful and elevated valley 
on the site of an old Indian town. 

1529. July 6. Cortes was created 
Marquess of the Valley of the Oaxaca, 
and received a grant of land in that 
province, together with grants in other 
parts of New Spain. He was made by 
another royal ordinance captain-general of 
New Spain and the South Sea. But the 
government refused to send him back in- 
vested with the civil authority of Mexico. 

1529. July 26. Pizarro was granted 
by a royal instrument the right to con- 
quer Peru for two hundred leagues south 
of Santiago, and was made captain-gen- 
eral and governor of the region for life. 
Almagro was to command at Tumbez. 
The salaries of the three were appointed 
from the spoils of conquest. 

1530. January. Pizarro sailed in 
haste from San Lucar, Spain, to avoid 
government officers, who 
were to inspect his vessels, 
and see if his outfit was 
complete. He was accom- 
panied by his three broth- 
ers, Hernando, Gonzalo, and Juan. They 
reached N ombre de Dios in safety, and 
with the other associates began to prepare 
for an expedition. 

1530. Cortes sailed for Mexico in the 



1471-1530. Car- 
dinal Wolsey. 
1530. Spinning 
loheelfor flax in - 
vented by "Jor- 
g-etts. 



1523-1550.] 

spring and landed at Hayti, where he 
was tried on several charges by the Roy- 
al Audience. No action on the part of 
the government ever came of the trial. 

1530. July 15. Cortes landed in 
Mexico. He proceeded to Tlascala and 
Tezcuco, and was received with affection 
by the people, much to the disgust of 
some of the magistrates. After awhile 
he took up his residence at Cuernavaca. 

1531. January. Pizarro sailed from 
Panama with three vessels and one hun- 
dred and eighty men. He took twenty- 
seven horses. A part of the force was 
landed at the Bay of St. Matthew, and 
marched along the coast, while the rest 
proceeded in the vessels. They captured 
and plundered settlements in the province 
of Coaque, where they found great booty 
of precious stuffs and metals. Pizarro 
sent back a large amount of it to Panama, 
and at once excited many to join his ex- 
pedition. A re-enforcement under Her- 
nando de Soto soon reached him. 

1531. The dyewoods of Brazil had 
become such a source of traffic with nav- 
igators that John HI. of Portugal began 
to colonize the country in order to prevent 
what he considered a violation of his 
rights. 

1531. The first settlement in Guiana, 
named St. Thomas, was made by Diego 
de Ordaz. 

1532. The silver mines of Zacatecas, 
in Mexico, were discovered, and for many 
years stood at the head of the mining 
districts of that country. 

1532. Civil War in Peru. During 
the spring of this year, Huascar and 
Atahuallpa Capac, between whom the 
kingdom of Peru had been divided at 
the death of their father, Huayna Capac, 
were at war. The latter, to whom the 
province of Quito had been given, took 



a RE AT EXPEDITIONS. 



109 



his elder brother captive, and is said to 
have murdered many Inca nobles. 

1532. May 16. San Miguel. Pizarro, 
having marched to Tumbez and found it 
almost wholly destroyed, proceeded some 
leagues south, where he founded a city 
which he named San Miguel. It was 
afterward removed to the river Piura. 
Pizai-ro melted down the gold and silver 
which had been collected, and forwarded 
it to Panama to remove the burden of 
debt from the expedition. 

1532. Sept. 24. Pizarro left San 
Miguel on a march for the camp of 
Atahuallpa, which was said to be near. 
He led his little force through a beautiful 
country, and at last sent out De Soto to 
reconnoiter. In a week De Soto returned, 
accompanied by an ambassador from Ata- 
huallpa, who brought valuable presents 
and a cordial invitation to visit the Peru- 
vian camp. Pizarro sent presents in re- 
turn, and resuiVied his march. With con- 
siderable difficulty the troops climbed the 
Cordilleras, but finally descended into the 
lovely plain where Caxamalca lay. The 
camp of Atahuallpa was upon the side of 
the hill, just outside the city. 

1532. Nov. 15. Pizarro entered the 
city of Caxamalca, which had been de- 
serted by its inhabitants for his use. An 
embassy sent to the camp, saw great 
riches and perfect discipline. That night 
the Spanish officers in council determined 
to seize the person of the Inca. 

1532. Nov. 16. Atahuallpa visited 
the Spanish camp in the area of Caxa- 
malca. Friar Vincente de Valverde at- 
tempted to secure from Atahuallpa an 
acceptance of the Catholic faith, and an 
acknowledgement of submission to the 
Spanish government. At the refusal of 
the Peruvian monarch, he and his attend- 
ants were assailed at a given signal, and 



IIQ DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 

after a great massacre, Atahuallpa was reached the ears of Pizarro 



taken captive. No Spaniard was killed. 
Much gold and silver were found, and 
large numbers of llamas were in the val- 
ley. The people seemed weak as soon 
as their leader was taken. Atahuallpa 
offered to fill the room in which he was 
confined, twenty-two feet long, and sev- 
enteen feet wide, full of gold, to a height 
of nine feet, as a ransom. He also prom- 
ised to fill another room twice full of sil- 
ver. Pizarro accepted his offer, and 
messengers were at once sent forth to 
collect gold and silver from all parts of 
the realm. Atahuallpa, fearing that his 
brother, Huascar, would escape from 
prison through the reported offer of a 
ransom larger than his own, secured his 
death. It is related that Atahuallpa, 
while in prison, got some Spaniard to 
write the name of God upon his thumb 
nail, and presented it to every one who 
visited him. When each, upon looking 
at it, gave him the same explanation, his 
wonder increased at the silent writing. 
Once when Francisco Pizarro came to 
his cell, the Inca held up the same to him, 
and noticing the confusion in the look of 
the conqueror, who could neither read 
nor write, he ever after esteemed the 
Spanish leader an inferior man. 

1533. February. Much gold had 
now been brought in for the ransom of 
Atahuallpa, At last the Spanish soldiers 
clamored for a division of the spoil, 
though it lacked something of being the 
full amount. The royal fifth was selected, 
and Hernando Pizarro was sent with it 
to Spain. The rest was melted down 
and amounted to about $15,500,000 gold, 
besides a large quantity of silvei\ It was 
divided according to rank and service. 
Atahuallpa now demanded his release, 
but rumors of an uj^rising of the people 



It was de- 
cided to try the captive monarch upon 
this charge of having secretly instigated 
a rebellion. It was done, and at last, in 
spite of the remonstrance of a few, he 
was sentenced to death. 

1533. Aug. 29. Atahuallpa was ex- 
ecuted by the garrote instead of by 
burning, as had been first decreed, the 
former method being adopted upon his 
professed acceptance of the Catholic re- 
ligion in his last hours. Pizarro conferred 
the crown upon Toparca, a brother of 
Atahuallpa, and invested him with the 
civil power of the realm, according to the 
regal customs. 

1533. September. Pizarro set out for 
Cuzco. Their journey lay for a part of 
the way over the great road of the realm, 
which had been built at some time with 
great labor, along the sides of mountains 
and across deep chasms. Upon this 
journey the newly appointed Inca died, 
and Pizarro received negotiations from 
Manco Capac, brother of Huascar, asking 
for recognition as ruler of the kingdom. 
He was met plausibly, and was promised 
support. 

1533. Nov. 15. Cuzco was entered 
by the Spanish army. It was found to be 
a city of great regularity, and of substan- 
tial architecture. Considerable wealth was 
found in it and divided among the soldiers. 
It is said by sonie to have been even 
greater than the ransom of Atahuallpa. 

1533. Lower California was explored 
by two expeditions sent out by Cortes in 
this and the previous year. 

1533. Cartagena, a city of Colombia, 
South America, was founded and after- 
ward fortified at a cost of $39,000,000. 
Its situation upon a small island makes it 
the chief naval port on the northern coast 
of South America. 



1523-1550.J 

1533. The first recorded eruption of 

Cotopaxi, a volcano situated in Ecuador, 
S. A,, the highest active volcano in the 
■world, took place. Its summit is about 
19,000 feet above the sea. 

1534. January. Hernando Pizarro 
ari'ived in Spain upon his mission, and 
presented all his treasures before the gov- 
ernment. Previous contracts were all 
confirmed, and the territory extended. 
Almagro was granted the right to con- 
quer the country two hundred leagues 
south of Pizarro's territory. Hernando 
Pizarro was created a Knight of Santi- 
ago and ordered to fit up an expedition 
to sail to Peru for assistance in the con- 
quest. This expedition was almost en- 
tirely annihilated at its start by a terrible 
storm, only a few of the adventurers 
reaching Peru at last. 

1534. Quito was captured by Sebas- 
tian Benalcazar, whom Pizarro had placed 
in charge of San Miguel. He was dis- 
appointed in not finding any wealth in 
the city. 

1534. March 24. Pizarro invested 
Manco Capac with the government of 
the realm, and received his submission to 
the Spanish crown. He organized a 
municipal corporation for Cuzco. Father 
Valverde was appointed bishop. 

1534. April 20. Jacques Cartier, an 
eminent French sailor, left St. Malo, 
France, with two vessels of sixt\' tons 
each, and one hundred and twent3'-two 
men, for a voyage of exploration to the 
New World. He had in all probability 
been upon the Newfoundland banks in 
previous years. 

1534. May 10. After a quick pas- 
sage of twenty days, he reached New- 
foundland, where he was obliged to re- 
1494-1534. main for a time on account 

correg-^io. ^f the icc. He subsequently 



GREAT EXPEDITIONS 



111 

sailed around the island through the 
Straits of Belle Isle. He visited and 
named the Baye de Chaleur. 

1534. July. He erected a cross bear- 
ing the French arms upon the shore of 
Gaspe as a sign of the French dominion. 
He then sailed up the St. Lawrence as 




JACQUES CARTIER. 

far as the island of Anticosti, at which 
point he turned back to France. 

1534. The city of Quito, S. A., was 
founded upon the remains of the old In- 
dian town, ten thousand feet above the 
sea. 

1535. Jan. 6. Lima. Pizarro selected 
and laid out the site of a capital city of 
Peru, and named it " City of the Kings." 
The name was afterward changed to 
Lima. A large number were set to 
work at once upon the buildings and 
streets, and many of the foundations then 
laid, have remained till this day. 

1535. May 19. Cartier's Second Voy- 
age. Jacques Cartier sailed on his sec- 
ond voyage from St. Malo, France, with 
three vessels, the largest one being of one 
hundred and ten tons burden. He reached 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence and sailed up 
the river of the same nama. 

1535. June 12. Pizarro and Alma- 
gro executed another agreement at Cuzco, 
by which they pledged lastmg friendship. 
This was caused by the assumjotion of 



112 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



supreme power at Cuzco by Almagro, 
who contended that the city lay within 
the limit of his grant from the crown. 
Almagro now undertook an expedition 
to Chili, and succeeded in raising five 
hundred and seventy men, who w^ere dis- 
patched at different times. Pizarro en- 
couraged adventurers to other parts of 
his realm, and established cities at differ- 
ent points 

1535. Oct. 2. Site of Montreal. Car- 
tier having stopped for a time at the 
present site of Quebec in intercourse 
with Donnacona and his Indian subjects, 
and having passed up through beautiful 
Lake St. Peter, arrived at the Indian 
village of Hochelaga, situated upon an 
island. He ascended the movmtain back 
of the village, and named it Mont Roy- 
ale, which has passed into the name of 
the island, and of the great city now 
upon it, as Montreal. The French then 
re-embarked and went down to the mouth 
of the St. Croix, now the St. Charles, 
and there remained for the winter. 

1535. Buenos Ayres was founded by 
a Spanish expedition under Don Jorge 
de Mendoza. It was abandoned in 1538, 
and did not become permanent till 1580, 
when colonies had already begun to 
flourish in the interior. 

1535. New Spain, now Mexico, was 
erected into a vice-royalty, and Don 
Antonio de Mendoza was appointed 
viceroy. 

FIRST PRIKTIXG. 

1535. Under the direction of the vice- 
roy, printing was established in the city 
of Mexico. " The Spiritual Ladder," a 
school manual, was printed there one 
hundred and four years before a printing 
press was set up in the United States, 
being the first book, or very nearly the 
first book printed on the American conti- 



nent. Mexico gave birth to ninety-three 
other books, and Peru to seven, before 
the close of the century. Nineteen of 
them were written in Latin. 

FIRST MLYT. 
1535. A mint was established in the 
City of Mexico, and began the coinage 
of silver, thus preceding all similar woi-k 
on the continent. 

FIRST HISTORY. 

1535. A history of America by Gon- 
zalo Hernandez, governor of San Do- 
mingo, was published at Seville, Spain. 
It contains the first known mention of 
the pine-apple. 

1536. February. Manco Capac, hav- 
ing escaped from Cuzco, in which city a 
strict watch was kept over him, and 
having appeared among the people, the 
natives rose and besieged Cuzco with two 
hundred thousand men. A large portion 
of the city w^as burned. Lima was be- 
sieged at the same time, and all commu- 
nications were cut off. Pizarro sent for 
Almagro to return from Chili, to aid in 
putting down the rebellion. 

1536. February. Juan Pizarro lost 
his life in attempting to take a strong- 
hold held by the Peruvians. He was 
the first of the four brothers to fall, and 
was in inost respects the most worthy of 
the number. He was a valiant soldier» 
and was free from most of the harsh 
characteristics of his times. 

1536. March 6. Jacques Cartier, 
having spent the winter with his men on 
the St. Lawrence, and having lost twen- 
ty-five of the little company by scurvy, 
at last sailed for France, taking with him 
the Indian chief, Donnacona, and nine of 
his inferior chiefs, of whom he gained 
possession by deceit. 



1523-1550 ] 

1536. An expedition under Master 
Hore sailed from London to plant a col- 
ony on Newfoundland, but the attempt 
came to an end after much suffering. 

1536. Asuncion, the capital of Par- 
aguay, S. A., was founded by Juan de 
Ayolas. It served as the capital of the 
La Plata provinces till 1620. 

1536. Almagro returned from Chili, 
having effected nothing to advance his 
fortunes. His troops had suffered much 
from cold and fatigue. When he reached 
the vicinity of Cuzco and found it be- 
sieged, he held communications with Man- 
co Capac, but without result, through 
misunderstanding. 

FROM FLORIDA TO MEXICO. 

1536. July 22. Cabaga de Vaca, one 
of the survivors of the expedition of 
Narvaez into Florida, arrived with two 
or three companions in Mexico, after a 
fearful journey of eight years across the 
continent. It is uncertain whether thev 
ii83-i5H6. crossed the Mississippi, thus 

Martin Luiher. becoming its discovcrcrs, or 
passed its mouth in boats which they used 
for a little time along shore. They were 
1467-1536. kept in a severe captivity 

Erasmus, for a long time by the In- 
dians, and suffered much. At last they 
escaped and began their long march 
across the continent through Texas and 
New Mexico. They finally reached 
their countrymen and were sent to Spain, 
where they were received with great 
honor. They gave the first account of 
the Pueblo Indians, and brought about by 
their statements, the subsequent explora- 
tion of New Mexico and California. 



GREAT EXPEDITIONS. 



113 



1537. April 8. Cuzco was seized by 
Almagro, who had been refused an en- 



trance into the city till the rival claims of 
himself and Pizarro could be decided. 
He seized the place by night and put 
Hernando and Gonzalo Pizarro into con- 
finement. The former had just before 
returned from Spain. 

1537. July 12. Almagro captured 
Alonzo de Alvarado, one of Pizarro's 
officers, with a force of five hundred men, 
^vho had been sent to relieve Cuzco. 

1537. The siege of Cuzco was now 
wholly broken up by Almagro. Pizarro, 
upon hearing of the seizure of Cuzco, 
sent a messenger to negotiate terms of 
peace. This effort was broken off by the 
death of the messenger. Almagro now 
descended to the seashore and ^.ttemj^ted 
to found a city which should rival Lima. 
Here he soon heard of the escape of sev- 
eral of his jDrisoners, among them Gon- 
zalo Pizarro. 

1537. Nov. 13. An interview took 
place between Almagro and Pizarro, 
which, after some altercation, resulted in 
the agreement that Cuzco should remain 
in Almagro's hands till the claims to it 
could be adjusted in Spain; and that 
Hernando Pizarro should be set at lib- 
erty on condition that he would leave 
the country in six weeks. This was 
done, and Hernando Pizarro was sent 
to his brother's quarters. Francisco at 
once released Hernando from all obliga- 
tion to obey the agreement to leave the 
country, and announced to the army his 
intention of making war upon Almagro. 
He then returned to Lima and intrusted 
the prosecution of the war to Hernando. 

LYDM.VS DECLARED HUMAK. 

1537. A decree was issued by Pope 
Paul III., declaring the native Americans 
to be rational creatures, and entitled to 
the privileges of Christians. 

8 



lU 



DISCOVER!', EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



1538. April 26. Almagro was cap- 
tured in a great battle, which was fought 
at Las Salinas, near Cuzco. 

1538. July 8. Almagro was exe- 
cuted for levying war upon the Spanish 
crown. 

1538. Havana, Cuba, was burned by 
Prench privateei's. 

1538. Santa Fe de Bogota in the 
United States of Colombia, S. A., was 
1538. Diving hell founded by Gonzalo Xim- 
inventea. gncs dc Qucsada, who start- 



better educated than his brother Francis- 
co, and was a man of great self-possession 
and vigor in the midst of critical circum- 
stances. But he had a revengeful spirit, 
and was not troubled by the sight of 
blood, nor the reflection that it was due 
to his own injustice. When he came 
out of prison he was an aged and infirm 
man. 

1539. May 30. Hernando de Soto 
having returned from Peru on account of 
the feuds which were raging there, and 




ed the city with twelve houses in honor 
of the twelve apostles. 

1539. Hernando Pizarro sailed to 
Spain because he learned that Almagro's 
friends were trying to secure redress. 
He an-ived safely, and at first successfully 
resisted the imputations cast upon him. 
But he was finally arrested, thrown into 
prison, and confined for twenty years, 
being released in 1560. Hernando Pizarro 
disappeared from the scene of action in 
Peru, leaving upon his name a reputation 
for harshness, even to cruelty. He was 



having determined while governor of 
Cuba upon making an expedition into 
Florida, arrived at Tampa ,.„„ „. ^ , 

' ^ lo39. Pins first 

Bay with nine vessels, six used by Cathar- 
hundred men, and a herd of "'^ mvari , 

' giieen of J^ng- 

swine, besides all manner of la7id. 

,• n-ii 1 15SS. Universi- 

supplies. Then began a ^^ ^^ ^^^^^^^ 

long and toilsome march founded by Cai- 

across the country to the 

west. During this j-ear they reached 

as far as the head of the Bay of Ap- 

palachee, where tliey stopped for the 

winter. 



1523-1550.] 

JU±^ ORTIZ. 
1539. When De Soto had marched 
with his men a short distance from Tam- 
pa Bay, Juan Ortiz, a man who had 
come to Florida in the expedition of 
Narvaez in 1528, met them and proved 
of great value tc the expedition. He 
related to De Soto a romantic story of 
his capture and experience among the 
Indians. He was at first doomed by 
King Ucita to death by burning, for 
which jDurpose they placed him upon a 
scaffold, and kindled a blazing fire be- 
neath it. Before the flames had reached 
him his life was besought by the daugh- 
ter of the chief from her father, who 
seemed not to have yielded out of com- 
passion, but because of the arguments of 
his child, among which was one that it 
would be a great honor to keep a white 
man in captivity. Ortiz was retained as 
a slave, but was again in danger of 
death a few years aftei'ward, when the 
Indian princess aided him in escaping 
beforehand. He lived with other Indians 
till De Soto's entrance into the countrv, 
when he sei'ved as guide and interpreter 
for that explorer. He died a short time 
before De Soto. 



GREAT EXPEDITIONS. 



115 



1539. An expedition sent out by 
Cortes, under Francisco de Ulloa, ex- 
plored the coast of California to the far 
north. Ulloa sent home a vessel, but 
never returned himself. This ended the 
explorations of Cortes. 

1540. De Soto and his followers re- 
sumed their march into the region lying 
northwest of the present State of Florida. 
They met at one point with resistance 
from the natives, and burned an Indian 
mo. Order of towu w^ith great destruc- 
VV::;:::"' tionof Hfb. The Spaniards 
Loyola. lost eighteen men, besides 



all their baggage. Many men were 
wounded. They stopped for the winter 
in Northern Mississippi. 

1540. April 22. The Seven Cities. 
An expedition under Coronado, was sent 
by Mendoza, viceroy of New Spain, to 
search for the seven cities of Cibola, 
concerning which vague reports had 
reached them. He explored the Pueblo 
cities of Arizona and New Mexico, and 
died, his followers returning to Mexico. 

±¥:iZO.y EXPFDITIO.Y. 

1540. Gonzalo Pizarro upon assum- 
ing the government of Quito to which 
he had been appointed by his brothei', 
fitted up an expedition to the east. He 
raised three hundred and forty Spaniards 
and four thousand Indians, and furnished 
them with all necessary supplies. The 
men experienced great suffering in pass- 
ing the cold heights of the Cordilleras 
and descending into the heat and rains 
of the 1-egion beyond. They reached 
the region of cinnamon, where the bark 
could be gathered in great quantities, 
but it was of no avail to them. They 
pushed on, having been told by natives 
that a land of gold lay a few days be- 
vond. After much difficulty in break- 
ing through the tropical undergrowth, 
they reached the river Napo, a great 
tributary of the Amazon. They hoped 
to find a more practicable way along 
its banks. Here they built a boat to 
carry their baggage and the persons 
who had grown weak. They cut tim- 
ber, made nails out of old horse-shoes, 
pitched the bottom with gum from the 
forest, and used old, worn-out garments 
as oakum. They were two months in 
building it, but at last had a boat both 
strong and large. Pizarro put a large 
jDortion of the company aboard under 



116 



DISCOVER!', EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



Francisco de Orellana, and sent them 
along the river. The boat was finally sent 
ahead for provisions with orders to return 
and meet the rest as soon as possible. 
Pizarro waited for weeks, then deter- 
mined to proceed along the river, and in 
two months came to the Amazon. No 
sign of the boat met him. It was now 
1 54 1. But at last he found Sanchez de 
Vargas who had been put out of the 
boat because he opposed the desertion of 
the land company. He stated that the 
rest had sailed on down the river with 
the design of going to Spain. It may 
be as is claimed by one record, that 
Orellana was led to this by finding no 
provisions, and that his return to the 
land partv would be very slow on ac- 
count of the swift current. At any rate, 
with him belongs the glory of the real 
discovery of the Amazon. He kept on 
down the stream, now near starvation 
for lack of food which could be seldom 
obtained, now fighting with his worn-out 
company the Indians who beset them in 
some places by thousands. They were 
seven months in reaching the Atlantic. 
At one place they stopped to strengthen 
or rebuild their weakened vessel. At 
one time "there Avas nothing to eat but 
the skins which formed their girdles, and 
the leather of their shoes, boiled with a 
few herbs." Finally they reached the 
Atlantic and turned north along the 
coast, reaching Cubagua in due time. 
From here Orellana sailed to Spain and 
obtained a grant of the lands along the 
Amazon, but his plans were cut short 
bv his death, which took place before he 
could reach the land of his great adven- 
ture. In June, 1542, Gonzalo Pizarro 
reached Quito upon his return from the 
great wilderness. He had been a full 
year in making his way back. Only 



eighty Spaniards remained, and they 
were worn out and broken down. Hun- 
dreds of the Indians had perished. This 
expedition must ever rank as one of the 
most remarkable adventures in the New 
World. 



1540. Vacade Castro, an ambassador, 
was appointed by the Spanish govern- 
ment to visit Peru, inquire into its dis- 
turbances, and use his authority in re- 
storing order. 

1540. Cortes again returned to Spain 
in order to present further requests to 
the go^■ernmcnt. 

1540. Gold was discovered in the 
coast range of Venezuela, S. A. 

1541. Feb. 24. Santiago, Chili, was 
founded by Pedro de Valvidia. 

1541. May. The Mississippi. De 
Soto after numerous trials in penetrating 
the wilderness, arrived at the Mississippi 
River, thus connecting his name forever 
with that great stream. 

1541. May 23. Cartier's Third Voy- 
age. Jacques Cartier sailed on his third 
voyage, to be followed by Lord Roberval, 
who was to bring further supplies with 
\vhich to found a colony. Lord Rober- 
val had received a commission, granting 
him the government of New France, 
and had made Cartier captain-general of 
the expedition. 

PIZARRO' S DEATH. 

1541. June 26. Francisco Pizarro 
was assassinated in his own home in 
Lima, by a party who had attached 
themselves to Almagro, whose father, 
Diego de Almagro, had been executed 
some time before. The attack was made 
in the daytime, and Pizarro was killed 
only after a severe resistance by himself 
and his attendants, many of whom were 



1523-1550.] 

also slain. The conqueror was at his 
death about seventy years of age, but 
•was still in the full vigor of life. The 
exposure and suffering which he had 
been through seem to have been borne 
with wonderful physical endurance. 
When his followers gave out by the 
score, he only redoubled his exertions. 
Francisco Pizarro was a man of great 
energy of spirit, which was at times ex- 
hibited in deeds strongly marked by 
cruelty and self-interest. His treatment 
of Atahuallpa has always been a reason 
for his condemnation. Rut at the time 
it seemed, without doubt, as if the whole 
cause would be the better prosecuted, and 
the natives of Peru would more readily 
receive a new government if their old 
leader were dead. Nor can we truly 
estimate the deed until we have the his- 
torical discernment of other circumstan- 
ces, such as the light value placed by 
any one upon the life of an enemy, and 
the feeling of the SjDanish that the na- 
tives of America were an inferior race. 
Pizarro, compared with other explorers 
of his time, was evidently much less 
moved by moral considei'ations, and was 
possessed of a coarse, more cruel and 
unscrupulous nature. But even he should 
be judged by the light of his own time 
and nation. Everything in Pizarro's 
life was bent to his ambition, which was 
a purely secular and avaricious one. He 
was not, like Columbus and Cortes, pos- 
sessed of a religious ambition. He could 
deny himself any minor pleasure if his 
great aim could be met. He was ready 
for any labor, and "was always devising 
ways to secure greater power over his 
followers. He did not give w^ay to eat- 
ing, drinking, or sleeping. Not having 
learned to read or write in his youth, he 
was not patient enough to do so in the 



GREAT EXPEDITIONS. 



117 



roving public life he afterward lived. 
He was emmently a soldier, and knew 
nothing except a soldier's life. In this 
he was thoroughly at home. Yet by 
his plans for public improvements in 
Peru, his founding of Lima and other 
cities, it is evident that he wished to build 
up a nation. In all his plans he was 
persistent in the highest degree. His 
long life was one of undeviating energy. 
He halted not, save for death, which 
came at last. By his hand Spain had 
acquired a vast empire, which afterward 
poured tons of silver into her treasury. 
Buried at first in secrecy and terror, his 
remains now rejDose in honor in the 
cathedral at Lima. He left a son and a 
daughter by an Indian princess. The 
former died in youth. The latter went 
to Spain, and her descendants are said to 
be found at Truxillo. 



1521. Aug. 23. Cartier reached the 
St. Croix, and soon passed up to the 
river of Cap Rouge. Here he built two 
forts and remained for the winter, waiting 
for Lord Roberval, who did not come 
when expected. 

1541. Vaca de Castro arrived in Quito 
and displayed his royal letters of author- 
ity, gaining adherents to himself as a rep- 
resentative of the ci'own. At Lima the 
young Almagro had entered at once upon 
military preparations for the support of 
his new power as governor of Peru, 
which he had assumed upon the death of 
Pizarro. 

1541. A flood of water from a volca- 
no destroyed the city of Guatemala in 
Central America. A new city was built 
further down in the valley. 

1542. April 16. Lord Roberval 
sailed from Rochelle with two hundred 
colonists, for New France. 



118 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



BE SOTO. 
1542. May 21. De Soto having wan- 
dered through the region of the Arkansas 
River, and having selected a site on the 
Mississippi for a colony, died, and w^as 
buried by his followers in the waters of 
the stream he had discovered. The sur- 
vivors continued their wanderings. Her- 
nando de Soto was born about 1496, in 
Estremadura, Spain, and was of noble 
blood. He received something of an ed- 
ucation, and came to America in I5i9' 
He was always a supporter of the best 
qualities in his companions, and in the 
confused moval conditions attending the 
exploration of the New World he seems 
never to have lost his better impulses. 
He joined Pizarro in Peru soon after that 
leader's entrance upon the conquest, and 
while a member of the army, became 
prominent for his intrepid spirit and un- 
wavering energy. Upon Pizarro's march 
to Caxamaica, De Soto, with a few men, 
penetrated the country as an advance 
guard, and discovered the great road to 
Cuzco. At the capture of the latter city 
he exhibited bravery beyond that of his 
companions in arms. He became a friend 
of the Inca, Atahuallpa, in his captivity, 
and was greatly shocked upon his retvu'n 
to Caxamaica from an expedition, to find 
that the royal prisoner had been falsely 
tried and executed. De Soto subsequently 
returned to Spain and fitted up the expe- 
dition which resulted so disastrously. He 
was a man of uncommon perseverance 
and enjoyed better the work of exj^lora- 
tion than he did the more bloody work of 
conquest. He impresses us as being a 
hero possessed of much manliness, one 
whose valor in fight resulted from the 
strength of his character, rather than 
from the sway which passion had over 
h!s spirit. 



1542. June 8. Lord Roberval reached 

Newfoundland and found Cartier, who 
had grown weary of waiting, and had 
broken up the colony, on his way to 
France. Lord Roberval tried to force 
him back, but Cartier departed secretly 
and returned to France. The new-comer 
passed up the river and settled on the spot 
abandoned by the others. A dreary win- 
ter was spent, and the colony was at last 
broken up and carried back to France. 

1542. Sept. 16. The young Almagro 
was met and conquered by Vaca de Cas- 
tro on the plains of Chupas. Almagro 
fled to Cuzco and was arrested. De Cas- 
tro also proceeded to Cuzco, where Al- 
magro was tried and executed. Some of 
his chief adherents were executed, and 
others banished. De Castro at once be- 
gan to settle the province in true peace 
and order. He founded schools for Indi- 
ans, and prevented oppression as far as 
possible. 

1542. The government of the prov- 
inces of Spain in the New World was 
brought to the attention of Charles V. by 
Las Casas, who was very anxious about 
it. A new code was drawn up, making 
Peru a viceroyalty, and specifying certain 
improvements in the methods of treating 
the Lidian population. Certain restric- 
tions were put about slavery, both Indian 
and negro, virtually abolishing it. The 
viceroy was to have a Royal Court of 
Audience of four persons. Lima was to 
take precedence of Panama as capital of 
the Pacific coast. Blasco Nunez de Vela 
was appointed to the government. 

1542. Nov. 20. A Royal Audience 
was established for Central America, on 
account of the death of Alvarado. It 
was first seated at Valladolid de Coma- 
yagua. There was very little peace in 
the province after the conqueror died. 



1523-1550.] 



GREA T EXPEDITIONS. 



1543. The first vessels ever built on 
the Mississippi were seven frail brigan- 
tines, in which the followers of De Soto 
floated down the river to the Gulf of 
Mexico. Their members were very 
much reduced, and their sufferings before 
they reached the Gulf of Mexico, were 
very great. 

1543. Cartier's Last Voyage. Car- 
tier is said to have been sent to New 
France this year, to bring home Lord 
Roberval and his companions. This 
voyage, if made, was Cartier's fourth 
and last one to Canada. He wintered 
there, and returned the next year. From 
this time he is not heard of in explora- 
tions, and is supposed to have lived at St. 
Malo until he died, about 1555. Scarcely 
anything is known of him beyond his 
voyages to Canada, which cover a period 
of ten years. He is supposed to ha^'e 
been about forty years of age at his first 
expedition. He appears as a man of en- 
durance and good character. His name 
will always be intimately associated with 
the great St. Lawrence, although France 
was not ready to avail herself of his en- 
terprise in building up at once upon his 
explorations. 

1543. Nov. 3. Blasco Nunez de 
Vela, the new viceroy of Peru, sailed 
from San Lucar for his province. In the 
meantime his appointment, and the new 
code of regulations for the province, 
caused great agitation among all the in- 
habitants. The property of many would 
be severely reduced, if they were no 
longer allowed to have a gang of Indi- 
ans to do their bidding. 

1544. January. The Viceroy's Fail- 
ure. Blasco Nunez de Vela reached 
Nombre de Dios on the Isthmus, and 
caused hostility at once upon his arrival 
by freeing certain Indians who had been 



119 

brought from Peru as slaves. He arrived 
at Tumbez, and entered upon his admin- 
istration by the execution of the laws of 
the new code just as decreed, without 
fear or favor. Great excitement resulted. 
Gonzalo Pizarro was proclanned at 
Cuzco procurator general of Peru, and 
was empowered by the municipal authoi-- 
ities to present their remonstrances to the 
viceroy, and solicit redress. He also in- 
sisted upon having the power to raise an 
army. Nunez proceeded to Lima, and 
arresting De Castro after awhile as being 
concerned in the rebellion of Pizarro, 
threw him into confinement. Pizarro 
was marching toward Lima. The ex- 
citement of the people grew more violent. 
At last the Royal Audience arrested 
Nunez because they differed from him in 
carrying out the decrees. He was de- 
posed from office and confined on an 
island near by, in waiting to be sent to 
Spain. Pizarro drew near the city, and 
demanded to be acknowledged governor. 
The judges asked him to disband his 
force, inasmuch as the ordinance objected 
to, had been suspended. He refused, 
and declared he would pillage the city 
unless his authority was recognized. 

1544. Oct. 28. Pizarro entered Lima at 
the head of his force, and was proclaimed 
governor of Peru till the emperor could 
be heard from. This was followed by 
acclamations and days of feasting. Vaca 
de Castro escaped to Spain, was confined 
twelve years, but was at last fully ac- 
quitted upon trial. 

1544. October. The Viceroy's Re- 
lease. The captain who was to take 
Nunez to Spain released him soon after 
sailing. Nunez returned to Tumbez and 
raised an army by a public call. He 
went to Quito and then to San Miguel. 
He secured five hundred men. 



120 DISCOVERT, EXP LOR A 

1544. Cartagena, S. A., was taken 
by the French. 

1544. Manco Capac, the Inca of 
Peru, was shot by Spaniards who had 
been received into his camp. Since the 
siege of Cuzco failed, he had Hved in 
the mountains, and had been a great ter- 
ror to the Spaniards. Efforts had been 
made to gain his submission, but without 
success. He was deadly opposed to 
Spanish rule, and would by no means 
help it in the least. The Spaniards who 
killed him were immediately killed by 
the Indians. This unfortunate Peruvian 
monarch seems to have had great deter- 
mination, and much power over his 
subjects. 

1545. March 4. Gonzalo Pizarro, 
having garrisoned Lima, set out for 
Truxillo in order to proceed against the 
viceroy. He found that the latter had 
left San Miguel, and immediately set out 
in pursuit through the mountains. For 
two hundred leagues the pursuit was 
kept up at great suffering on both sides, 
until Pizarro stopped at Quito, Nunez 
having gone further north to Popayan. 

POTOSI SILVER MLYES. 

1545. An Indian named Hualpa, 
climbing the mountains in pursuit of 
wild goats, accidentally discovered the 
silver mines of Potosi, Bolivia, by pull- 
ing a bush from the earth by the roots, 
in his efforts to save himself from falling. 
1545. Needles His eye fell at once upon 
first made. \)^q Qj-g beneath. For a 

time he kept it secret, but his possession 
of silver was at last noticed, and he told 
a friend where he obtained it. They 
soon quarreled over it, and thus the secret 
was given to the world. The mines are 
in a mountain which rises at its summit 
above the surrounding: mountains in a 



TION AND SETTLEMENT. 

perfect cone-like form, to a height of 
i6,ooo feet above the sea. In this cone 
over five thousand mines have been 
opened, running in all directions, and 
completely honeycombing the top of the 
mountain. During the next two hun- 
dred and forty-four years the yield was 
$1,000,000,000. There is still a great 
amount of silver and other minerals in 
the mountain lower down. Indians have 
always been the chief workers in these 
mines. 

HIGHEST CITY O.Y THE GLOBE. 

1545. A little settlement began to be 
formed about the silver mines of Potosi, 
and a city grew up at an elevation of 
13,300 feet above the sea. There are 
other higher mountain points inhabited, 
but no higher city in the world. It had 
a population of 150,000 inhabitants two 
hundred vears ago, but has now sunk to 
less than 30,000. Much of the place is 
in ruins, although only three places in 
Bolivia exceed it in size. The mint 
coins $3,000,000 every year from the sil- 
ver of the region. There is considerable 
life and enterprise still left in the city. 



1545. The yellow fever made its first 
appearance in Mexico. 

1546. Jan. 12. The Viceroy's Death. 

A great battle was fought just north of 
Quito, between Nunez, who had been 
reenforced by Benalcazar, and Pizarro, 
who hatl gained many adhei'ents in 
Quito. The viceroy was defeated and 
slain. The people hailed Gonzalo Pi- 
zarro as deliverer. 

1546. Gonzalo Pizarro's Power. Car- 
bajal pursued and entirely scattered the 
forces of Diego Centeno, \vho had re- 
belled against Pizarro. The power of 
Pizarro was now felt throughout Peru. 



1523-1550.] 

He made a triumphant entry into Lima 
with great pomp. He obtained posses- 
sion of Panama and Nombre de Dios 
upon the Isthmus, and could command the 
communications with Spain. He was 
urged by some to throw off the authority 
of the crown and erect an independent 
kingdom. But he did 'not consent to 
take this step. He prepared to send a 
mission to Spain. 

1546. Pedro de la Gasca, who had 
been appointed to visit Peru and assume 
the presidency of the Royal Audience, 
arrived at Nombre de Dios, which was 
held by Pizarro's men. Gasca was a 
very able, wise, and persevering priest. 
He gained the respect of the officers of 
the Isthmus, and when Pizarro's ambas- 
sador to Spain arrived at Panama, 
Gasca led him to give up his mission and 
confess allegiance to the crown. 

1546. Nov. 19. Gasca received the 
peaceful surrender of the Isthmus and 
the fleet stationed there, thus gaining a 
great victory by his wisdom in approach- 
ing and winning men. 

1546. A map was published in Ven- 
ice, representing Asia and America as 
joined in latitude 38°. 

1547. Gasca began to raise troops, 
because attempts to open negotiations 
with Pizarro himself had been rejected. 
He sent public letters into Peru with 
great effect upon the people. 

1547. Centeno now again rebelled, 
marched on Cuzco, took it, and soon had 
an army of one thousand men in the field, 
1547-1559. Henry I'cady to opposc Pizarro. 
The latter also raised one 
thousand men. A process 
was issued against Gasca, 
at Lima, and condemned 
him to death for treason. 
This manifesto was laughed at by some 



GREAT EXPEDITIONS. 



121 



//. Kin^ of 
France. Cath- 
erine de Medici, 
^tieen. 

1547-1553. Ed- 
viard VI. King 
of England. 



who said if Gasca could be caught they 
would execute him without a process, 
and if he could not be caught, it would 
do no good. 

1547. April 10. The fleet of Gasca 
sailed from Panama, and after a severe 
storm, arrived at Tumbez. He found a 
change favorable to himself among the 
people, wrought by his manifestoes. He 
gathered his forces after a while at 
Xauxa. 

1547. Oct. 26. Pizarro defeated the 
rebel Centeno, who had a force at this 
time twice his own, and succeeded in 
totally overthrowing him. Pizarro in- 
stantly executed many of the captives. 
Centeno escaped. Pizarro entered Cuzco, 
where his victory was celebrated. 

DEtITH of CORTES. 

1547. Dec. 2. Hernando Cortes, the 
conqueror of Mexico, died near Seville 
in Spain in the sixty-third year of his 
age. This great soldier lived through 
all the dangers of war to die peaceably 
in his bed in his native land. He had 
outlived all the great explorers of his 
country whose names are connected with 
Florida, Mexico, Central America and 
South America. A new realm was con- 
quered by him for the satisfaction of the 
avarice of Spain, and for the relief of 
her treasury in the wars she was waging 
at home. He was preeminently the 
representative soldier among the explor- 
ers of his time. The Pizarros were 
brave and persistent soldiers, but there 
is so inuch of personal ambition and 
cruel, selfish policy in their history,- that 
we cannot claim for them the position of 
true military heroes. But the harshness, 
the coolness at the sight of blood, the 
readiness to fight, ^vhich we find in 
Cortes, seem to be connected closely with 



122 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



the military character of the time rather 
than with personal defects in the man 
himself. We do not think of Cortes as 
being- intensely selfish like Francisco 
Pizarro. His whole soul was in the con- 
quest, and he prided himself upon his 
own achievements. He always felt keen- 
ly the criticisms made ujDon his conduct. 
But he cannot be called an utterly selfish 
man. There is much that is unlovely 
and disagreeable in his character. He 
was cunning and bigoted. But we can- 
not deny him the praise of being one of 
the best soldiers whom Spain had in the 
New World. His power over his men 
seems to have been gained by the hearty, 
wholesome, generous bearing which he 
had toward them, rather than by any 
assumed favor for them. Yet they all 
knew that he would have them for fol- 
lowers, not for leaders. In this way he 
made a victorious army out of men of 
different ranks in life, and of different 
moral characters running through all 
grades. Cortes was a really great gen- 
eral. His victories were not gained by 
dash and superior force, but by judgment 
and military perception. He was also 
a man of great general knowledge and 
practical sense. He began at once to 
notice the resources of Mexico, and when 
the conquest was complete he immedi- 
ately set about the erection of a nation 
upon the old ruins. After he, like Co- 
lumbus, had been denied by the Spanish 
governinent the full reward which he 
had anticipated and desired, he eagerly 
sought some other quarter where his 
adventurous spirit could find delight in 
action. For this reason he set on foot the 
expeditions to California. But nothing 
appeared equal to his former field. The 
conquest of Mexico was the great work 
of his life. In that the remarkable na- 



ture, abilities and character of the man 
were very fully shown. His ashes now 
rest in the land which his valor added to 
the Spanish domain. 



1548. March. Gasca, after having 
waited for reenforcements at different 
points, at last led forward nearly two 
thousand men, the largest single force 
that had ever been known in Peru. 

GO.YZ^LO PIZtIRRO. 
1548. April 8. The battle of Xaqui- 
xaguana took place near Cuzco, in which 
Pizarro's forces were easily routed. 
Many of Pizarro's officers and privates 
took flight to the other army and surren- 
dered themselves to the new president. 
This proved the downfall of their com- 
mander. The battle had scarcely begun 
when desertions rapidly multiplied, and 
Pizarro, when he saw that 

' 1648. Ornnffe 

his cause was hopeless be- trees bronirht 
cause of the dissolution of ''"" ^"''°^'- 
his army, gave himself up. Francisco de 
Carbajal, an officer eighty years of age, 
who was true to Pizarro, coolly watched 
the course of events, and was heard to 
hum the words of a comic Spanish bal- 
lad which was a favorite with him : 

"The wind blows the hairs off my head, mother, 
Two at a time it blows them away." 

When nearly all his fellow soldiers 
had fled, he attempted to make his es- 
cape, but was taken and afterward exe- 
cuted. He was one of the most remark- 
able characters of the conquest. Gasca's 
army acqviired a large ainount of booty. 
Gonzalo Pizarro was beheaded, and 
some of his officers were executed in dif- 
ferent ways. Thus perished the last of the 
four Pizarros, at about forty-two years 
of age. He had been only second to his 
brother Francisco throughout the con- 



1523-1550.] 

quest, in the energy and ability with 
which he had striven to subjugate Peru. 
His expedition across the Cordilleras into 
the region of the Amazon was un- 
equaled in that time, and almost in 
any time, for boldness and romance. He 
loved show, and was less nisensible to 
allurements of all kinds than his brother 
Francisco was. After the latter's death, 
Gonzalo felt that the honor of the name 
rested upon him to perpetuate. His 
gigantic efforts to retain a hold upon 
Peru were well nigh successful, but utter 
disaster came upon him at last. His ed- 
ucation was like Francisco's, an educa- 
tion of the camp. His moral nature was 
much the same. His head was set up at 
Lima and marked as that of a traitor. 
His property was confiscated, and his 
home in Lima utterly destroyed. His 
body was laid in Cuzco, with the bodies 
of Almao'ro and his son. 



GREAT EXPEDITIONS. 



123 



1548. La Paz, the chief commercial 
city of Bolivia, was founded by Alonzo 
de Mendoza. It is situated near Lake 
Titicaca, and is 13,000 feet above the 
sea. It has 85,000 inhabitants. 

1549. Settled Administration. After 
the death of Pizarro, Gasca entered upon 
the administration of affairs, and endeav- 
ored to meet the needs of all by a wise 
distribution of rewards and favors. He 
took measures to investigate the condition 
of the Indian population. He introduced 
many reforms, and settled the govern- 
ment upon a new and firm basis. He 



did it all without charge, save for his 
necessary expenses, and saved a large 
sum for the royal treasury. He even re- 
fused to receive presents from the people. 
1549. First Jesuits. Thome de Souza 
was appointed governor of Brazil by the 
Portuguese crown, and made San Salva- 
dor the capital of that province under 
the name of Bahia. Jesuits for the first 
time came to America with De Souza. 

1549. The independence of Spanish 
America was proclaimed by two brothers, 
Hernando and Pedro de Contreras, of 
Nicaragua. Panama submitted to them, 
but before a long time their cause de- 
clined, and ended with their deaths in 
1550. This abortive attempt dimly fore- 
told the revolutionary movements two 
and a half centuries later. 

1550. January. Gasca embarked at 
Lima for Spain, leaving the Royal Audi- 
ence to govern the province of Peru till 
a new viceroy could be sent. He took 
to Spain 1,500,000 ducats, and after a 
favorable voyage reached home in safety. 
His mission had been a complete success, 
and was worth an inestimable amount to 
Spain. He lived till 1567, and left the 
reputation of having been a wise, great 
and good man. After his departure the 
regulations of 1542 were broken down, 
so far as slavery was concerned. Negroes 
and Indians were reduced to bondage 
again. 

1550. Two millions of Indians had 
been worked to death in Hayti by the 
Spaniards in fifty years. 



SECTION VII. 
TB^U G^UAT UJTGZISJI BXTZOnUl^S. /66/-/602. 




'he last half of the sixteenth cen- 
tury presents a new element in the 

growing life of the New World. 

The most prominent feature of the 
period is the large number of English 
explorers who emerge into view. The 
achievements of the Cabots had not been 
closely followed up fifty years before. But 
now English sailors began to cruise all 
waters. Some sailed simply for gain and 
were not scrupulous about getting it with 
plunder and bloodshed if necessary. The 
greed of Hawkins and the vindictive 
spirit of Drake spread blots on American 
history which can never be erased. They 
aided the development of the buccaneer 
life which began before their day, but 
reached its most frightful extent in the 
seventeenth century. These men made 
no attempt to colonize. The designs of 
others were wholly commendable. Men 
like Gilbert could not have too much to 
do with the study of a new continent. 
The zeal of Raleigh deserved a better 
result than to be forever puzzled with 
the lost Roanoke colony. All the Eng- 
lish efforts were futile. France made 
few and feeble attempts. The mournful 
story of Huguenot failure in Brazil, and 
the blood-red page of Huguenot exter- 



mination in Florida are mere incidents in 
the suffering of that distressed people. 
The weak movements toward New 
France at the close of the period were 
without promise. Holland had not yet 
reached out strongly into the western 
continent. Meantime comparative quiet 
reigned throughout Spanish America, 
which was growing as far as the condi- 
tions would permit. Mining was attain- 
ing considerable dimensions. Education 
was increasing. Towns were multiply- 
ing. St. Augustine, the oldest city in the 
United States, was founded. 

1551. A band of pirates under Jacob 
Sores pillaged the wealthier portions of 
Havana, Cuba, seizing or destroying 
everything, and took possession of the 
fort, but soon left, as booty was their 
only object. 

1551. Four lines for a ship-canal 
across Central America were indicated 
by the historian Gomara. A work of 
this kind was warmly and earnestly ad- 
vocated by him because it would bring 
Spain much nearer to the wealth of the 
Indies. 

1551. Two universities, the oldest in 
America, were founded, one in the City 
of Mexico, and one in Lima. 



1490-1353. Ra- 
belais, the great 
Fre7ich author. 
1553-1558. 
"B/oody Mary" 
^ueeii of Eng- 
land. 



1551-1602.] 

1554. French buccaneers again de- 
stroyed Havana, Cuba. A 
short time before they had 
seized the city of Santiago 
on the same island, and 
received $8o,ooo for its 

ransom. They swarmed through the 
West India w^aters, and hardly any town 
was safe from them. 

1555. November. Huguenots in 
Brazil. Nicholas Durand de Villegagnon 
with a colony of Huguenots or French 
Protestants, arrived in the harbor of Rio 
Janeiro and began a settlement upon an 
island. He had sailed from France upon 
his undertaking, with the favor of Coligny 
Admiral of France, who was himself a 
Protestant. Villegagnon began to rule 
his colony with such strictness that he 
speedily caused much trouble and created 
many enemies for himself. Thus the 
settlement which had some principle in- 
volved in its organization came to grief 
because of the unfortunate dispositions of 
the ones engaged in it, and especially of 
its leader. Villegagnon was a man who 
had been exceedingly bi'ave in war, and 
was accomplished in scholarship. He 
was evidently unfitted for the compara- 
tively limited work of building up a col- 
ony in a foreign land. Least of all could 
he bear opposition. Professing to be a 
Protestant, he was readily joined in his 
Brazilian enterpinse by many who thought 
they would be free from danger in the 
exercise of their faith across the ocean. 
They flew to ills they knew not of. The 
sufferings endured in Fort Coligny as the 
little fortification was called, were verv 
1556-1598. Philip great. The harshness of 

Villegagnon irritated his 
followers almost to mad- 
ness. They formed a plan 
to overthrow, perhaps to kill 



THE GREAT ENGLISH EXPLORERS. 



125 



//. King oj 
Spain. 

1491-1.556. Ig- 
natius Loyola, 
founder oJ the 
Jesuits, 



him, but it was revealed, and therefore 
failed. Famine began to stare the col- 
onists in the face. The difficulty of the 
situation grew eveiy day more extreme. 
The future was not long in deciding the 
issue. 

1557. March 9. A second body of 
colonists reached the Huguenot settlement 
at Rio Janeiro, Brazil. Villegagnon, be- 
cause increasingly despotic, drove off the 
Calvinist ministers into the woods imtil 
they could take a vessel for France, and 
threw some of the colonists who were of 
like faith into the sea. He soon after 
sailed for France, tired out with his experi- 
ment at colonization, and was henceforth 
a zealous Catholic. 

1558. The Huguenot colony in Bra- 
zil was broken up and de- ^^^^ ^ ,. 

i 1558. Sealing 

stroyed by the Portuguese. v.m.x brought iiito 
Thus did one American "^- '« ^'"-Z'-- 
settlement, made on religious principle, 
fail because of lack of genuine leadership. 

1558. A great expedition for the ex- 
ploration and colonization of Florida was 
fitted up at Vera Cruz, i55S-i603. ehz- 

Mj • 1 J 1 abeth ^ueen of 

exico, and sailed under _ , , „'. 

' J^ngtana. Jitse 

Tristan de Luna. There of Puritanism. 
were fifteen hundred soldiers, some of 
them with families. They reached the 
coast of Florida but after they had landed 
a great storm broke up their ships so that 
they had no means of communication 
with Mexico, or of returning thither. 
They were soon distressed by a lack of 
supplies and lingered for a year or two in 
a starving condition, till the survivors 
were relieved by a vessel from Mexico 
and carried home. 

1559. Reverses in Chili. Pedro Val- 
divia who had been con- 
ducting the conquest of Chili, 
was captured by the Indians 
and put to death. The war 



1559-1560. Fran- 
cis II. King of 
France. 
1560-1574. 
Charles IX. 
King oJ France. 



126 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT, 



had been very fearful thus far, and tlie 
natives now rallied more fiercely than 
ever. They destroyed Concepcion, and 
assailed other jolaces, including Santiago, 
more or less severely. 

1561. The Amazon was again visited 
by a company of Spaniartls including 
Lope de Aguirre, who obtained the com- 
1660. Knh'es iii'^n^^ ''ifter some fearful 
first made iu En- niurdcrs had been com- 

ffLi7id, . ,_, 

mitted. 1 he company were 

1497-1560. Me- . . , 

lancihon, friend nearly a year gomg down 
cf Luther. jiig Amazon and crossing 

over to the Orinoco. The journey was 
marked by wrangling and bloodshed at 
almost ever}' step. 

THE SLriVE TR^DE. 

1562. Sir John Hawkins inaugurated 
the English slave trade in the New 
World by securing three hundred ne- 
groes on the coast of Guinea, Africa, 
iind selling them on the island of Hayti 
at great profit. He obtained part of the 
number \)\ promising them free transpor- 
tation to a new and better clime. The 
rest he took in battle. Queen Elizabeth 
consented to his vovage upon condition 
that he would not take any away from 
their homes, save with their own consent, 
a condition which he grossly violated so 
far as a portion of his captives were con- 
cerned, and violated in spirit, in obtaining 
the rest. 

1562. Feb. 18. A company of Hu- 
guenots sailed from Havre for the New 
World in two vessels commanded by 
Jean Ribaut of Dieppe. 

1562. May 1. They reached the St, 
John's River, Florida, and named It 
River of May. They erected a stone 
pillar bearing the arms of France upon 
the bank, and then sailed north along the 
shore. 



1562. May 27. They reached and 

named Fort Royal, South Carolina, at 
which point the colonv landed and began 
a settlement. A number of the com- 
pany were chosen to remain and hold the 
position. 

1562. June 11. Ribaut sailed from 
Port Royal for France. The colony fin- 
ished the fort \vhich had been begun, and 
then wandered around among the 
Indians. 

1563. The colonists at Port Royal 
having become sick of their life, because 
they did not set themselves at work to 
build up the colony, built a brigantine 
and sailed for France. This was the first 
vessel built upon the Atlantic coast of the 
present United States. The colonists 
were taken prisoners by an English 
vessel and part of tliem were carried cap- 
tive to England. 

1564. A French colony in three ves- 
sels under Rene de Laudonniere, landed 
on the River of May, in Florida, where 
they selected a spot and i~,os-io6i. 
began a fort, which they "jo'"' Calvin. 
named Fort Caroline. Troubles soon 
arose in the colonv, and lack of food led 
some to turn pirates. They set out for 
the West Indies where they were taken 
into custody, and revealed the facts con- 
cerning the colony in Florida. Others 
afterward departed as buccaneers. 

1564. The quicksilver mines of Hu- 
ancavelica, Peru, were discovered, and in 
a year or two began to be worked. The 
production was very large up to nearly 
the beginning of the present century. 

1565. Aug. 3. The vessels of Sir 
John Hawkins, on the return from a sec- 
ond voyage with sla\es to the West In- 
dies, touched at the River of Ivlay to 
obtain water. The colony, well nigh 
dead ^vith liunger, were offered a passage 



1551-1603.] 

to France. Laudonniere finally bought 
one of the vessels, and Hawkins de- 
parted. 

1565. Aug. 24. Before the colonists 
had abandoned the fort and started for 
France, Jean Ribaut arrived with three 
hundred men and ample supplies. 

1565. Sept. 4. Pedro Menendez de 
Aviles, a Spanish commander,arrived on 
the coast of Florida, and discovered the 
French colon}^, to overthrow which he 
had fitted out his expedition. 

ST. c^LV^rSTIA'K 

1565. Sept. 8. Menendez, having 
sailed south from the place where he ob- 
served the French colony to be located, 
founded St. Augustine, the oldest city in 
the United States. 



THE GREAT ENGLISH EXPLORERS. 



127 



1565. Sept. 20. Massacre at Tort 
Caroline. IMenendez, having marched 
across the country while Ribaut had gone 
to attack St. Augustine, fell upon Fort 
Caroline and massacred the inmates. He 
afterward captured the expedition under 
Ribaut, which had been shipwrecked on 
the coast, and put all except a very few 
to the sword, in the most horrid and de- 
liberate manner. 

1565. A mint, which is still in opera- 
tion, was established at Lima, Peru. 

1566. The quicksilver mines of Santa 
Barbara, Peru, began to be worked. 
They have been known as the " Great 
Mine," but have seldom been worked 
energetically. At one time two hundred 
workmen were killed by the falling in of 
the mine. Native Peru\'ians worked these 
mines for paint before Spaniards came. 

1566. The first Jesuit mission in 
Florida was established for the conver- 
sion of the natives. The province was 
afterward abandoned. 



1566. An eruption of Pichincha, 
" The Boiling Mountain," hurled ashes 
and stones upon Quito, five miles away, 
to a depth of three feet. Boiling water 
and bitumen were emitted in floods. 
This volcano is i6,ooo feet high, and has 
a crater 2,500 feet deep, the deepest crater 
on the globe. 

1567. Bio de Janeiro was founded 
by the Portuguese, upon the bay of the 
same name. 

1567. Sir John Hawkins made a 
third voyage to Guinea, for which Queen 
Elizabeth helped him to prepare, and ob- 
taining five hundred negroes, he at- 
tempted to sell them in the colonies of 
Spain, in the New World. Being un- 
successful at first, he repaired to Carta- 
gena, and there disposed of them. But 
he lost part of his vessels in a battle with 
the Spanish fleet on the coast of Mexico, 
and returned to England somewhat dis- 
appointed. He afterward served the 
English navy in different capacities, until 
1595, when he took part in an expedition 
against the West Indies. 

1567. The city of Caraccas, the seat 
of government in Venezuela, was founded 
by Diego Lasada. The revolution of 
South America, at the beginning of the 
present century, was "cradled in this 
city." 

1568. April. De Gourges' Revenge. 
Dominique de Gourges arrived on the 
coast of Florida from France, and having 
attacked Fort San Mateo, which the 
Spaniards had built out of Fort Caroline, 
put the Spanish garrison to death. He 
also captured and slew a garrison on the 
other side of the river. 

1570. The Inquisition was estab- 
lished in America by Philip II., but the 
Indians were exempted from its juris- 
diction. 



128 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



1570. An earthquake almost totally 
destroyed the city of Concepcion, Chili. 
Two thousand persons lost their lives. 

1570. Six Jesuits who had been sent 
out by Menendez to found a colony upon 
the Potomac in Virginia, were slain by 
the Indians, and the mission broken up. 

SIR FIMXCIS DRtLKE. 
Sir Francis Drake was born in the 
south of England about the year 1545, 
and began his life upon the sea at a very 
early age, his father having been chaplain 
in the navy. He is said to have owned 
and commanded a small vessel at eight- 
een years of age, and to have sold it in 
order to participate in vSir John Hawkins' 
third vovage for slaves in 1567. Sir 
John being a relative, the young Drake 
was given the command of a ^'essel in 
the fleet. He returned home poor, hav- 
1512. Massacre "ig lost his gaius in the bat- 
of St. Barthoio- tie ou the coast of Mexico, 
,^ , ,. , c^ , which so injured vSir John's 

lh05-lari. John •> -' 

Knox, the Scotch fleet. Being refused re- 
Rejormer. ^j^.^^^ ^^^ ^j^^ Spanish gov- 

ernment he Aowed to take it into his own 
hands. This was the origin of his pirat- 
ical career afterward, 

1572. He sailed with two small ves- 
sels under a commission from the cpicen, 
and after having been joined by a third 
vessel near vSouth America, he attacked 
and pillaged the towns upon the coast of 
New Granada, destroyed Spanish vessels, 
and greatly injured the entire line of set- 
tlements. He returned to England very 
rich, and was treated by the queen and 
the people with great consideration. 



1573. A great cathedral was begun 
in the City of Mexico which was not fin- 
ished till 1667, nearly one hundred years 
after. 



SIR MARTIX FROBISHER. 
Sir IVIartin Frobisher was born at 
Yorkshire, England, about 1530, and was 
a sailor from his youth like most of the 
other great navigators of his day. The 
idea of finding a great northwest passage 
to India took possession of his mind till 
he declared the accomplishment of it to- 
be the only thing left by which " a nota- 
ble mind might be made famous and for- 
tunate." For fifteen years 

J 1574-1589. Henry 

he endeavored to secure ///. King of 

. r T France. 

patronage tor an expedi- 
tion. Finally he was aided in fitting out 
three xessels of thirty, twenty and ten 
tons, respectively. 

1576. June 8. He sailed down the 
Thames and ^vas greeted 

by the hand of Queen Eliz- Titt.ui.thegreae 

1.1 J. /--< • 1 T Italian paiiiter. 

abeth at (jreenwich. in a ■' 

severe storm the smallest vessel went 
down with all on ])oard. The second 
went back to England. Frobisher kept 
on, reached the coast of Labrador, ex- 
plored the strait which bears his name,, 
and sailed to England with some small 
stones as a sign of possession. Gold was 
apparently found in one of the stones 
and immediate preparations were begun 
for another expedition. 

1577. May. Frobisher sailed on a 
second voyage with three ships, and 
reaching the New World, loaded thent 
with two hundred tons of the supposed 
ore. This does not seem to have been 
assayed till after the third expedition had 
sailed. 



1577. Dec. 13. Sir Francis Drake 
sailed from England with an expedition 
of several vessels in an attempt to reach 
the west coast of South America for the 
sake of plunder. 

1578. May. He passed through Ma- 



1551-1G02.] 

gellan's Straits and entered the Pacific 
with only one vessel. The others had 
deserted and returned to England, or 
been turned adrift because unseaworthy. 
Drake "was driven down the west coast 
of Terra del Fuego by a storm vnitil he 
saw Cape Horn. He then sailed north, 



THE GREAT ENGLISH EXPLORERS. 



129 

1578. A Bubble Burst. Frobisher 
sailed with fifteen vessels for another 
cargo of earth. A colony was intended, 
but not attempted. Upon the return of 
the fleet the so-called ore was found to 
be worthless, and thus a golden dream of 
the queen and others was dissolved. 




SIR MARTIN FROBISHER 



committed depredations upon the Spanish 
provinces and explored the coast ot Cali- 
fornia. Failing to find a passage back 
to the Atlantic at the north, he named 
the country New Albion and decided to 
sail back to England by the way of the 
Cape of Good Hope, in order to escape 
Spanish vessels which had been fitted 
out against him at the south. 



1578. June 11. Sir Humphrey Gil- 
bert obtained a patent for territory in 
North America, and entertained the first 
true plans for successful colonization. 

1578. Brazil passed under the domin- 
ion of Spain till 1637. 

1579. Gilbert, having collected a 
miscellaneous company, sailed for the 
New World. This voyage was entirely 



130 



DISCOVER!', EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



unsuccessful, and is but little known. One 
vessel was lost. It is supposed that the 
attempt was made to colonize Newfound- 
land. 

1579. Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa 
was sent out from Peru to resist and cap- 
ture Drake, but had foiled. He, however, 
gave the first good account of the south- 
west portion of the South American 
coast. He advocated the placing of a 
colony in Magellan's Straits, to prevent 
the passage of hostile vessels. A colony 
was planted there, but was destroyed in a 
few years. 

1580. Tanned hides began to be 
shipped from Brazil to Castile. 

1580. Nov. 3. Sir Francis Drake 
arrived in England from his voyage round 
the world. Queen Elizabeth made him 
a knight, and refused to give him up to 
Spain, who claimed him as a buccaneer. 

1580. Guiana, in South America, be- 
gan to be settled by tlie Dutch. 

1581. Mogens Heineson, a famous 
Danish sailor, was sent out by Frederick 
II. of Denmark, to see if Northmen 
could be found in Greenland. There 
were re^oorts that the old colonies had not 
UHi. Aicohoiin- been entirely destroyed. He 
troM a,no„g ..^ached the viciuity of 
as a cordial. Southeastern Greenland,but 
was deceived by the transparency of the 
air, by w^hich the far-off mountains of the 
coast looked close at hand. Being super- 
stitious, he thought his vessel to be under 
the power of evil spirits, and sailed for 
home. 

1581. New Mexico. Augustin Ruyz, 
with two fellow priests and eight soldiers, 
started from Northern Mexico for an ex- 
ploration of the region of the " seven 
cities of Cibola." One priest was soon 
killed by the Indians, and the soldiers set 
out on their return, leaving the two re- 



maining priests unprotected. They went 
on, and nothing was afterward known of 
them. 

1582. Antonio de Espejo fitted up an 
expedition to go in search of Ruyz and 
his companion. They went north into 
New Mexico, after passing up the Rio 
del Noite, and came upon the famous 
cliff cities which still exist in that region, 
though not so dense as then in their pop- 
ulation. Espejo and a portion of his 
followers wandered for months through 
the wonderful country, and found rich 
silver veins in some places. They did 
not find Ruyz, but returned with fuller 
reports of the curious cities about which 
they had heard so many nunors. The 
occupation of Santa Fe, New Mexico, 
by the Spaniards, is usually dated from 
this time, a part of Espejo's men having 
stationed themselves there. It had been 
a populous Indian pueblo for a long time. 
It is counted the second oldest city in the 
United States. 

1582. March 25. Sir Walter Raleigh 
obtained a patent from the queen, similar 
to the one conferred upon his step-brother, 
Sir Humphrey Gilbert. He aimed to 
colonize further to the south than Gilbei't 
had attempted to do. . 

1582. April 27. Raleigh sent out two 
vessels under Philip Amidas and Arthur 
Barlow. They sailed the usual route, by 
way of the Canaries and the West 
Indies. 

1582. July 13. Having arrived off 
the coast of Carolina, they landed and 
took possession. They explored Albe- 
marle Sound and Roanoke Island, and 
then returned to England. As a result 
of this expedition the country visited was 
named Virginia, in honor of the virgin 
Queen Elizabeth. 

1583. Gilbert's Second Voyage. Sir 



1551-1602.] 

Humphrey Gilbert sailed again in five 
vessels, with two hundred and sixty men. 
He landed on Newfoundland and read 
his royal commission in the j^resence 
of all the shipmasters he could get to- 
gether. The royal arms were erected, 
and government proclaimed. He then 
undertook a search for the precious metals, 
but finally became discouraged. The 
decision was at last taken in favor of re- 
turning to England. Gilbert himself 
took passage in the Squirrel, a small ves- 
sel of ten tons. During some severe 
weather he was asked to come into a 
larger vessel, but replied, " We are as 
near heaven by sea as by land." In the 
morning the Squirrel was nowhere to be 
seen. She and her freight had gone to 
the bottom. 

1585. April 9. The Roanoke Colony. 
A fleet of seven vessels with one hun- 
dred and eight colonists, sent out by Sir 
Walter Raleigh, sailed under Sir Richard 
Grenville. Ralph Lane was to command 
the colony. 

1585. June 26. They arrived at 
AVocoken and proceeded to Roanoke 
Island. After some exploration the col- 
ony was left, and Grenville sailed back to 
England. Maize and tobacco were 
noticed by the colonists in their uses by 
the Indians. 

1585. June 7. Davis' Straits. John 
Davis in two vessels named the Sunshine 
iind Moonshine, fitted out by London 
merchants, set sail in search of a north- 
west passage. Pie reached the coast of 
Greenland, and spent the summer in ex- 
ploring Cumberland Sound and other 
waters in the region. He named the 
coast of Greenland the " Land of Desola- 
tion, " held some interviews w^ith the 
natives, entered the strait which bears his 
name, and afterward returned to England. 



THE GREAT ENGLISH EXPLORERS. 



131 



1585. Sir Francis Drake made another 
descent upon the Spanish American 
colonies and destroyed much property. 
He made an unsuccessful attack upon 
Havana, besieged San Domingo, obtained 
a ransom of twenty-five thousand ducats 
for it, seized Cartagena, S. A., and after 
other depredations, sailed for England. 
Sir Martin Frobisher accompanied Drake 
in this expedition and henceforth had no 
connection with American soil. Frobisher 
was knighted for bravery in the naval 
battle with the Spanish Armada in 15S8, 
and afterward died of a wound received 
in 1594. His character is one of the 
brightest in early English naval history. 

1585. A history of New Spain was 
written by Father Duran, a native of 
Tezcuco in Mexico, who advocated very 
strongly the theory that the Mexican 
aborigines were descendants of the so- 
called ten lost tribes of Israel. 

1586. June 8. Return of Roanoke 
Colony. Sir Francis Drake on his way 
home from his plundering attack u^Don 
the West Indies, touched at Roanoke 
Island to visit the colony sent out by Sir 
Walter Raleigh. After some debate the 
entire colony took passage in Drake's 
vessels for England. The use of tobacco 
began in England with these returned 
colonists. Raleigh was among the ones 
who learned to love it. His servant found 
him smoking one morning as he entered 
to bring his master a mug of ale. The 
smoke which issued from Sir Walter's 
mouth terrified the servant, and he dashed 
the ale in the great man's face to put out 
the fire which he supposed was consum- 
ing him. He then plunged down the 
stairs, crying for help. It was not yet a 
common thing at that day to make a fire- 
jilace of the mouth. 

1586. June. Soon after the depar- 



132 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 

1587. April 26. City 



ture of the Roanoke colonists with Drake, 
Sir Richard Granville came with three 
vessels and an abundance of supplies. 
Not finding any one he placed fifteen 
men on Roanoke Island to hold the spot 
for a colony, and sailed away. 

1586. John Davis made a second 
voyage to Greenland. He found the 
natives whom he had met on his former 
trip, explored a 
part of the Lab- 
rador shore, and 
after a consider- 
able ti m e, re- 
turned to Eng- 
land. 

15 8 6. An 
earthquake de- 
stroyed the Port 
of C a 1 1 a o in 
Peru. A sea 
waA'e about nine- 
ty feet high ac- 
companied the 
shock. 

1587. Jan. 6. 
Another Free- 
booter. Thomas 
Cavendish, in 

command of an 

expedition of sir waltek kaleigh smoking 
three vessels fitted out to prey upon the 
i5S7. Mary, Spanish American settle- 
^iieen of Scots, nieuts, entered the Straits 

helieiaded after ^ •» r n i 11 

nineteen years' of Magellan and reached 
imprisonment. ^\-^q Pacific after thirty-three 
days. Here he burned several Spanish 
towns on the Pacific coast, and took one 
Spanish vessel with one hundred and 
twenty-two thousand Spanish dollars on 
boaixl, besides other cargo. He then 
went to England by the way of the Cape 
of Good Hope, and was knighted by 
Queen Elizabeth upon his arrival. 




of Haleigh, 

Virginia. A colony of men and women 
sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh to found 
a city in the New World named the City 
of Raleigh, sailed from England to Vir- 
ginia. John White was appointed gov- 
ernor. 

1587. July 23. They arrived at 
Roanoke Island and found that the men 
left by Grenville 
had been entirely 
destroyed by In- 
dians. They in- 
augurated their 
city on the spot 
abandoned by 
Lane. 

1587. Aug. 13. 
Manteo, an In- 
dian chief, was 
baptized at Ra- 
leigh and made 
" Lord of Roan- 
oke," the first 
and only peerage 
created by Eng- 
continent. Manteo 
Indian ever baptized 
by an English minister. 

1587. Aug. 18. The first Amer- 
ican child of English parentage was 
born in this colony, and named Virginia 
Dare. She was a grand-daughter of Gov. 
White who returned at this time to Eng- 
land to secure colonists and supplies. 

1587. John Davis made a third and 
more extensive voyage, in which he 
sailed through the strait which bears his 
name, fiir up into Baffin's Bay. Opposed 
eflfectually by the ice he sailed down the 
coast and home to England, thus failing 
like all others in discovering a northwest 
passage. He had however gone beyond 
any other navigator, and firmly believed 



1551-1602.] 

that a passage could be found. He tried 
to secure a fourth expedition but could 
not, because of his former unavailing 
voyages. He was an intrepid navigator, 
and was finally killed in the East Indies 
in 1605. 

1588. April 22. Two vessels under 
«oo E- y Gov. White sailed with 

1588. First nezi'S- 

paper in Etig- Supplies for Raleigh's colo- 
ny, but after adventures 
with Spanish ships they were taken back 
to England. 

1589. March 7. Sir Walter Ra- 
.r„„ ...^ r, leigh, because of lack of 

1589-1610. Henry ° ' 

IV. King of means, conceded a large 

''""'^^- part of his proprietary rights 

in Virginia under his patent to a com- 
pany of merchant adventurers in London. 

LOST RO±YOKE COLOXY. 

1590. Gov. White sailed with sujd- 
,^„„ ^ , ^ plies for Virginia, but found 

1590. Telescopes -I * ' 

invented hy Jan- that the colouv had been 
totally destroyed. The fate 
of the Roanoke colony has been one of 
the enigmas of American history. Ra- 
leigh is said to have sent five times across 
the water in attempts to get some trace 
of the lost ones. 



THE GREAT ENGLISH EXPLORERS. 



133 



1592. The Falkland Islands, three 
..o„ ,-„„ ,, hundred miles cast of Ma- 

1533 -lo92. Mon- 
taigne, the great gcllan's Straits, were dis- 

French essayist. ^^^^^^^ by John Davis 

who was on a voyage with Cavendish. 

1594. Saved by Fireflies. An ex- 
pedition for plunder \vas fitted out by 
Sir Robert Dudley at his own expense 
^,„, ^ . against Spanish America. 

7594. Jesuits " ^ 

banished from He Sailed into Wcst India 
^''''""- waters and took Spanish 

vessels. It was on this trip or on one of 
Cavendish's just previous that the Eng- 
lish, having landed at night upon a West 



India island for booty, saw an innumer- 
able body of tropical fireflies, and fancy- 
ing that a large Spanish force with 
matchlocks w^as advancing upon them, 
fled to their boats in great fright. These 
fireflies therefore saved the place or places 
against which the trip was planned. 
Ladies are said to wear them for their 
brilliancy in the ball-room. They in- 
close them in nets of gauze and adjust 
them in the hair. Some of these flies 
emit a light of great intensitv. 

1595. Death of Drake and Hawkins. 
Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Haw- 
kins sailed with twentv-six ,,,, ,,„. ^ 

-' 1.544 -159a. Tasso, 

vessels to attack the Spanish the great Italian 

colonies in the West Indies. ^'"'^' 
The commanders did not agree, and the 
fleet failed to accomplish much till after 
Sir John Hawkins died at Porto Rico. 
Drake then committed his usual depreda- 
tions until he was taken sick and died of 
a fever. Thus ended the lives of these 
two skillful navigators, but unfeeling men. 
Their faults, to some extent the faults of 
the times, compare unfavorably with the 
defects in many men of the same age. 
There is veiy little in their achievements 
to be emulated by any one. Their deeds 
were no blessing to humanity. 

1595. Sir Walter Raleigh in an ex- 
pedition fitted up by his own friends 
sailed to South America in search of 
gold, landed in Guiana, and went up the 
Orinoco four hundred miles. 

1598. A Forlorn Colony. Marquis 
de la Roche was granted the right to 
colonize and command New France. He 
gathered a lot of criminals i59s-ig2i. PhUip 
and having crossed the At- f ^- .^^''"-"' "/ 

•^ spam. 

lantic, landed forty of them 159s. Edict of 
on Sable Island, off Nova ^""'7' ff""'- 

' tng toleration to 

Scotia, till he could visit the Prole.<;tants. 

mainland. He was driven over the ocean 



134 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



hy a storm and finally returned to France. 
For five years the poor deserted crimi- 
nals subsisted like wild men upon fish 
and the cattle left eighty years before by 
De Lery. They gathered furs on the 
island, and at the end of five years were 
taken off, only twelve in number. By 
the help of the king they entered upon 
the Canadian fur trade. 

1599. Tadousac. Pontgrave, a French 
trader, obtained a patent for the coloniza- 
tion of New France, and left sixteen men 
at the mouth of the Saguenay Ri\er on 
1533-1599. Ed- the St. Lawrcucc to obtain 

mundSp.nser, ^^^^^^ g^^^^^ jj^^| j^^ ^j^^ 

the ffreat Eng- 

lishpoet. winter, and the rest were 

scattered among the Indians. 

1600. The New Shetland Islands 
1546-iGoi. Tycho wcrc discovcrcd by Dirck 

Brake the great Q^-^^^'^^.^ ^^^^ J,^ attempting 
Danisli astrono- '■ ^ 

liter. to pass through the seas to 

the south of Cape Horn, ^vas driven off 
into the ocean. 

1602. March 26. Gosnold's New 
England Colony. Bartholomew Gos- 
nold, ^vho had been connected with Sir 
Walter Raleigh in supporting the Vir- 



ginia colonies, sailed from Falmouth, 
England, with one vessel named " Con- 
cord," and thirty-two persons, of whom 
twenty were to remain as colonists in the 
New World. Gosnold sailed directly 
across the Atlantic instead of taking the 
general route by way of the Canary 
Islands, and the West Indies. He thus, 
shortened the distance about one thousand 
miles. He arrived in seven weeks on 
the New England coast near Nahant^ 
Mass., and sailing thence to the south 
passed and named Cape Cod, because he 
took some codfish off its coast, entered 
Buzzard's Bay, and began to found a col- 
ony upon one of the Elizabeth Islands,, 
now known as Cuttyhunk. Having 
laded the vessel with sassafras root, and 
being fearful that the intended colony 
could not be maintained in that spot, they 
all sailed for England. These were the first 
Englishmen to tread New England soil. 

1602. The California coast was ex- 
plored bv an expedition under Viscaino. 

1602. About two millions of grajoe 
vines were under cultivation by the Span- 
ish near Asuncion, Paraguay. 




^^^(^^ 



SECTION VIII- 



TUB COMIJTG TO WB^. /60S-/6S0. 



'Vy^HE work of the historical student 
'^ I Vj at this point is to study with ex- 
I treme care the colonies which were 
\^ now planted in rapid succession 
upon the shore of North America. The 
influences which are finally to shape the 
civilization of the whole continent now 
rooted themselves and began to flourish. 
The germinal points of English, French 
and Dutch power appeared within less than 
thirty years at the beginning of this cen- 
tury. Jamestown, Quebec, New Amster- 
dam, Plymouth, Salem, Boston and its 
associated towns, pass before us in quick 
I'eview, each with a distinctive character. 
The men who framed the first rough 
dwellings in these different settlements 
were widely contrasted in many of their 
social, commercial, political and religious 
qualities. Outward circumstances shaped, 
and in some cases limited, the growth of 
the young life. Old World features 
were impressed upon a pail of the colo- 
nies. Plymouth sprang into being with 
a democratic government and an inde- 
pendent church, and thus introduced a 
unique factor into the problem of Ameri- 
can civilization. Slight traces of feudal 
principles are visible in the early days of 
almost all the colonies. Crude attempts 



to inaugurate manufactures were imme- 
diately made, and before long a start was 
obtained which led the English govern- 
ment afterward into the passage of laws 
which exasperated the colonists. The 
" tobacco fever" at Jamestown is the first 
of those excitements in many lines of cul- 
ture or labor, which have marked the 
history of our covnttry every few years. 
The great Indian massacres had then- 
beginning in the early days, and imper- 
illed the existence of the infant colonies. 

. S±¥UEL DE CHAMPLAIM. 

A new element now appeared in New 
France in the person of one who was to 
exercise a leading part in its fortunes for 
nearly twoscore years. Champlain was 
born in 1567 at a little town on the Bay 
of Biscay named Brouage. He became 
accustomed to the sea, and when he 
reached manhood he rose to the rank of 
captain in the royal navy. He also 
fought in the army of Brittany, thus 
receiving a double fitness for the work of 
exploration and settlement awaiting him, 
that of navigator and soldier. He sailed 
upon an expedition to Mexico, of which 
he has left a very exact and vivid account, 
with all the flavor of romance about it. 



136 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



He could not be himself save when en- 
gaged in some adventure. His eager 
spirit would not let him stop. When he 
returned to France he was therefore 
before long pining for some outlet for his 
energy. In this condition the proposition 
which looked toward his taking part in 
an expedition to New France, was not 
unwelcome. Here he found his life- 
mission. He stands at the beginning of 
successful French colonization in the 
New World. 

1603. Champlain in Canada. Aymar 
de Chastes, Governor of Dieppe, France, 
obtained a patent for the colonization of 
Canada, and having formed a company 
of merchants, sent out two vessels of 
fifteen and twelve tons respectively, to 
1603-1625 make preliminary explora- 

james I. King tiou. Pontgrave was com- 
of England. zander and at the solicita- 

tion of De Chastes Champlain embarked 
in the expedition. They crossed the 
Atlantic safely, ascended the St. Law- 
rence to the Island of Montreal, but 
found no trace of the Indian town which 
Cartier had visited there in •IS34' 
Champlain tried to pass the rapids in a 
skiff, but failed. The expedition soon 
returned to France. 

1603. Martin Pring sailed from Eng- 
land with two vessels, the Speedwell of 
fifty tons, and the Discoverer of twenty- 
six tons, with forty-three men, the expe- 
dition being fitted out by Bristol mer- 
chants to follow up Gosnold's discoveries. 
Pring reached what is now the coast of 
Maine, passed the Penobscot, Kennebec, 
Piscataqua Rivers, searched along the 
coast of Massachusetts for sassafras root, 
and finally arrived at the island of 
Martha's Vineyard, whence he returned 
to Eno-land. 



1604. After the death of De Chastes, 
Pierre du Guast, Sieur de Monts, obtained 
a grant for the colonization of a region 
in the New World called Acadie, extend- 
ing from the fortieth to the forty-sixth 
degree of north latitude, embracing the 
country now between Philadelphia and 
Lake St. Peter, in the St, Lawrence 
River. Champlain and Baron de Pou- 
trincourt entered the expedition. Hugue- 
nots as well as Catholics v/ere found in 
the number, 

1604. April 7. De Monts sailed 
with one vessel from Havre de Grace, 
leaving Pontgrave to follow in another. 
With the design of escaping the cold St. 
Lawrence region he sailed further to the 
south and reached the coast of Nova 
Scotia. Here he waited till Pontgrave 
arrived, when he entered the Bay of 
Fundy and discovered the beautiful An- 
napolis Harbor, a grant of which Pou- 
trincourt begged for himself, naming the 
place Port Royal. Pontgrave in the 
meantime sailed to the St, Lawrence to 
trade, and thence returned to France, 
De Monts sailed around the Bay of 
Fundy and out into Passamaquoddy Bay. 
Here an island was chosen for the site of 
the colony, and named St, Croix. Build- 
ings were at once erected and everything 
done to prepare for winter. Poutrincourt 
sailed for France, leaving seventy-nine 
men in the colony. The winter set in 
with unusual severity; the cold was in- 
tense; their cider and wine had to be 
cut up by the pound, and worst of all, 
the scurvy broke out. It killed thirty- 
five. 

1604. September. Champlain made 
a short trip from St. Croix along the coast 
of Maine. He named Mt. Desert, and 
^■isited the Penobscot, 



1603-1630.] 

1604. Guiana, S. A., was colonized 
by the French, 

1605. March. An expedition to the 

New England coast under George Wey- 
mouth reached Cape Cod, and sailing 
north along the coast, exploited the 
Penobscot River. Weymouth entrapped 
iive natives and carried them to England. 

1605. June 16. Pontgrave arrived 
at St. Croix with su^d^dHcs from France. 

1605. June 18. Champlain set ofT 
again, accompanied by De Monts, to 
explore the coast to the south. They 
examined the shore very closely; Cham- 
plain took particular notice of the horse- 
jgQS. shoe crab, and afterward 

Gimpo7'jderPiot. described it in detail. They 
went as far as Cape Cod. De Monts 
upon his return removed his colony to 
Port Royal in the Bay of Fundy, and 
■sailed for France to prevent enemies from 
•overthrowing his patent. Pontgrave 
was left in command at Port Royal. 

1605. Barbadoes, W. I., was first 
visited by the English who took posses- 
sion, but did not colonize till 1625. 

1605. Wheat was sown on Long 
Island by a ship's company from London. 

1605. The lost Norse settlements in 
Greenland were searched for by three 
ships under Godske Lindenow,and James 
Hall an English pilot. The expedition 
was sent out by Christian IV. of Den- 
mark. Several other efforts were made 
about this time, but nothing came of 
them. West Greenland was explored, 
but the eastern coast could not be reached 
because of ice. It came to be believed 
that the old accounts were fictitious. 

FIRST EKGLISH CHARTER. 

1606. April 10. James I. King of 
England, granted a charter giving the 

-London company the right to colonize 



THE COMING POWER. 



137 



in America between the thirty-first and 
the thirty-eighth degrees of north latitude, 
and the Plymouth company between the 
fortieth and the forty-fifth. The region 
between the thirty-eighth leoe. Po-iver of 
and the fortieth was open -^'•^^''^'fi"'"- 

^ covered by Vr. 

to either under certain limi- Gilbert. 
tations. This charter, in common with 
most which were given in America by 
any nation, extended its grants westward 
to the Pacific Ocean. No power of self- 
government was conveyed to any colony 
which might be formed. The Church 
of England was to be the only form of 
religfion. 



John Knight's expedition 
a vessel of forty tons and 



1606. 

sailed in 

reached the Labrador coast. Here the 
vessel was repaired. The savages made 
fierce attacks upon the crew. Capt. 
Knight and some of his men were lost. 
The rest reached Newfoundland and 
finally England, 

1606. July 27. Port Royal. Pou- 
trincourt having been sent out by De 
Monts in one vessel for the aid of Port 
Royal, arrived at Annapolis Harbor and 
found but two Frenchmen, the rest 
having built boats and gone off for sup- 
plies of game and fruits. They were 
soon found and brought back. Pont- 
grave sailed for France. Poutrincourt 
and Champlain explored the coast to the 
south in search of a good site for a colony, 
but returned without having made a 
selection. During their absence Lescar- 
bot, the historian, commanded at Port 
Royal. The succeeding winter was very 
mild and the colony flourished, only four 
men dying with the scurvy. 

1606. Oct. 15. First Indian Tight 
in New England. Some of the men 
who accompanied Pontgrave and Cham- 



138 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



plain upon the trip mentioned above, 
slept on shore one night and were 
attacked just at daylight very fiercely by 
Indians. Two Frenchmen were imme- 
diately killed and the rest wounded. An 
alarm was given to those on board the 
boat, and Champlain with others imme- 
diately came to their relief. After the 
savages were driven ofF the bodies of the 
dead were buried at the foot of a pillar 
bearing the arms of France. When tlie 
party had retired to their vessel again, 
the Indians came back, dug up the 
bodies and maltreated them in the sight 
of their friends. The French afterward 
buried them again and departed. 

1607. May 1. Hudson's First Voy- 
age. Henry Hudson, of whom nothnig is 
known pre\ ious to this year, sailed from 
Gravesend, on the Thames, England, in 
leoT-iem. King the employ of London 
James' version mcrchauts, in a little vessel. 

of the Bible. , , ^ , 

manned by ten men and a 
boy, for the discovery of a Polar Sea 
passage, by sailing across the North Pole. 
He went up the east coast of Greenland, 
and discovered Spitzbergen, but could not 
get beyond the northern extremity of 
those islands, because of the solid walls of 
ice. He soon sailed back to England. 

FIRHT EXGLISH COLOXY. 

1607. May 13. A colony of one 
hundred and five persons sent out by the 
London company, landed on the James 
River and founded Jamestown, the first 
permanent English settlement in Amer- 
ica. The river and the new town were 
named in honor of the king, the headlands 
at the ocean were named Cape Charles 
and Cape Henry in honor of the king's 
sons, and the deep water for anchorages, 
"which put the emigrants in good com- 
fort," was named Point Comfort. Capt. 



John Smith and Bartholomew Gosnold 
were members of the colony. There 
were very few laborers, and no families. 
Christopher Newport, who commanded 
the three vessels which brought the com- 
jDany, sailed for England again in a 
month. The comipany entered upon a 
period of disunion, suffering and death. 
Fifty persons, including Gosnold, died 
throusfh the summer. 



1607. Aug. 19. Popham's Kennebec 
Colony. A colony sent out by the Ply- 
mouth company landed near the mouth 
of the Kennebec River, Maine, built a 
fort and a little town. George Popham 
commanded the colony. Fortv-nine per- 
sons were left when the vessels returned 
to England. A winter of great severity 
was experienced. The snow covered 
their huts to the very chimneys, and food 
could be procured with great difficulty. 

1607. Port Royal Abandoned. The 
patent of De Monts was annulled, and 
the settlement at Port Royal, Nova Sco- 
tia, was abandoned after three years of 
hardship. The members all returned to 
France. 

1607. December. Capt. Smith and 
Pocahontas. Capt. John Smith set out 
to explore the region around James- 
town. Having been captured by Indians 
and condemned to death, his life was 
saved by Pocahontas, the daughter of 
the chieftain Powhatan. It has become 
quite common to discredit this circum- 
stance, but in order to do it CajDt. Smith 
must be made out a deceiver in the narra- 
tive which he prepared some time after 
the event. The principal argument is, 
that had the affair been real, he would 
have told of it before Pocahontas became 
famous. On the other hand, it might 



1603-1630.] 

only occur to a man who had been 
through many adventures, to tell such a 
thing after the participants in it had be- 
come widely known. Smith, upon his 
return in January, found the colony num- 
bering only thirty-eight persons. He at 
once began to exert his personal influence 
to suppress the discontent. 

1608. Feb. 5. Popham Colony Aban- 
doned. George Popham, governor of 
the Kennebec colony, died. Raleigh 
Gilbert was left in command, but soon 
learned by the arrival of vessels from 
England, that his 



THE COMING POWER. 



139 



Zembla, but was again turned back by 
the unbroken ice. 

GERMS OF MtIKUFtLCTURE. 

1608. One hundred and twenty per- 
sons arrived this year at Jamestown. 
Like the first colonists they consisted of 
adventurers and gentlemen, with a few 
laborers. There v\^ere " eight Poles and 
Germans" to make "pitch, tar, glass, mills,, 
and soap-ashes." A glass-house was 
erected a mile from Jamestow^n in the 
woods, and was probably "the first man- 



y^k|> 



-^^vj"> 




brother, Sir John 
Gilbert, had died, 
leaving an estate 
to him. The col- 
ony also learned 
that Sir John 
Popham had died, 
and having be- 
come discouraged 
by the death of 
their chief sup- 
porters, as well as 
by f i n d i n g no 
mines, as they had ' 
hoped to do, they 
abandoned the 
place and sailed to England. Thus 
ended the first real attempt at a settle- 
ment in w^hat was called Northern Vir- 
ginia. These colonists, during their stay, 
built the Virginia, a pinnace of about 
thirty tons, the first vessel built by Eng- 
lishmen in the New World, or by Euro- 
peans in New England. This vessel af- 
terward traded across the Atlantic, and 
back and forth upon the coast. 

1608. April 21. Hudson's Second 
Voyage. Henry Hudson sailed again 
for the same English merchants to find a 
passage between Spitzbergen and Nova 



-^^-^A- 






. T- 



'"m. 



'■%%^ 



u factory ever 
erected on this 
continent." The 
people also began 
to cut clapboard- 
ing and wains- 
coting for expor- 
tation to Eng- 
land. Such was 



POCAHONTAS. 



I humble beginning of the present 
mense American industries. Many 
the colonists soon ran wild over a 
few grains of supposed gold found near 
Jamestown. Capt. Newport carried a 
load of earth to England. Capt. Smith 
made another exploring expedition and 
mapped Chesapeake Bay, with its trib- 
utaries, in an essentially correct manner. 
Cajot. Smith v\^as very ingenious in deal- 
ing with Indians. At one time he saved 
himself by showing his captors a com- 
pass which he carried on his person. 

1608. July 13. Quebec Founded. 
Champlain, sent out by De Monts, who 
had renewed his right to trade in Can- 
ada for one year, landed at the present 
site of Quebec and began to erect build- 
ings for the colony. This proved the 
first permanent French settlement in 
North America. 

1608. Sept. 10. First Woman at 



140 



DISCOVER!' EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



Jamestown. Capt. John Smith having 
returned from his explorations, was chosen 
president of the council at Jamestown, 
and by his vigorous efforts to promote 
real labor, brought the colony into better 
condition. Seventy colonists soon arrived, 
among whom were two women, the first 
ones who came to the colony. Smith 
wrote home that he would rather have 
thirty working men than one thousand 
such as had come. 

1609. April 4. Hudson's Third 
Voyage. Henry Hudson having found 
employ in the Dutch East India Com- 
pany, sailed from Amsterdam on his third 
voyage, and having been turned back at 
Spitzbergen as on previous voyages, he 
was induced by the discontent of his 
crew to sail south. He coasted the shore 
of New England and beyond as far as 
Chesapeake Bay, and then turned back 
upon his course. 

1609. May 23. Second Jamestown 
Charter. The London company having 
been enlarged, a new charter was ob- 
tained, abolishing the council at James- 
town, institutnig another in England 
whose members were elected by the 
stockholders instead of being appointed 
by the king as under the previous char- 
ter, and providing for a governor who 
should have almost absolute power over 
the persons of the colonists. Lord Dela- 
ware was chosen governor and captain- 
general for life. A fleet of nine vessels 
with five hundred colonists, was soon sent 
out. A ship containing three commis- 
sioners who were to rule the colony till 
Lord Delaware arrived, was wrecked 
upon the Bermudas and the commission- 
ers did not reach Jamestown till the next 
year. One of them was Sir George 
Somers, who by this circumstance has 
partially given his name to the islands, 



they being known as the Bermuda or 
Somers Islands. The other ships arrived 
safely and Capt. Smith commanded the 
colony till by an explosion which injured 
his hand, he was forced to visit England 
for surgical aid. Sheep and swine were 
imported into Jamestown this year. 

1609. July. Lake Champlain. Cham- 
plain having joined a war-party against 
the Iroquois who lived in Central New 
York discovered the lake Avhich bears his 
name, in his jovn'ney from Quebec with 
his Indian allies; and after a battle with 
the Iroquois near Crown Point, returned 
to his settlement. The arms of Cham- 
plain and the other Frenchman who ac- 
companied him were a great terror to the 
Iroquois. This was the first step in the 
long course of trouble between the French 
and the warlike Five Nations. 

1609. Sept. 12. Hudson River. 
Hudson passed the Narrows below 
where New York now stands, and discov- 
ered the great North or Hudson River. 
He sailed up the river in the "Half 
Moon," his vessel, to where Albany is 
now situated, and afterward returned to 
Europe. It is said that at one point on 
his river trip near Ha\erstraw some 
Indians were induced to drink liquor, 
which made at least one of them so intox- 
icated that he could not stand. He was 
undoubtedly the first Indian toper in all 
America. As a result of Hudson's voy- 
age trade sprang up with the Indians and 
led finally to Dutch settlements. Holland 
was then rising to the front rank in com- 
mercial importance, and laid claim to 
New Netherland from vSouth or Delaware 
Bav to the coast of INIaine. 

1609. The missions of the Jesuits in 
Paraguay were inaugurated, where their 
work afterward became so ]oowerful. 

1610. Feb. 26. Poutrincourt sailed 



1603-1630.] 

from Dieppe with men and supplies to 
reestablish a colony at Port Royal, Nova 
Scotia. He found the buildings and fur- 
niture as they had been left. He sent 
back his son Biencourt during the sum- 
mer to France. 

1610. April 22. Hudson's Fourth 
Voyage. Henry Hudson having passed 
again into the employ of the Muscovy 
Company of England, sailed again upon 



THE COMING POWER. 



141 

1610. June 8. The colonists decided 
to abandon Jainestown, and sailed down 
the river in order to reach Newfoundland 
and find English fishermen with whom 
they could get passage to England. 

1610. June 9. At the mouth of 
the river to which they had come down 
the night before, they met leio. Heiiry iv. 
Lord Delaware who had ^i"ff -f ^j-anc^^ 

assassinated by 

arrived with supplies. They Ravaiiiac. 




CAPT. SMITH AND THE COMPASS. 



UW. Telescopes ^^'^ ^^^^'t'"^ ^"^ ^''^^t VOyage 

invented by in scarch of a uorthwcst 

Galileo. TT T J 

passage. He discovered 
Hudson's Bay, which he at first took to 
be the long-sought passage. By the time 
he had coasted around it and found it a bay, 
he was shut in by the winter. His crew 
was in a dissatisfied, mutinous condition. 

1610. May 24. "Starving Time" 
at Jamestown. The three commissioners 
of Lord Delaware arrived at James- 
town from the Bermudas and found the 
colony reduced by famine from five 
hundred which it numbered when Capt. 
Smith left it, to sixty. The colonists had 
brought this distress upon themselves by 
not exercising ordinary foresight. 



were all glad to return to leio-ms. Louis 

, . , XIII. King- of 

their homes once more, France, nine 

which they had fortunately years old. Mary 

. . 1 o f ^ '^^ Medici 

lett unnijured. bo nearcucl regent. 
Jamestown come to abandonment. 

1610. June 10. The colony was 
reinstated in its former quarters. The 
commission of the governor was read, 
divine service was held according to the 
Church of England, and the government 
was reorganized with hopefulness. Vine.s 
were imjDorted into Jamestown at this 
time, and the culture of grapes began. 
All colonists were to be obliged to at- 
tend church twice every Sunday, " upon 
pain for the first fault to lose their pro- 
vision and allowance for the whole week 



142 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



following; for the second, to lose said 
allowance, and also to be whipped ; and 
for the third, to suffer death." 

1610. June 19. A hundred Iro- 
C[uois warriors on the St. Lawrence were 
destroyed by the French and Indians 
under Champlain. 

1610. Aug. 8. Champlain sailed 
from Quebec for France, in order to 
arrange with the French government 
about the fur trade. 

1610. First Trip to Lake Huron. 
A young man from Quebec went into the 
Huron country and wintered with the 
Indians, returning when the Indians went 
down to trade the next year. 

1610. A colony under John Guy, a 
Bristol merchant, settled at Mosquito 
Cove, Conception Bay, Newfoundland, 
and maintained an existence for two 
years. The effort was at last given up. 
There were thirty-nine persons who came 
in three vessels. Lord Bacon was a 
partner in this attempt. 

1611. Jan. 26. First Jesuits in New 
Prance. Pierre Biard and Ennemond 
Masse, Jesuit priests, having bought an 
interest in the colony at Port Royal, 
through their desire to obtain a foothold 
in the New World, sailed from France. 
They \vere the first Jesuits to land in New 
France, and were very unwelcome addi- 
tions in tlie view of Poutrincourt. 

1611. Lord Delaware failed in health 
and returned to England, leaving one 
Percv in cliarge at Jamestown. 

1611. May 10. Severe Rule. Sir 
Thomas Dale arrived \vith supplies, and 
assumed the charge of the colony at 
Jamestown, administering the young 
church and state by martial law. 

1611, May 13, Champlain arrived 
from France at Tadousac, below Quebec. 
He went at once to the Island of Mon- 



treal to establish a trading post. He se- 
lected a site for it, and after a trading 
assembly had been held with the Hurons, 
he again returned to France. The young 
man who had spent the winter wuth the 
Hurons, and had come down with them 
to this trading assembly, was the first 
white man to shoot the rapids in the St. 
Lawrence, above Montreal. A second 
man tried it, but was drowned. Cham- 
plain was carried down in an Indian 
canoe before his departure for France. 

SAD BE-LTH OF HUDSOX. 
1611. June 21. Henrv Hudson, his 
son and seven men were thrust into a 
small boat by the rest of the crew in 
Hudson's Bay after spending the winter 
there, and wxre left to perish. Hudson 
had had trouble with his crew on each 
voyage, and does not seem to have been 
born to command. Yet he was an emi- 
nent navigator, and shared in the sadness 
attaching to the end of many other ex- 
plorers. When turned adrift, a fowling 
piece, with a little ammunition, and an 
iron kettle, with a bag of meal, were 
thrown to them. John King, carpenter 
of the ship, having refused to share in the 
deed, was one of the seven. The other 
six were invalids. The leader of the 
mutiny was Henrv Green, who was 
deeply indebted to Hudson for past favors 
of great value. Green and some of the 
other mutineers were killed by the Es- 
quimaux shortly after. The others after 
great distress, reached England. Hud- 
son and his companions were never heard 
from, having probably soon perished. 
But Hudson's Bay and Hudson's River 
immortalize his name. 



1611. August. Private Property in 
Jamestown. Additional supplies and col- 



1603-1630.] 

onists arrived at Jamestown under Sir 
Thomas Gates, who succeeded Dale in 
the charge of the colony. He founded 
other points of settlement and established 
private projDerty for the first time in the 
colony, hy granting to each man a few 
acres for private cultivation. A large 
number of domestic animals, including 
cows, were brought over in this expedi- 
tion. There were now seven hundred 
people in the colony. 



THE COMING POWER. 



143 



was also sent to England from the col- 
onies for the first time this year. 

TOBACCO FIRST CULTIVATKn. 

1612. John Rolfe began in Virginia 
this year the first successful cultivation of 
tobacco. The sale of tobacco was in- 
creasing in England and elsewhere, and 
it soon proved that it could be very profit- 
ably raised in the New World. There- 
fore a great manv seized upon it as a 




THE FII^ST I\ 

1612. March 12. A third charter 

was issued for the Virginia colony, giv- 
ing the stockholders the management of 
affairs, which had previously been held 
by the council. The limits of the colony 
were extended so as to include the Ber- 
mudas, by making them run three hun- 
dred leagues from the mainland. The 
raising of money by lotteries was author- 
ized, and as a result of this process, which 
was employed for several years, £29,000 
were raised for the colony. The first 
bricks made in the English colonies were 
produced in Virginia this year. Wine 



DI W TOI ER 



means of wealth, and the first excitement 
in that long list which has grown up in 
subsequent years over cotton, sugar cane, 
silk, and other pi-oductions, began with 
this date. Very soon every inch of 
ground at command was planted to 
tobacco. Even the streets of Jamestown 
were afterward filled with it. This was 
in spite of the opposition of the English 
government, which at a later day took 
measures to discourage the growth of 
tobacco. King James was so opposed to 
it that he wrote a " Counterblast to the 
Use of Tobacco." But that in which 



144: 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



great profit was found, could not be easily 
suppressed. It finally became the staple 
product, and the currency of the colony. 



1612. A grant of all North America, 
from the St. Lawrence to Florida, was 
obtained by Madame de Guercheville and 
her Jesuit friends. This was the result of 
months of scheming, and left Poutrin- 
court's colony at Port Royal hemmed in 
on all sides by influences disagreeable to 
him. 

1612. An expedition of search for 
Henry Hudson was sent out, consisting 
of two vessels, the Resolution and the 
Discovery, under Sir Thomas Button. 
He followed on Hudson's track, explored 
Hudson's Bay, and wintered in the vici- 
nity. His crew suffered much during the 
winter, and some of them died. The 
next year he returned to England and 
was knighted. He felt sure a northwest 
passage could be found. 

1613. April 13. Pocahontas having 
been entrapped and carried to Jamestown 
by Capt. Argall, was taken in marriage 
by John Rolfe, a 3'oung Englishman. 
She had been baptized by the name of 
Rebecca. 

1613. May 13. Mt. Desert Colony. 
A vessel sent out by the Jesuits arrived at 
Nova Scotia, and having taken Biard 
and Masse on board at Port Royal, pro- 
ceeded to Mt. Desert on the coast of 
Maine, where the colonists began to found 
a settlement. 

1613. May 27. Champlain having 
spent the year i6i3 in France in endeav- 
oring to promote the interests of coloni- 
zation in New France, and having re- 
turned to Canada, set out from near the 
Island of Montreal to follow up a report 
made to him by a man named Vignan, 



who professed to have passed up the 
Ottawa and to have found a river which 
could be descended to the shores of the 
great ocean at the west. Champlain fol- 
lowed up the Ottawa with great trouble 
till he learned that his informant was a 
deceiver, and having wintered in an In- 
dian camp, gave up the journey in great 
disappointment. 

1613. First Settlement at New York. 
The Dutch began to build houses on 
Manhattan Island where New York now 
stands. It was at the first a mere trading 
post. Houses began to be built near this- 
time also at Albany. 

1613. English Hostility to French. 
Capt. Samuel Argall sailed north from 
Jamestown for a supply of codfish, and 
having learned of the new French col- 
ony at Mt. Desert from the Indians, went 
thither and broke it up entirely. Some 
of the colonists were left to find their 
way to France. Others were taken pris- 
oners to Jamestown. By order of Sir 
Thomas Dale, governor of Jamestown, 
an expedition under Capt. Argall pro- 
ceeded at once to Nova Scotia in behalf 
of the English crown, destroyed the re- 
mains of the settlement at St. Croix, and 
reaching Port Royal in the absence of 
the colonists, burned the buildings and 
crops and butchered the cattle. The set- 
tlers were left to wander among the In- 
dians din-ing the winter following. This 
was the first hostile act in the long con- 
test between France and England in the 
New World. Capt. Argall is said to 
have entered New York harbor upon his 
return and received the submission of the 
few Dutch traders at Manhattan. 

1614. The northwest passage was 
sought for this year by an expedition sent 
out under Capt. Gibbons. 

1614. March. New England Named^ 



1603-1630.] 

Capt. John Smith and Capt. Thomas 
Hunt sailing in two vessels from England, 
explored the coast from Nova Scotia to 
Cape Cod. Capt. Smith made a map of 
it and named it New England. The 
map was sent by him to Prince Charles, 
and the name grew into use. Capt. 
Hunt kidnapped twenty-seven natives, 
carried them to Spain, and sold them as 
slaves. Among them was Squanto who 
afterward went to England and found 
his way back to America. He was in 
the service of the Pilgrims at the time of 
his death. 

1614. Adriaen Block explored Long 
Island Sound and vjsited Narragansett 
Bay and the island which bears his name. 
It lies off Montauk Point at the east end 
of Long Island. He was the first Euro- 
pean to sail through the rocky channel in 
East River known as Hellgate. The 
vessel in which he made his trip was 
built by him at Manhattan Island, and 
was the first built by the Dutch in Amer- 
ica. It was forty-four and one half feet 
long by eleven and one-half feet wide, 
and was of sixteen tons burden. Capt. 
Block named it the " Unrest." Capt. 
Hendricksen afterward used it in explor- 
ing the Atlantic coast. The brigantine 
built by the Huguenots at Fort Caroline, 
Florida, fifty years before, and the thirty 
ton pinnace built by the Popham colo- 
nists in Maine in 1607, preceded the 
"Unrest" as examples of larger boat- 
building by Europeans upon the Atlantic 
coast of North America. Small boats 
had been built by the French in Nova 
Scotia. The brigantlnes built by the 
Spanish upon the Mississippi at the death 
of De Soto, and the staunch vessel in 
which Orellana made his trip down the 
Amazon, are examples of boat-building 
under difficulties. 



THE COMING POWER. 



145 



1614. Capt. Cornells Jacobsen Mey 

in a vessel fitted out by Amsterdam mer- 
chants, explored the coast from Cape Cod 
to Delaware Bay, and mapped it as he 
went along. He named Cape Henlopen. 

1614. The French reestablished them- 
selves in Acadia, and increased to 
some extent in numbers and trade, but 
the Jesuits made no more direct efforts 
to colonize the region. 

1614. Oct. 11. After the return of 
Capt. Mey the "New Netherland Com- 
pany" received a charter by which the 
exclusive privileges of trade for three 
years from Jan. i, 16 15, between the 
fortieth and the forty-fifth degrees of 
north latitude in America, were conferred 
upon it. 

1614. The Bermuda Islands were 
settled by the English under a charter 
from James I. 

1614. A theater was built in Lima, 
Peru, and must have been the first or 
among the first on the continent. 

1615. A northwest passage expedi- 
tion under Capt. Bylot accompanied by 
William Baffin, one of the most learned 
navigators of the day, sailed from Eng- 
land and entered Hudson's Strait in 
order to search the bay for a passage. 
At the approach of winter the expedi- 
tion turned back and returned to Eng- 
land. Capt. Bylot made an unfavorable 
report on the prospects of success by the 
way of Hudson's Bay. Baffin had twice 
before been in Greenland seas. 

1615. May. First Mass in Canada. 
Four Franciscan friars of the Recollet 
branch reached Quebec from France to 
propagate the Catholic faith and convert 
New France. They came at the solici- 
tation of Champlain and the first mass 
ever celebrated in Canada was upon their 
arrival. 

10 



146 



DISCOVER!^, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



1615. Forms of law were first in- 
troduced into Newfoundland by Capt. 
Richard Whitbourne, who undertook to 
correct abuses among the fishermen. 

1615. San Luis de Maranhao, Brazil, 
was taken by the Portuguese from 
the French, who had founded it in the 
attempt to get a hold on the country. 

1615. Lake Huron and the Iroquois. 
Champlain, Joseph le Caron, one of the 
priests, and twelve other men went into 
the upper country at the return of the 
Hurons from their annual sale at the 
Island of Montreal, and discovered Lake 
Huron, unless the young man who had 
wintered with the Hurons in a previous 
year discovered it. At the request of 
the Hurons the French agreed to march 
against their enemies, the Iroquois. After 
much delay the Iroquois towns were 
reached but the allies expected by the 
Hurons foiled to appear, and the conquest 
was given up after some skirmishing. 

1616. Pocahontas, her husband and 
a few friends went to England with Sir 
Thomas Dale, and w^ere received with 
great favor. 

severe pestilence raged 
among the Indians of New 
England and during the 
next two or three years 
carried off many hundreds of them. The 
infancy of the colony at Plymouth was 
safer from harm because of this severe 
affliction upon the natives, 

1616. Richard Vines, sent out at 
the expense of Sir Fernando Gorges, 
spent the winter at Saco Bay, Maine. 
During the sickness of the Indians this 
year Vines gained their greatest regard 
by tending them carefully and curing 
many through his knowledge of 
medicine. 

1616. BaflBn's Bay was discovered 



1616. A 

1564-1616. 

Shakespeare. 
1547-1616. 

Cervantes. 



this year by William Baffin, the eminent 
navigator who had accompanied Capt. 
Bylot on a j^revious voyage. Bylot 
seems to have been with Baffin upon 
this voyage. They were sent out by the 
same men each time upon the long search 
after a northwest passage. Baffin entered 
and named several sounds, including Lan- 
caster, but seems never to have suspected 
that they led through to other regions. 
He therefore upon his return reported 
that the sheet of water he had examined 
was probably entirely inclosed by land, 
and that no passage could be found in 
that direction. It was therefore named 
Baffin's Bay, and so thoroughly did he 
convince the world of his opinion that 
for t^vo hundred years no effort was made 
in that quarter. Many efforts were still 
made in Hudson's Bay. But Baffin had 
contributetl very much to a knowledge 
of northern waters. 

1616. The Amazon was descended 
in a canoe by two monks who had been 
persecuted antl driven from their missions 
in Peru by the Indians. After great ter- 
ror they finally reached Para. 

1616. Cape Horn was this year seen 
by two Dutch navigators named Schouten 
and Le Mai re. 

1617. Richard Vines followed ujo 
Saco River and entered Crawford Notch, 
being the first white man to describe the 
White Mountains. 



POC>LHO.VT^S. 

June. Pocahontas died in Eng- 
twenty-two years. 



1617. 

land at the age of 
The change in climate and life had great- 
ly affected her. Her character is among 
the interesting ones of early American 
history. vShe was the daughter of Pow- 
hatan, the powerful chief of the Indians 
who occupied the territory to the west of 



1603-1630.] 

Chesapeake Bay. The most notable 
thing in her history, though some histor- 
ical critics cast discredit upon it, was her 
successful intervention in behalf of Capt. 
John Smith during his captivity among 
her father's subjects. She afterward 
saved the lives of Richard Wyffin and 
Henry Spillman. She performed the 
same kind service for Capt. Smith again 
by revealing to him a plot for the de- 
struction of himself and men. She was 
often sent by her father with messages to 
Jamestown and became exceedingly well 
known to the settlers. Upon a visit to 
Japazaws, the chief of the Potomac In- 
dians and a great friend of the English, 
Pocahontas was enticed on board a vessel 
under Capt. Argall, taken to Jamestown 
as a prisoner, and held as a hostage. 
Powhatan was informed of the imprison- 
ment of his daughter, and requested to 
restore certain English prisoners and 
arms. The old chief evaded the demand, 
and Pocahontas was still held a prisoner. 
During this time she became acquainted 
with a worthy young Englishman named 
John Rolfe with whom a mutual attach- 
ment was formed, which resulted in an 
engagement of marriage. Her father 
very willingly gave his approval and 
sent her uncle Opachisco and two of her 
brothers to be present when the ceremony 
was performed. The marriage resulted 
in the lasting friendship of Powhatan for 
the English. In England Pocahontas 
was received with much attention, and 
entered the society of the most distin- 
guished people of the nation, always pre- 
serving her native modesty and grace. 
She was about to embark for America 
when she was taken sick and died at 
Gravesend. She left an infant son named 
Thomas Rolfe, who lived In London and 
was educated by his uncle, Henry Rolfe. 



THE COMING POWER. 



147 



He afterward came to America and be- 
came a wealthy and influential citizen. 
The Randolphs and others of Virginia 
claim descent from the Indian princess. 

POWHATAjX. 

1618. April. Powhatan, the father 
of Pocahontas, died at an advanced age. 
His original name was Wahinsonacock. 
He was one of the most powerful sachems 
connected with the early history of the 
United States. His rule covered most of 
the territory now embraced within the 
States of Maryland and Virginia. He 
had residences in different parts of his 
country and changed his abode at differ- 
ent seasons of the year. In his council 
house at Werowocomoco he had a throne 
erected upon which, on important occa- 
sions, he would sit dressed in his robe of 
skins, with a crown of feathers upon his 
head and a bodyguard of fifty warriors 
about his person. 

At the time of his first acquaintance 
with the English in 1607, he was about 
sixty years of age. He was tall and 
well-proportioned, with a body caj^able of 
enduring great fatigue. His hair was 
beginning to turn gray, and gave him a 
venerable and majestic appearance. In 
all his dealings with the English he pre- 
served a dignity of bearing arising from 
his royal office, even while displaying a 
great deal of shrewdness. Powhatan 
showed his friendliness to the English by 
sending them articles of food, of which 
the settlers were greatly in need. If the 
English had used good judgment they 
could have kept on good terms with this 
powerful king and i-eceived much assist- 
ance from him as well as prevented the 
horrible massacre which followed in later 
years. Their conduct was so ill-advised 
and often so unjust, that they were con- 



148 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



tinually in trouble with him. Two or 
three times Powhatan phinned war 
against the English, but without result. 
At one time an accident occurred which 
had a great effect upon him. Some of 
his men had obtained powder from the 
English and were experimenting with it 
when a powerful explosion suddenly took 
place and killed several. This so greatly 
increased Powhatan's reverence for the 
English or fear of them, that he sought 
peace and sent to the colony nearly half 
his crop of corn. 

On the death of Powhatan, his brother 
Opechancanough succeeded to the throne 
in accordance with the custom by which 
a brother takes precedence over a son as 
heir of the kingdom. 

SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

1618. Oct. 29. Sir Walter Raleigh 
having been arrested by the English 
government, was beheaded, and thus 
closed his long series of efforts to promote 
the colonization of the world. His death 
is one of the dark spots in English his- 
tory. No student of American history 
ought to pass without stopping to vener- 
ate the man who did so much to make 
colonization ujoon a surer basis in the 
New World possible. He was one of 
those broad-minded men whose interest 
in the settlement of America was of a 
higher sort than that which characterized 
the adventurers of the period. His life 
which exhibited remarka- 
ble scholarship and qualities 
of character, is yet a record 
of the apparent defeat 
which settles down upon 
some of the best men in 
the world. He was at dif- 
ferent times banished from the English 
court, and wrote his celebrated History 



IdlS. Circulation 
of the blood dis- 
cnrered by 
Hnrvev. 

1618-1648. Thirty 
vcars' vjar he- 
tvjeen Protest- 
ants and Catho- 
lics of Germany. 



of the World during an imprisonment of 
twelve years in the Tower. He visited 
the coast of South America twice. His 
connection with the Roanoke colony is 
an entirely honorable one, and the nature 
of his plans is visible in his undertakings. 
He deserves to be written among the 
founders of America. 

1618. Garcia de Nodales was the 
first navigator to sail completely round 
the island of Terra del Fuego, and thus 
proved that this land was at the southern 
end of the American continent. 

1619. A northwest passage expedi- 
tion was sent out by Christian IV. of 
Denmark, under Jens Munk, an emi- 
nent sailor, with two vessels and fifty- 
three men. Hudson's Bay was explored, 
and the winter was spent there. Famine 
and sickness left at last only three men 
alive. These found a plant which could 
be eaten with good effect, and finally 
they reached home in the smaller vessel. 

1619. July 30. The first colonial 
assembly ever called in America assem- 
bled at Jamestown. It consisted of the 
governor, a newly appointed council, and 
twenty-two representatives from eleven 
boroughs, into which the colony was 
divided. This was the beginning of leg- 
islative liberty on this continent, and in- 
troduced a long period of constitution 
forming. The assembly j^roceeded to 
business after a very solemn inauguration. 

1619. A "hundred jail-birds " were 
transported from England to Jamestown 
at the command of the king, and were 
sold to the planters for service. This is 
the first recorded transportation of con- 
victs from England. 

S^LE OF YOrXG WOMEX. 

1619. On account of the great m- 
crease in the number of emigrants to 



1603-1630.] 

Jamestown and in the capability of self- 
support through private property, the 
London company secured ninety young 
women suitable for wives, and sent them 
out to the colony, where they were bought 
by the planters at one hundred pounds of 
tobacco apiece, to pay the cost of passage. 
They were speedily settled in a satisfac- 
tory manner, and rendered homes a pos- 
sibility. The price afterward went up to 
one hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco 
apiece. Within a year or two the com- 
pany sent out others and disposed of them 
in the same way, much to the happiness 
of the colony. This transaction changed 
many an adventurer into a citizen. Vir- 
ginia now began to be a genuine colony. 
A similar event will be found a little 
later, in the history of Canada. 

HEXRICO COLLEGE. 
1620. The London company set 
apart one thousand acres on the James 
River, Virginia, for the endowment of a 
college for the Indians and settlers, to be 
known as Henrico College. Money 
was raised in England and invested in 
iron works, the first on this continent, 
which were established near Jamestown. 
Forty famed workmen were sent out 
from England to carry them on. More 
workmen were afterward sent. The 
works began cleansing the bog-iron ore 
of the region by the use of charcoal. 



THE COMING POWER. 



149 



1620. August. Twenty negroes were 
brought into Jamestown and sold for 
slaves, by a Dutch captain. The intro- 
duction of slavery within the English 
colonies almost coincides with the landing 
of the Pilgrims in their attempt to gain 
civil and religious liberty. 

1620. Nov. 3. "Council of Ply- 
mouth." The Plymouth company gained 



their "great patent" entirely ^,^^ Thermome- 
distinct from the charter of ters invented by 

. ^j. . . . Drebel. 

the V irgniia company, giv- 
ing them exclusive powei-s of all kinds 
over the territory from the forty-first to 
the forty-eighth degree of latitude. Un- 
der the original charter the London and 
Plymouth companies had been substan- 
tially two portions of one company, 
separately organized, that two distinct 
settlements inight be made, one in the 
northern, the other in the southern part 
of the territory named therein. The 
London or Virginia company obtained 
a separation in its second charter in 1609. 
The Plymouth company now obtained 
the same in spite of objections made by 
the London company, whose members 
wished to retain a hold upon the fishing 
along the New England coast. A sepa- 
rate charter was given, and no rights left 
in common for the two companies to 
quarrel about. The Plymouth company 
now became known as the " Council of 
Plymouth for New England." 

THE PILGRIMS. 

The second' permanent English colony 
in the New World was to be of a pecu- 
liar sort. It was composed not of people 
sent out by England for the sake of ex- 
tending her empire or bringing riches 
into her treasury, but of people driven 
out from her because of their religious 
principles. The troubles of English 
Protestantism had been growing up for 
many years. A large body of people in 
the Church of England came to think 
that her purity and spiritual life were 
of a very low order. The spirit and 
forms of public worship, the vyidespread 
disregard for the Sabbath, led them in 
many cases to earnest remonstrance. 
Agitation began, and these people soon 



150 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



came to be called Puritans. They did 
not wish to separate from the Church 
of England, because they believed that 
the State had supreme authority in 
matters of religion. But they wished to 
cleanse the service of religion. Persecu- 
tions arose and many of them suffered 
because they would not conform to the 
ritualistic and other demands made upon 
them. A few Puritans at last, because 
of their persecutions, began to question 
the right of government to limit worship 
in any wa\'. It seems to have set them 
to thinking deeply. They soon began to 
hold that any body of Christians can 
constitute themselves a church without 
the authority of government. Thus an 
inner circle grew up in the great bod}- 
of Puritans. The members of it began 
to be known as Separatists, and upon 
them fell the heaviest persecutions. 
They were searched out and imprisoned. 
Small com^Danies worshiped in different 
places, but at last many escaped to Hol- 
land, where they were permitted to 
worship in peace. The Pilgrims, who 
believed thoroughly in separation before 
they came to America, must be carefully 
distinguished from the Puritans of Massa- 
chusetts Bay who were not led by the 
logic of events to such a plain assertion, 
until by the work of founding a new 
state, they were made to see the true 
course for them to take, and dropped 
naturally into an independent church 
government. In Holland the Separatists 
did not feel at home. They were sur- 
rounded by a strange world, and longed 
to get away from it. Hence they under- 
took to come to America. After consid- 
erable effort they obtained a grant from 
the London, now known as the Virginia, 
company taken out in the name of Mr. 
John Wincob, " a religious gentleman 



belonging to the Countess of Lincoln." 
He intended to accompany them. They 
also made a contract with the men who 
were to bear the expense of the voyage 
for a return of the profits of the colony 
for a certain time and proportion. They 
also obtained the verbal promise of the 
king that if they conducted themselves 
peaceably, they should not be molested. 
The grant was however of no use to them 
in the New World, because they did not 
land within the limits of the company 
which gave it. They were in the terri- 
tory of the Plymouth, not the Virginia 
company. A portion of John Robinson's 
church in Leyden, Holland, sailed from 
Delft-Haven for America in the May- 
flower and the Speedwell. The latter 
was afterward sent back. The May- 
flower of one hundred and eighty tons 
kept on, and after a time reached the 
shores of Cape Cod. 

1620. Nov. 21. The Mayflower 
arrived in Cape Cod harbor, where the 
Pilgrims went ashore. Some of them 
explored the country around, while the 
women busied themselves in washing the 
clothes of the company, and in kindred 
duties. A child named Oceanus Hopkins 
had been born at sea and another named 
Peregrine White was born during the 
stay at Cape Cod. Before any landed 
the celebrated compact of civil liberty 
\vas drawn up and signed in the cabin 
of the Mayflower by the forty-one male 
adults. It reads as follows: 

" In the name of God, amen. We, 
whose names are underwritten, the loyal 
subjects of our dread sovereign lord King 
James by the grace of God, of Great 
Britain, France and Ireland, King, De- 
fender of the Faith, etc., having under- 
taken for the glory of God and the 
advancement of the Christian faith and 



1603-1030.] 



THE COMING POWER. 



151 



honor of our King and country, a voyage 
to plant the first colony in the northern 
parts of Virginia, do by these presents 
solemnly and mutually in the presence 
of God and of one another, covenant and 
combine ourselves together into a civil 
body politic for our better ordering and 
preservation, and furtherance of the ends 



the year of the reign of our sovereign 
lord, King James of England, France 
and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scot- 
land the fifty-fourth Anno Domini 1620." 

Under this compact John Carver was 
chosen governor for one year. Miles 
Standish w^as chosen military captain. 

1620. Dec. 21. The Pilgrims landed 








LANDING OV THE PlLGKlMi. 



aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, 
constitute and frame such just and equal 
laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and 
oflfices from time to time as shall be 
thought most meet and convenient for 
the general good of the colony; unto 
which we promise all due submission and 
obedience. In witness whereof we have 
hereunder subscribed our names at Cape 
Cod this eleventh day of November in 



on Plymouth Rock, and at once 
began a settlement. The first 
foot which touched the rock is 
=i said to have been that of Mary 
Chilton, a young woman. They did 
not all land the first day. The work 
of putting up some shelter from the cold 
and stormy weather, began at once. 
Nineteen plots of land were laid out near 
together, and hasty dwellings erected. 
They w^ere soon living in their new 
homes. A new state was born. Town 
meetings were held from the very first to 
decide mutual affairs under their compact. 
Sickness began to multiply. The first 
year of their abode in the wilderness was 
to be made dark by the death of half 
their number. 



152 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



1621, March 16. First Indian at 
Plymouth. An Indian named Samosct 
appeared at Plymouth and entered the 
little settlement saying, " Welcome, Eng- 
lishmen." His coming caused terror at 
1561-1621. first, but this was dissipated 

Francis Bacon, by his friendly bearing. 
He had been acquainted with English 
fishermen upon the coast of Maine, and 
gave the Pilgrims much information. 

1621. March. First Offence at Ply- 
mouth. John Billington spoke with dis- 
respect of the lawful authority of the 
captain, and was adjudged by the whole 
company in town meeting " to have his 
neck and heels tied together." 

1621. April 1. Indian Fidelity. A 
league was formed by the Plymouth 
settlers with Massasoit, ■ chief of the 
Wampanoags, and was not broken for 
more than fifty years. 

DEATH OF GOV. CARVER. 

1621. April 6. John Carver, gov- 
ernor of Plymouth, having been taken 
sick in the field during planting, died 
after a short illness, less than four months 
from the landing of the Pilgrims. He 
was a man upon whom the Pilgrims had 
learned to lean with a great confidence in 
his skill and prudence. He was born in 
England, and spent an uneventful life in 
his younger years. He was one of the 
number who, for the sake of religious 
opinions fled to Holland, and had much 
to do in making the arrangements by 
which the colonists were enabled to cross 
the water. Upon arrival at Cape Cod 
he was elected governor of the little state 
which was born in the cabin of the May- 
flower at the signing of the compact. 
Dving so soon, he saw nothing of its 
growth. Hardships w^ere pinching the 
settlers, and sickness depleting their num- 



ber. They could ill afford to lose a man 
like John Carver. Great unselfishness 
and childlike piety marked his everyday 
life. He was always ready to do any- 
thing to help the members of the colony, 
laboring with his own hands for their 
good, as he was needed. His property 
had been freely spent for the colony. 
His wife died about six weeks later. 
William Bradford was chosen governor 
of the colony. 

1621. May 12. The first wedding in 
Plymouth took place between Edward 
Winslow and Mrs. Susanna White. 

1621. Courtship of Miles Standish. 
It was in the spring of this year that the 
courtship made famous by the poet Long- 
fellow, took place. Mrs. Rose Standish 
had died soon after the arrival of the 
little colony. The impetuous Capt. 
Miles had been dreary and lonesome all 
winter. So one day he sent the young 
John Alden, his friend, to make an offer 
of marriage for him to Priscilla Mullens, 
a comely Pilgrim maiden. When she 
had heard the request of the Plymouth 
captain presented and enforced by the 
lips of the trusty messenger, she looked 
the bashful young man archly in the face 
and said, " Prithee, John, why do you 
not speak for yourself i^' The messen- 
ger blushed and retired, because he 
would not even seem to be untrue to the 
one who had sent him, but before long 
an understanding was arrived at between 
the young people, and in course of time 
a happy wedding took place. 

1621. June 18. The First Duel in 
New England. Prince, in his chro- 
nology of Plymouth says, " The second 
offence is the first duel fought in New 
England upon a challenge of single 
combat with sword and dagger between 
Edward Doty and Edward Leister, ser- 



1603-1630.] 

vants of Mr. Hopkins; both being- 
wounded, tlie one in the hand, and the 
other in the thigh, they are adjudged 
by the whole comjDany to have their 
head and feet tied togetlier, and so to 
lie for twenty-four hours without meat 
or drink, which is begun to be inflicted, 
but within an hour, because of their great 
pains, at their own and their master's 
humble request, upon promise of better 
carriage, they are released by the gov- 
ernor." Edward Leister, at the close of 
his apprenticeship to Mr. Hopkins, re- 
moved to Virginia. 

1621. July 24. A written consti- 
tution, the first in America, was pre- 
pared for the Jamestown colony, provid- 
ing for a legislative body and for trial by 
jury, as in England. This led the way 
in the development of j^olitical constitu- 
tions in this country. Cotton seeds were 
first planted this year as an experiment, 
and succeeded so well that the culture 
rapidly increased. The heavy duties on 
the tobacco imported _ into England, 
which had been laid to discourage to- 
bacco cultivation led the Virginia compa- 
ny to send their cargoes of it to Holland. 
The English government decreed at once 
that " no tobacco or other productions of 
the colonies should henceforth be carried 
into any foreign port until they were first 
landed in England and the customs paid." 
Hemj^-rope making had been enjoined 
upon the colonists a short time before, 
and in Jamestown the rope-making of 
the country originated. 

1621. George Calvert, Lord Balti- 
more, an English Roman Catholic no- 
bleman, was made proprietor by King 
James of a portion of Newfoundland. 
He sent out a colony which erected build- 
ings for him at a cost of £25,000. He 
did not visit the colony till 1625. 



THE COMING POWER. 



153 

1621. Origin of Thanksgiving. The 

harvest having been abundant at Ply- 
mouth, a festival of Thanksgiving was 
appointed and held. Massasoit and some 
of his followers joined in the occasion by 
invitation of the Pilgrims. Half of the 
company had died since the landing, but 
the hope of a good home in the New 
World was now strong in the remainder. 
Three days were occupied with the fes- 
tivities. 

1621. Nov. 10. The " Fortune" ar- 
rived at Plymouth from England with 
thirty-five colonists on board. It brought 
also a letter in the form of a "patent" 
from the new " Council for New Eng- 
land." This patent was issued for John 
Pierce and associates, and was the first 
one which the Council had granted. It 
had been obtained by friends of the Pil- 
grims when it was known that the col- 
ony had settled on lands subject to that 
company. 

1621. Nova Scotia, comprising the 
present territory known by that name, 
and the adjacent regions to the St. Law- 
rence, was given by a grant to Sir Wil- 
liam Alexander for colonization, but the 
design never resulted in anything. 

1621. Dee. 12. The first American 
sermon ever printed was preached in 
Plvmouth by Robert Cushman upon the 
" Sin and Danger of Self-love." It was 
afterward published in London. 

1622. March 22. Indian Massacre 
at Jamestown. The Indians seeing the 
increase of the English, and irritated at 
the prospective overthrow of their own 
race, fell upon the settlements at midday 
and massacred three hundred and forty- 
seven persons. Further destruction was 
prevented, but the interests of the colony 
were greatly damaged, and it was a long 
time before the recovery was complete. 



154 



DISCOVERT. EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



The university estate and iron - works 
were devastated. The iron-workers 
were killed and the business was not re- 
sumed till 1 712. 

1622. Weston's Weymouth Colony. 
Robert Weston planted a colony of idle, 
dissolute fellows at Weymouth, Mass., 
but the whole undertaking was broken 
up within a year by the hostility of the 
Indians, whom the colonists treated un- 
justly. 

1622. The first European settlement 
in Uruguay, S. A., was made by Spanish 
Jesuits. 

1622. Aug. 10. Laconia. The ter- 
ritory between the Merrimac and Kenne- 
bec rivers was granted by the " Council 
for New England" to Sir Ferdinand 
Gorges and John Mason, who named it 
Laconia. The territory of the grant 
contained a part of the present States of 
Maine and New Hampshire. 

1622. Dee. 13. Robert Gorges, son 
of Sir Ferdinand, obtained a grant of ter- 
ritory extending ten miles in length on 
the coast of Massachusetts Bay and 
thirty miles inland. 

1622. December. Squanto, or Tis- 
quantum as he was sometimes called, 
died of a severe sickness while attempting 
to pilot a boat from Plymouth Colony 
through the shoals of Cape Cod. This 
Indian was one of the number kidnapped 
by Capt. William Hunt or more probably 
by Weymouth, some years before the 
Pilgrims landed in America. He with 
the others was taken to Spain and sold. 
Of the twenty-seven, Squanto alone ever 
came to the New World again. He 
served the Plymouth Colony at different 
times with great apparent friendliness. 

1623. End of the Weymouth Colony. 
Capt. Standish with a company from 
Plymouth, rescued the settlement at 



Weymouth from impending destruction 
by the Indians. But the colony was 
abandoned. It did not have the ele- 
ments of success in it. The destitution 
of the settlers had been very severe at 
the last. They had subsisted on roots 
and clams. Many times they had come 
near starving. Some of the people went 
to England, and some to Plymouth. 

1623. July. First Fast Day. A 
drought had set in this summer long and 
severe. There had been no rain for 
weeks, and the crops were all in danger. 
The people became very anxious, for 
they very well knew that they could not 
sustain themselves without a successful 
season. A day of fasting and prayer 
was entered upon. The most of it con- 
tinued clear and hot. But after eight or 
nine hours clouds appeared, a gentle rain 
set in, and saturated everything. The 
result had a great effect on certain 
friendly Indians. 

1623. A second "patent" was ob- 
tained by John Pierce from the " Coun- 
cil for New England," for the col- 
ony at Plymouth. He found that the 
settlement was likely to be a success and 
hoped by this patent to secure it to him- 
self as a peculiar property by a sort 
of feudal tenure. He soon sold out his 
rights however to the company, because 
of loss which he incurred in trying to 
get to America. The ship he fitted up 
and set sail in was twice driven back by 
tempests for repairs. Having finally 
crossed the ocean it reached the Piscata- 
qua River, JST. H., in poor condition. It 
was commanded by William Pierce. 
John Pierce was on board and having- 
returned to England in her, made over 
his patent to the company. 

1623. Sept. 10. The Ann, of one 
hundred and forty tons, was loaded at 



1603-1630.] 

Plymouth -with clapboards for England. 
These were among the first exports of 
the colony. 

1623. William Blaekstone was the 
first white man to settle on the present 
site of Boston. After the coming of the 
Puritans he sold out and removed to 
Rhode Island. It is said that Blaekstone 
held negro slaves. 

1623. Dover and Portsmouth, N. H., 
were occupied this year by fishing 
villages which were founded in the inter- 
ests of Gorges and Mason, the proprietors. 
Kittery and other settlements in Maine 
were begun. 

1623. Walloon Settlers. The Dutch 
West India Company sent out Walloon 
settlers who were Protestant refugees 
of French descent, to colonize New 
Netherland. They formed the first real 
colonies at Manhattan Island and Albany. 
They also settled on the Delaware River 
at what they called Fort Nassau, but 
are supposed to have given up this 
attempt within a year in order to reen- 
force the colony at Manhattan Island, 
which contained only about two hundred 
persons. The first Dutch child of Ameri- 
can birth was born this year. The first 
worship ever held at New Amsterdam 
as the settlement on Manhattan Island 
was afterward called, was conducted 
very soon by two " krank-besoeckers " 
or " comforters of the sick," named 
Sebastian Jansen Krol and Jan Huyck. 
They began their work by holding a 
meeting of the people on Sunday in a 
room up-stairs in a horse-mill. The 
service consisted of the reading of the 
Scriptures, and the creeds. There was 
no dominie or minister as yet. 

1623. Germs of Literature, George 
Sandys of Virginia translated Ovid's 
Metamorphoses, the first literary work 



THE COMING POWER. 



155 



done in the English American colonies. 
The translation was jDublished in 
London. 

1623. Silk Culture in Virginia. The 
legislature of Virginia passed an order 
for all settlers to plant mulberry trees. 
This was a part of the attempt to turn 
attention from tobacco raising to other 
products. 

1623. St. Christopher, one of the 
Leeward Islands, was settled by an 
English colony vuider Sir Thomas 
Warner, the first English colony in the 
West Indies. Within a very short time 
a French colony settled on the island, 
and trouble soon arose. At last it was 
agreed to maintain a neutrality and make 
the island mutual ground. 

1624. The London Company was 
dissolved by King James, v/ho made 
Virginia a royal province, the first 
English royal province in America. 
This step was taken because of the 
increase of popular power in the govern- 
ment of the province since 1619. The 
king appointed a governor and twelve 
councillors to take entire charge of the 
colon}'. 

1624. Land at Plymouth. Up to 
this time the colonists had been appointed 
a little piece of land each year for culti- 
vation individually. This spring an acre 
was set apart for each one to possess as 
private property. The amount was pur- 
posely small to pi-event the wide scatter- 
ing of the colonists, which would weaken 
the settlement in time of danger. In 
1627 larger amounts w^ere given to each 
one in a family. Each lot of that date 
consisted of twenty acres, and had five 
acres water-front. 

1624. Religious Trouble. John 
Lyford, an Episcopal minister, arrived 
at Plymouth, and in connection with 



156 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



John Oldham began to cause an agi- 
tation over religious faith and worship. 
They were soon expelled from the 
colony. 

1624. Nov. 5. First Great Fire at 
Plymouth. Several houses were burned 
together with an amount of goods and 
provisions. The storehouse was in 
danger, but was saved. It was after- 
ward found that incendiaries had tried to 
communicate the fire to it. Swine and 
neat cattle were first imported into Ply- 
mouth this year. 

1624. Callao, Peru, was besieged for 
five months by a famous English bucca- 
neer named Clark, but he was unable to 
capture it. 

1625. Lord Baltimore removed to 
his Newfoundland colony, but was greatly 
disappointed in the climate and soil. 

1625. Jesuits in New France. 
Montmorency, viceroyal governor of 
Canada, sold his claim to his nephew the 
Duke de Ventadour, who was a Jesuit. 
Three Jesuit priests, Charles Lalemant, 
Ennemond Masse and Jean de Brebeuf, 
were sent out and joined the colony at 
Quebec. They were at first inhospitably 
received, but soon gained a foothold and 
acquired power. Brebeuf spent the first 
winter among the Algonquin Indians. 

1625. Sheep and swine were intro- 
duced into the Dutch colonies at Man- 
hattan Island. 

1625. Barbadoes, W. I., was settled 

by an English colony of forty whites and 

seven negroes. The set- 

1635-1660. ^ 

Charles I. King tlcmcnt was named J ames- 
oj England. town and flourished rapidly. 

The island has always remained in the 
possession of the English. No other 
country in the world save Malta has so 
many inhabitants to the square mile. It 
has an area of i66 square miles and 



160,000 or more inhabitants, or about 
1,000 to a mile. 

1626. May 4. Peter Minuit, who 
had been appointed governor of New 
Netherland under the newly established 
director-generalship for that province, 
landed at Manhattan Island. He very 
soon succeeded in buying the island, 
which contained about twenty-two 
thousand acres, from the Indians, for 
sixty guilders, or twenty-four dollars. 
The place was now named New Ains- 
terdam, and soon became the imjoortant 
point for New Netherland trade. Long 
Island began to be settled by the 
Dutch this year. The cultivation of 
buckwheat was introduced in America at 
Manhattan Island. Slavery began at 
this time in New Netherland. 

1626. Indian Missions. Jean de 
Brebeuf, one of the Jesuit priests of 
Canada went from Quebec on a mission 
among the Huron Indians who lived 
near the lake of that name. He re- 
mained in the region three years without 
any special results. 

1626. "Merry Mount." Thomas 
Morton, a lawyer, obtained power in a 
colony settled by Capt. Wollaston at 
what is now Wollaston Heights near 
Boston, and led the settlers into all kinds 
of revelry among themselves and with 
the Indians. He named the place "Merry 

Mount." A maypole was ^,,,_ sarcneters 

erected, around which the inventedby Tor- 
drmkmg and dancnig were 
held. This went on for a couple of years 
when in the autumn of 1628 John Endi- 
cott visited the place from Salem, cut 
down the pole, and named the place Mt. 
Dagon. Morton had also introduced 
guns and powder among the Indians, con- 
trary to the advice of the other settle- 
ments. He was subsequently arrested 



1603-1030.] 



THE COMING POWER. 



157 



and sent to England for trial, but was 
acquitted. He was ever after a dissolute 
man. He came to Boston and was im- 
prisoned, and finally died at New Hamp- 
shire. 

1627. The Pilgrims purchased the 
interest of London merchant adventurers 
in their colonv. 

1627. Richelieu, of France, annulled 
the rights of the Caens in the Canaila 
trade and formed a company of one hun- 
dred associates, himself at the head. 
They received full power over all the ter- 
ritory from Florida to the Arctic circle, 
and from the Atlantic to the headwaters 
of the St. Lawrence. Thev also received 
the monopoly of the fur trade forever, 
and of all other trade for fifteen years. 
The company became a sort of feudal 
proprietor. Huguenots were forbidden 
to touch the shores of New France. 

1628. Mills were built at New Am- 
sterdam, and bricks and lime were manu- 
factured for building purposes. 

1628. The Reformed Dutch Church. 
Rev. Jonas Michaelis vs^as the first minis- 
ter of the Reformed Dutch Church in 
America. He came to New Amsterdam 
and began to administer the sacraments 
in the exercise of his office. 

1628. April. A fleet sailed from 
Dieppe, France, with supplies for Quebec, 
but it was met and destroyed in the St. 
Lawrence by an English fleet under the 
command of three French refugee Hu- 
guenot brothers named Kirk, who were 
Scotch on their father's side. 

S^LEM FOUXDED. 

1628. Sept. 14. The first Puritan 
colony in America consisting of seventy 
persons under John Endicott, settled on 
the present site of Salem, Mass. The 
Puritan exodus from England to the New 



World began with these settlers, and in a 
few years filled up the coast of Massa- 
chusetts Bay with prosperous colonies. 
The Puritans, who, desiring reformation 
within the Church of England, yet be- 
lieved in and clung to her, are to be care- 
fully distinguished from the Pilgrims of 
Plymouth, who were thorough Separa- 
tists in renouncing all obedience to and 
affiliation with, the established church. 
There were a few settlers already upon 
the site of Salem, chief among whom 
was Roger Conant, who had served as 
governor of a little Cape Ann settlement 
until it broke up a short time before. 



1629. March 29. First Massachu- 
setts Charter. A charter was granted 
by the Council for New England to the 
" Governor and Company of Massachu- 
setts Bay in New England." This was 
obtained through the efforts of Rev. 
John White of the Dorchester Adven- 
turers, and was intended to put everything 
on a secure basis. John Endicott was 
appointed local governor for the colony 
in New England. 

1629. June 7. Patroons. The 
Dutch West India Company issued a 
decree called the " Chailer of Liberties" 
giving any one the right to purchase 
large tracts of land in New Netherland, 
and, upon forming a colony of fifty 
persons within the same, to govern it. 
This was the introduction of the feudal 
tenure which endured so long in New 
York in the order of wealthy patroons. 

1629. June 29, A large number 
of emigrants arrived at Salem, Mass., 
with cattle, goats, tools and other sup- 
plies for the Puritan colony. A brick 
kiln was soon set up. The name Salem 
was conferred upon the place this year. 



158 



DISCOVE/n\ EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 



1629. July 4. Charlestown, Mass., 
was founded bv a company of Puritans 
from Salem. 

1629. July 20. Quebec in English 
Power. English ships commanded by 
the Kirk brothers appeared before Que- 
bec which thev had not dared to attack 
the previous year, and demanded its sur- 
I'ender. Being incapable of defence, the 
cit\- was given up. Upon Champlain's 
arrival in London, he gained from King 
Charles through the French ambassador 
an assurance that New France should be 
returned to its rightful owners in accord- 
ance with a treaty of the same year. 

1629. Aug. 6. A church was organ- 
ized bv the members of the Salem colonv 
with the counsel and fellow^ship of dele- 
gates from Plymouth. Gov. Bradford, 
who was one of the delegates, and his 
companions, were detained in their 
voyage from Plymouth and arrived in 
the midst of the exercises of organization. 
Samuel Skelton was appointed pastor, 
and Mr. Higginson teacher. Thus was 
Congregationalism fully established in 
America by the organization of this 
church, which was the second of that 
order in the Ne\v World. Its two prin- 
ciples were now affirmed. The inde- 
pendent self-governing of each church and 
the proper fellowship of neighboring 
churches,were now fully illustrated. Just 
at this time the first religious difference 
in Massachusetts Bay occurred. Two 
brothers named John and Samuel 
Browne, who with considerable discon- 
tent at the organization of the Salem 
church had instituted a Church of Eng- 
land service according to the prayer 
book, were brought before the governor, 
and upon maintaining their intentions, 
were both sent back to England in ships 
about returning. This may seem harsh, 



Self-government. 

the iSIassachusetts 



but to the Puritans, founding a state, it 
seemed that if these brothers were 
allowed to go on, priest, bishop and full 
religious authority would soon creep into 
their midst. They did not' object to the 
single service which the Brownes insti- 
tuted so much as they feared that it would 
defeat the verv end of their coming 
thither. So they stopped it at the 
beginning, in spite of the fact that they 
loved and many of them revered the 
Church of England. 

1629. Aug. 29. 
The government of 
Bay colony was transferred to the people 
of the same, so that the colony became 
the company and had power to elect 
their governor, deputy-governor and 
eighteen assistants, who constituted a 
general court for the province. This 
transfer was brought about in England 
by electing as officers of the company 
men of great character who agreed to 
emigrate if the charter could be carried 
with them, and administered on the 
ground. John Winthrop was elected 
governor. The English government did 
not fully know of or comprehend the 
step until it had been taken. The efforts 
in after years to regain the charter were 
in vain until it was annulled outright, 
and hajopily events transpired which 
made even this ineffectual after a short 
time. The transfer of the charter to 
the New World was of vast import. 

1629. The RecoUet priests were 
driven out of Canada by the hostility 
of the Jesuits, who wished to have exclu- 
sive control of the province. 

1629. The Bahama Islands were 
settled by the English in New Provi- 
dence. In the next century and a half 
the Bahamas changed hands from the 
English to the Spanish, and back again, 



1003-1630.] 

until the sixth transfer was reached in 
i7S3,in the final annexation of them to 
England. 

1630. January. A patent for Plym- 
outh colony was issued by the Council 
for New England to William Bradford 
and others. It was the first one held by 
the colony itself, the previous grants to 
John Pierce being chiefly for his individ- 
ual benefit. The pi^esent patent defined 
the limits of the territory of the colony 
for the first time, and gave a right to the 
soil. Uj? to this time the colonists had 
hardly felt secure in their attempts to 
hold individual property. 

1630. About one thousand Puritans 

came to Salem this year and dispersing, 

founded Roxbury, Dorchester, Newtown, 

1571-1630. now Cambridge, Saugus, 

Kepler, i^qw Lyuu, Watcrtowu and 

1630. Venice "' tt,,-. , 

Gazette first is- Bostou. John Wuithrop, 
^"^'^- the first governor under the 

transferred charter, came and helped to 
found Boston. Each settlement became at 
•once a complete body in itself. The town 
governments of New England developed 
naturally from this condition of affairs. 

1630. July. The first house in Bos- 
ton was built. 

1630. Guiana, S. A., began to be 
settled by the English. 

1630. Sept. 17. Boston was founded, 
the organization of the town being for 
the first time completed. 

1630. Oct. 19. The fii»st general 
court or legislature of the ; settlements 
around Massachusetts Bay was held in 
Boston. This came into existence under 
the transferred charter. 

1630. October. First Execution in 
New England. John Billington, a profane 
and dissolute man was, after trial, executed 
at Plymouth for having shot John New- 
comen, who died of his wound. The 



THE COMING PO WER. 



159 



matter was referred to the leading men 
in Massachusetts Bay for advice, and it 
was the opinion of all that the criminal 
should be subjected to capital punishment. 
1630. The buccaneers of the West 
Indies fortified themselves on the island 
of Tortugas, and made a large colony 
apart from their other resorts. This 
bloody business had been growing up 
from nearly the time of the Spanish con- 
quest. They were English and French 
roving characters, who had acquired a 
hatred of everything Spanish. The ships 
and island settlements of the latter were 
never safe unless strongly armed. The 
buccaneers at this time increased their or- 
ganization.and became more dreaded than 
ever. Bands of them in open row boats 
attacked any unwary Spanish merchant- 
man. They took much booty on all 
hands. Later in the century they took a 
wider scope and plundered some of the 
best South American settlements. Their 
history is fearful with misdeeds. They 
pursued the Spanish with an implacable 

hatred. 

d.MERIC±Y COLOMZtI TIOK. 

The strange story of the settlement of 
the American continent presents some 
features w^orthy of being studied very 
thoroughlv. The reservation of the con- 
tinent from all foreign tread in spite of its 
discovery by the Norsemen, can ^e un- 
derstood very greatly by looking at the 
national conditions which preceded the 
fifteenth century. The results of that 
reservation are very important. A land 
embracing every climate, every topo- 
graphical feature, every mineral resource; 
wonderfully open and accessible to navi- 
gation on every side by gulfs, bays, great 
rivers, or vast lakes ; a land full of vege- 
table richness, both living and decayed, 
was left as a sphere for the exercise of 



160 



DISCOVERT, EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT, 



human endeavor, hardihood, ingenuity, 
and wisdom. A broad place was thrown 
open in which the world was to be al- 
lowed to build according to pet theories, 
or hasty notions, or consecrated effort, as 
the case might be. The field was free, 
and the trial fair. Different passions, 
aims, religions, were to enter the land 
and either "have their day and cease to 
be," or gain the ascendancy in the inev- 
itable conflict. The variety of national- 
ities in the field is noticeable. Still more 
so is the variety of elements proceeding 
from the same nationality. This is most 
marked in the case of England. It is 
also seen to some extent in French colo- 
nization. Upon our shores these ele- 
ments began to get a place to live. At 
first it was a sufficient task to keep a 
colony alive. Some colonies rooted them- 
selves in silence for years before the inev- 
itable contest for domination appeared. 
The southern half of the continent, well 



conquered and settled with the older and 
more organized system of the Roman 
Catholic church, was to allow a fair trial 
for the same in a new land, and upon the 
minds of a new people. The greater 
part of North America, ^vith different 
religious creeds and individual convic- 
tions, was to give a broad sphere for tho 
growth of the ones which had most 
vigor and spiritual power. The charac- 
ters of nationalities and principles were 
to be seen in new and untried situations, 
in places freed from old-time associations, 
and in needs which would test Old World 
conceptions of humanity. The work of 
building new institutions in a new land, 
was to give those who had lived among 
old institutions a peculiar privilege and 
responsibility. It would be their work 
to blindly tread the path of the Old 
World, or to eliminate the elements which 
there hindered advance. The broad, 
rich continent was before them. 





PART III. 



(LOhOIll]{h lilEE. 



1631-1760. 




[161] 



ou:ii I'AiJTJiu^s' yro-RKS, 



^'■A/i ! I do think, as I do tread 
Thease 'pacth, ivf elems auvcrhead. 
That all thease roads that we do bruise 
IVi"' hosscs'' shoes, or heaxy Izvoads ; 
Jlnd hedges'' bands, where trees in row 
Do rise an"* grow aroun' the lands, 
Be zuorks that ive've a-vound a-wrotight 
By our foref aethers'' ccare an'' thought. 

*' They clear''d the groun'' vor grass to teake 
The fleace that bore the brcmble breake, 
Ati' drain'' d the fen, where water spread, 
A.-lyen dead, a beane to men : 
An' built the mill, where still the wheel 
Da' grin'' our tneal, below the hill ; 
Alt' turn''d the brudge, wi'' arches spread^ 
Below a road, vor us to tread. 

" They zwun'' a pleace, were we mid seek 

The gifts (?' greace vrom week to week ; 
An"" built wi'' stxvone, upon the hill, 
A towPr we still do call our own ; 

With bells to use, an' meake rcjaice, 

Wi'' giant vaice, at our good news ; 
An ' lifted stwones an ' beaj?is to keep 

The rai7i an ' cwold vrom tis asleep. 

" Zoo 7ZOZV 7nid nwone ov us vor get 
The pattern our foref aethers zet 
But each be fain to 7inderteake 
Some work to meake vor others'' gain. 
That zue mid leave mwore good to shears. 
Less ills to bear, less soicls to grieve. 
An ' wJien our hands do vail to rest, 
It mid be vrom a-work a-blestP 

"poems in the DORSET DIALECT."— WILLIAM BARNES. 



[1621 



SECTION IX. 
GU^MS or SUZI"- G O rSJ2^JVMUJVT. /6S/-/66/. 



yN the study of the following period, 
I the first political interest in American 
j history is developed. We see the first 
\^ faint expression of principles which 
have become household words to later 
generations, and have, to a very great 
extent, influenced the entire continent. 
The coming power of Englishmen Is 
foreshadowed in the origin and rapid de- 
velopment of their colonies. The pecu- 
liar features attending the life of Ply- 
mouth, left alone as it was by the Eng- 
lish crown; the more expansive life of 
the Puritans at Massachusetts Bay, with 
the, at first, unobserved transfer of the 
government to the colony itself, so fruit- 
ful of results; the indications of friction 
with royal power in the cases of the 
settlers in the Old Dominion, were all of 
them projDhecies of self-government and 
wide supremacy. Town meetings, rep- 
resentative assemblies, codified law^s, 
written constitutions, began within the 
limits of the English colonies. The 
weaknesses of French colonization pre- 
vented it from getting any such foothold, 
and from retaining perpetually what it 
did get. Dutch power could not long 
endure in the midst of the more vigor- 
ously self-asserting conditions on each 



side. The full intent of all these slight 
beginnings has not yet been clearly seen. 
The continent still awaits a brighter 
reign of libertv. 

1631. March 16. The first conflagra- 
tion in Boston destroyed two dwelling 
houses. The fire caught in a wooden 
chimney. The building of such chim- 
neys, or of thatched roofs, was thereafter 
forbidden. 

1631. Koger Williams and John 
Eliot, both of them young ministers who 
became prominent in New England 
aflfairs, arrived at Massachusetts Bay this 
year. John Winthrop, Jr., son of Gov. 
Winthrop, also came. 

1631. July 4. " The Blessing of the 
Bay." A vessel of thirty tons, built in 
New England by Gov. Winthrop, was 
launched at Medford, Mass. It was 
named " The Blessing of the Bay," and 
is usually called the first vessel built in 
New England, but the pinnace built by 
the Popham colony, preceded it. 

1631. The Franchise. At the sec- 
ond general court of Massachusetts 
Bay, it was voted that nobody should 
from that time become a citizen and a 
voter, unless he were a member of some 
church in the settlements. 



164 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



1631. New Hampshire. Laconia was 
dixidcd by Mason and Gorges between 
themselves, the former taking the present 
tcrritorv^ of New Hampshire, which he 
named from Hampshire county, Eng- 
land, and the latter taking all the land 
eastward of IMason's tract. 

1631. A terrible earthquake oc- 
curred at Lima, Peru, and left the marks 
of its ravages in the destruction of much 
property. 

1632. June 20. Mai-yland. Cecil Cal- 
vert, Lord Baltimore, received the grant 
asked for by his father before the hitter's 
death, and named it Maryland in honor 
of the Queen Henrietta Maria. Under 
this patent he held lands west of the 
Delaware River, which were a source of 
controversy for over a century. 

1632. July 5. Quebec was returned 
to the French according to the stipulation 
with the English crown in the Treaty of 
St. Germain's. All Canada and Nova 
Scotia passed into French control again. 
Two Jesuit priests landed at Quebec with 
Emery de Caen, who i"eceived the sur- 
render and took command of the town. 

1632. The first church building in 
Boston was erected this year. It was, it 
is said, built of mud walls with a thatched 
roof, near the present corner of State 
and Devonshire streets. 

1632. The germ of a second house 
in the general court of Massachusetts 
m2. Gustarus ^ay appeared this year in 
the election of sixteen dele- 
gates by the eight towns of 
the province, to confer with the governor 
and his assistants about the raising of a 
tax. This precluded the necessity of 
holding a general assembly of the free- 
men of the colony. 

1632. A Queer Penalty. An act 
was passed in Plymouth colony, subject- 



AJolplnis died at 
batllf ol Lutze7i. 



ing a person who should refuse the office 
of governor to a fine of iC20, and a per- 
son who should refuse the office of 
councillor or magistrate to a fine of £.\o. 

1633. May 23. Champlain resumed 
command at Quebec under commission 
from Richelieu. The Jesuits silently 
began to regain control, 

1633. Wouter Van Twiller, who had 
been appointed governor of New Neth- 
erland in place of Peter Minuit, arrived 
at New Amsterdam. The first school- 
master named Adam Roelandsen came 
with him. Rev. Everardus Bogardus 
this year succeeded Rev. Jonas Michaelis- 
as minister of the Reformed Dutch 
Church in America, and had the first 
church building erected on what is now 
Broad Street. Dominie Bogardus mar- 
ried the widow Annetje Jansen whose 
lai"ge farm was known as the Bowerie, 
and now forms the valuable property 
held by the corporation of Trinity Church.. 
A brewcrv, the first in the province, was 
erected. 

1633. The election of selectmen ap- 
parently began in one or two towns of 
Massachusetts Bay, and originated the 
■well known town office through the 
greater convenience in the transaction of 
much of the town business. 

1633. Sheep were first imported into 
Massachusetts Bay colony this year. 

1633. Hartford, Conn. A trading 
post was established near the present site 
of Hartford, Conn., by the Dutch, in 
order to hold the territory to which they 
laid claim. They also reoccupied Fort 
Nassau on the Delaware River. 

1633. Sept. 16. The first frame 
house in Connecticut \vas set up near 
Windsor, above the Dutch post on the 
river, by William Holmes, of Plyniouth, 
who with a few companions brought the 



1631-16G1.] 

frame ready to be put together in order 
to take immediate possession. Tlie 
Dutch planned to drive them out, but did 
not attempt it by force. 

1633. October. Devoted Service. 
Father Le Jeune, of Quebec, spent the 
winter witli a wandering party of Algon- 
quin Indians in order to teach them the 
Christian faith. It was a great exposure 
for him to live five inonths in wigwams 
built in the snow, and endure the hard- 
ships of cold and fatigue, but he did it 
■cheerfully for the sake of his mission. 

1634. March 27. Maryland Colo- 
nized. Leonard Calvert, sent out with a 
colony by his brother, Lord Baltimore, 
arrived in Maryland and founded the first 
settlement, named St. Mary's, upon the 
site of an Indian village which was pur- 
chased of its occupants. Good relations 
Avere established with the Indians. Tlie 
charter granted Lord Baltimore guar- 
anteed repi'esentative government to the 
colony, and deprived the English crown 
of any power to tax or superintend the 
colony. Perfect religious toleration w^as 
also declared. The colonv began to 
flourish, and never suffered the depriva- 
tions endured bv all the other plantations. 

1634. April 10. Spirit of Liberty. 
Archbishop Land of Canterbury and 
others were made a commission to exer- 
cise supreme authority over the English 
colonies, and if necessary to revoke char- 
ters. When news of this reached Boston, 
measures were at once taken for defense. 
An order was passed for fortifications at 
Castle Island, Charlestown, and Dor- 
chester; also for the training of unskillful 
men. A royal request was sent for the 
charter, but the magistrates refused to 
surrender it. This prophecy of inde- 
pendence possesses a very remarkable 
character for that early day. 



GERMS OF SELF-GO VERNMENT. 



165 



1634. May 19. Representative Gov- 
ernment. Twenty-four delegates from 
the towns of Massachusetts colony ap- 
peared before the governor and magis- 
trates at their annual meeting unexpect- 
edly, and claimed seats with them in the 
general court of the province. Their 
request was granted. This was the 
second representati^•e body on the Amer- 
ican continent. The House 'of Burgesses 
in Virginia in 1619 was the first. The 
freemen of the colony were now becom- 
ing so scattered as the number of towns 
around Boston increased, that they could 
not be safely or conveniently called to- 
gether at once in a colonial general 
assembly. Thus was democratic gov- 
ernment of necessity given up, except as 
it remained visible in the management 
of town affairs. The Freeman's Oath 
was established at this time, by wdiich 
every freeman of the colonv was obliged 
to pledge his allegiance to Massachusetts 
instead of to King Charles. 

1634. A mission among the Huron 
Indians was established by three Jesuits 
who went from Quebec into the Huron 
country and took up their residence in an 
Indian village near the lake of that name. 
A house was built and the natives were 
taught with considerable success. 

1634. All British colonies were put 
under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the 
Bishop of London. 

1634. A Roman Catholic mission w as 
established among the Indians of Marv- 
land, by Andrew White, but was broken 
up at the close of twelve years. 

1636. A representative assembly was 
held in Maryland and laws were enacted 
which Lord Baltimore declared void, 
because he claimed that with himself 
rested the right to initiate legislation. He 
two years afterward withdrew this claim. 



166 

1635. April 23. Trouble in Mary- 
land. William Clayborne having resisted 
the authority of Lord Baltimore on Kent 
Island, an attempt was made to arrest 
him. A fight between two vessels sent 
out by Maryland and one under Clay- 
borne's authority, took place. Clayborne 
fled to Virginia and his estates on Kent 
Island were confiscated, 

1635. April. The Plymouth Com- 
pany resigned their patent to the king 
and assigned the territory of New Eng- 
land to the members by particular por- 
tions. Gorges retained the land between 
the Piscataqua and the Kennebec which 
he now^ for the first time named Maine. 
He was vested with large powers over 
this province. A small plantation at 
Agamenticus was erected into a munici- 
pal corporation and became the first real 
city in New England. It is now the 
town of York, Me. Mason retained 
New Hampshire. A writ of quo war- 
ranto was now issued against Massa- 
chusetts Bay colony to dispossess them 
of their charter in order that the other 
patentees might take possession of the 
lands which they had so gladly divided 
among themselves. The prospect was 
dark for Massachusetts Bay, and if Eng- 
land had been thoroughly at peace, the 
colony would have been annihilated. 

1635. May. The First Ballot. Voting 
by slips of paper seems to have been first 
used at the general election in Massachu- 
setts Bay this year, and to have been 
ordered to be used thereafter. 

1635. A Heavy Currency. Musket 
bullets were made a legal tender in place 
of farthings in Massachusetts Bay, but 
not more than twelve could be paid at 
once. This step was taken in order to 
retain the bullets then in the colony, in 
view of the anticipated trouble over the 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



charter of the colony. It was at this 
time that the famous old beacon-pole was 
ordered to be set on what has since been 
known as Beacon Hill, Boston. A barrel 
of tar could be raised to its top and set 
aflame to warn the surrounding country. 

1635. Trouble in Virginia. Sir 
John Harvc}-, governor of Virginia, 
was bitterly complained of by the col- 
onists, and resisted in oflice. He went to 
England by mutual agreement to be 
tried upon the accusations made against 
him. The trouble arose from the repres- 
sion of popular power in the province 
since 1624, when it had become a royal 
colony. 

1635. Sept. 1. The first grand jury 
on the American continent met in Boston 
and prepared a list of one hundred 
offences which they presented to the 
magistrates for trial. 

1635. October. Sentence of banish- 
ment was passed against Roger Williams 
by Massachusetts Bay, because of his 
constant opposition to magistrates and 
church. 

1635. November. Saybrook, Conn. 
A colony was founded at the mouth of 
the Connecticut River and named Say- 
brook, in honor of Lord Sav-and-Seal 
and Lord Brooke, who had obtained a 
grant of the territory in 1631. 

1635. John Steel with a few^ persons 
went from Massachusetts Bay to the 
region of Wethersfield and Windsor. 

CH^MPLtIIX. 

1635. Dec. 25. Samuel de Cham- 
plain died on Christmas day at Quebec, 
at the age of sixty-eight years. For 
over thirty years he had been closely 
connected with the fortunes of New 
France, and had been the leading spirit 
in founding; its institutions. His character 



1631-1661.] 

and aims are apparent in the course of 
the events which have been recorded of 
him in previous pages. He w^as religious 
and connected all his schemes for coloni- 
zation very closely with his faith. But 
the settlement he planned embraced ele- 
ments of permanency in his diligent 
founding of a civil state. His patience 
was unsurpassed, and reminds one of that 
of Columbus. Very little is found to 
stain his charactei*, and none of that loose- 
ness in morals appeared in him which 
marked the roving spirits of that day. 
The struggle of his life in the New 
World was long continued and severe. 
The little beginnings at Quebec under- 
taken by hini inaugurated a fierce effort 
for the supremacy of the great St. Law- 
rence over cold and hunger, internal dis- 
cord, and outward foes in the shape of 
the deadly Iroquois. Though the growth 
was slow, it was sure, and a state grew 
up beside the noble river, which to-day 
owes her existence to the untiring hand 
of Samuel de Champlain. 

1636. March 3, Town Govern- 
ments. The general court of Massa- 
chusetts passed measures recognizing the 
towns of the province as they had grown 
up, and defined their powers for the reg- 
ulation of town meetings. This action 
simply made legal and permanent the 
conditions which had arisen naturally in 
the infancy of the colony. 

1636. June. The Hartford Colony. 
Hooker and Stone emigrated from New- 
town, Mass., and founded Hartford, Conn. 
They went across the country with their 
families and took one hundred and sixty 
head of cattle with them. The journey 
was accomplished in two weeks. Mrs. 
Hooker, who was an invalid, was carried 
upon a litter. 



GERMS OF SELF-GOVERNMENT. 



167 



1636. June. Quebec Schools. Charles 
Hualt de Montmagny arrived in Quebec 
to assume the office of governor, left 
vacant by the death of Champlain. 
Colonists came with him. There was 
this year the beginning of a school at 
Quebec for Huron children. A college 
was established for French boys. 

1636. Governor Harvey. Charles 
II. of England would not hear the 
charges made against Sir John Harvey, 
governor of Virginia, but sent him back 
to rule the province, " if but for a day." 

1636. July 4. Providence, K. I., 
was founded by Roger Williams, who 
fled secretly from Boston after his banish- 
ment, in order to avoid trans^oortation to 
England. A compact was entered into 
by those who settled at Providence " to 
submit themselves in active and passive 
obedience to all such orders and agree- 
ments as should be made for the public 
good of the body in an orderly way, by 
major consent of the present inhabitants, 
masters of families, incorporated together 
into a township, and such others whom 
they shall admit into the same, only in 
civil things." 

1636. First West India Trade. A 
vessel of thirty tons made the first voyage 
between Massachusetts Bay and the 
West Indies. 

1636. Right of Taxation. The Ply- 
mouth colony declared that no taxes 
should be imposed but by the consent of 
the freemen of the colony in public 
assembly. 

1636. August. Pequod War. An 
expedition from Boston under John Endi- 
cott proceeded against the Indians of 
Block Island and the Connecticut coast, 
because of the murder of Oldham, an 
Indian trader. The Indians fled, but 
their towns and provisions were burned. 



168 



This aroused the Pequods, and the towns 
in the Connecticut colony suffered from 
their attacks, and general terror began to 
reign. The Narragansetts were kept 
jDcaceful. 

1636. Harvard College. The gen- 
eral court of Massachusetts Bay voted 
four hundred pounds for a school or col- 
lege. This was the first step in the his- 
tory of Harvard College. 

1636. Oct. 4. Earliest Colonial Code 
of Laws. Plymouth colony chose a com- 
mittee to codify the statutes which had 
grown up naturally in the early adminis- 
tration of the colony. Fifty or sixty 
laws were thus laid down. 

1636. December. Local Elections 
Prefigured. The general court of Massa- 
chusetts decreed that as all freemen could 
not safely leave their homes at the same 
time they could send their votes to the 
magistrates by proxy thereafter. A mil- 
itary organization of three regiments was 
also ordered for the colony. 

1637. The Pequods were extermi- 
nated by the English settlers and Narra- 
gansett Indians. The few who remained 
at the close of the summer were given to 
the Narragansetts for adoption. 

1637. August. The first ecclesias- 
tical council ever held in the New World 
came together at Newtown, now Cam- 
bridge, Mass., to consider questions of 
faith and heresy. 

1637. Mrs. Anne Hutchinson was 
banished from Massachusetts Bay for the 
opposition to the religious and civil life 
of the colonv into which her peculiar 
views brought her. She hcUl that out- 
ward purity of life was no evidence of in- 
ward sanctification, to attest which an 
internal revelation of the Holy Spirit 
alone was sufficient. She derided and 
opposed the ordinary views of the col- 



COLONIAL LIFE. 

onists. For a time she received a number 



of supporters, among them John Cotton 
and Henry V ane, but some of them after- 
ward saw ho.v she had misled them. 
Doubtless the opposition to her and her 
companions was illiberal and mistaken, 
but it was also greatly provoked. 

1637. Nov. 17. The general court 
of Massachusetts Bay ordered the college 
to be established to be put at Newtown 
(Cambridge). 

1637. Navigation Acts. The order 
of 1621 for the exclusive importation of 
tobacco into England having been evaded 
by the Virginia company, a fresh injunc- 
tion was issued to the governor to bond 
each vessel for the sure transportation of 
its cargo to Great Britain. 

1637. The Ancient and Honorable 
Artillery Company of Boston was organ- 
ized by Robert Keayne, who became its 
first captain. It was organized upon the 
plan of a similar company in London. 
It -was known at first as the 1573-1637. 
^Military Company of Mass- ^^" Jonson. 

achusetts, and is the oldest militia organi- 
zation on the continent. It was armed 
at first with pikes, " hand-gounes" and 
" snap-hances." The present name was 
taken about the year 1 700. The com- 
pany still has an annual training day. 

1637. Train-bands and Wards. As 
early as this year, if not earlier, train- 
bands began to be organized in Boston. 
Separate jDortions of the town were set 
apart for these bands to keep watch and 
ward o^"er. Thus the name ward has 
passed into general use in America. 
These train-bands originated the training 
days which were formerly so well known 
in New England. 

1637. An expedition up the Amazon 
was led from Maranhao to Quito by 
Pedro de Texeira, a Portuguese. He 



1631-1661.] 

had with hnn seventy Portuguese sol- 
diers and about twelve hundred Indians, 
and was accompanied by the two monks 
who had come down the river from Peru 
in 1616. They passed up the Amazon 
and its branch the Napo, and at last after 
a hard journey, reached Quito. In a year 
or two he returned, accompanied by a 
chronicler who recorded minute observa- 
tions of everything on the way. Full 
reports of both trips were sent to Madrid, 
and constitute the first real account of this 
wonderful stream down which Orellana 
passed nearly one hundred years before. 

1638. March. Rhode Island Col- 
ony. Mrs. Anne Plutchinson and her 
friends having been ordered to leave 
Massachusetts Bay, formed a settlement 
on Rhode Island which they had pur- 
chased from the Indians. Eighteen 
persons signed the following agreement, 
viz.: "We whose names are under- 
written do hereby solemnly in the pres- 
ence of Jehovah incorporate ourselves 
into a body jjolitic, and as he shall help, 
will submit our persons, lives and estates 
unto our Lord Jesus Christ the King 
of kings and Lord of lords, and to all 
those perfect and absolute laws of His 
Holy Word of truth, to be judged and 
guided thereby." A governor, deputy- 
governor and five assistants were entrusted 
with the government of the colony. 

1638. April 15. New Haven Col- 
ony. New Haven was founded by a 
company just arrived from England 
under John Davenport, a clergyman, and 
.„„ ^ . Theophilus Eaton, a mer- 

Ibda. Jansenism -^ ' 

founded by Jan- chaut. The land was 
^emzis, oj pres. j^Q^jor]-,^ ^f ^j-^ Indians for 

" twelve coats, twelve hoes, twelve al- 
chemy spoons, twelve hatchets, twentv- 
four knives, twelve porringers, four cases 
French knives and scissors." Later in the 



GERMS OF SELF-GO VERNMENT. 



169 



season a government was organized, and 
Theophilus Eaton was chosen the first 
governor. 

1638. Harvard College Named. The 
general court of Massachusetts Bay 
ordered that Newtown be named Cam- 
bridge in honor of Cambridge, England. 
John Harvard, a minister of Charlestown, 
died and left the new college about eight 
hundred pounds and all his library. It 
was therefore named Harv'ard College. 
Regular instruction began this year by 
Nathaniel Eaton. 

1638. Exeter, N. H., was founded by 
Rev. ]Mr. Wheelwright, who had been 
banished from Massachusetts Bay col- 
ony on account of differences between 
hiniself and other preachers, which arose 
from his adoption of the views of his 
sister-in-law, Mrs. Hutchinson. 

1638. The first negro slaves In New 
England were brought by a vessel which 
had made a trading voyage to the West 
Indies. 

1638. A severe earthquake was ex- 
perienced in New England. Slight quak- 
ings were felt for twenty days afterward. 

1638. The Massachusetts charter 
was again demanded by the commis- 
sioners, but a long letter refusing it was 
sent by Gov. Winthrop. There was so 
much trouble in England that the demand 
was not pressed at present. 

1638. First Cloth-making. A com- 
pany of Yorkshire clothiers settled at 
Rowley, Mass., and began the work of 
their trade. " They were the first people 
that set upon making of cloth in the 
Western world, for which end they built 
a fulling mill and caused their little ones 
to be very diligent in spinning cotton, 
many of them having been clothiers in 
England." The business grew upon 
their hands very rapidly. 



170 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



1639. Jan. 14. A written constitu- 
tion was adopted in the Connecticut col- 
ony by the agreement of the towns. The 
colony became indejDcndent of Massa- 
chusetts Bay, and elected John Haynes 
governor. This has been called " the 
first example in history of a written con- 
stitution framed by the people, a distinct 
organic law constituting a government, 
and defining its powers." The legis- 
lative power was vested in an assembly 
composed of the governor, six magistrates 
and representatives elected by each town. 

1639. February. The statutes of 
Maryland were completed at the third 
session of the assembly. Civil enact- 
ments were passed, and penalties provided 
for criminal offences. A house of bur- 
gesses was provided for, of which repre- 
sentatives elected by the people should 
be members. The voters of the colony 
had at first made their laws in a public 
meeting called for that purpose. Any 
planter who cultivated tobacco was re- 
quired to raise two acres of corn. Steps 
were taken to provide for the building of 
a grist-mill. 

1639. March. The first printing 
press in the English colonies was set up 
at Cambridge, Mass., by Stephen Dayc, 
who issued this year an edition of the 
Freeman's Oath as his first work, and an 
almanac for New England by William 
Pierce, Mariner, as his second. Rev. Jesse 
Glover acted as agent in getting the press, 
which was bought by subscription, and 
was obtained at Amsterdam. A font of 
type w^orth X49 was given to the college 
with the press. Mr. Daye received from 
Massachusetts a grant of three hundred 
acres of land because he was the first 
printer in the North American colonies. 

1639. June 4. An assembly of the 
people of the New Haven colony was 



held in a barn belonging to Mr. Robert 
Newman, in order to complete their polit- 
ical organization. The governor and 
magistrates who were elected by the 
church members of the colony adminis- 
tered the government. 

1639. July 22. Pejepscot, now 
Brvmswick, Me., where a few settlers 
under Thomas Purchas had planted them- 
selves on the edge of the territory of 
Gorges, put itself formally under the 
jurisdiction of Massachusetts Bay. 

1639. Aug. 1. The First HospitaL 
Madame de la Peltrie, Marie de ITncarna- 
tion and other nuns arrived in Quebec and 
founded the Ursuline Convent. Three 
nuns came to found the hospital called the 
Hotel Dicu under the patronage of the 
Duchess d'Aiguillon, niece of Richelieu, 
This was the first hospital in America. 

1639. Representative government 
was adopted in Plymouth colony after 
nineteen years of pure democracy. It 
was rendered necessary by the increase 
of numbers in the colony. 

1639. The Painted House. Rev. 
Thomas Allen of Charlestown, Mass., 
is said to have been brought before the 
magistrates on the charge of having 
paint upon his dwelling house. He 
showed that it was put on before he 
owned the house, and that he disapproved 
of such a thing, and was thereby dis- 
charged. Paint and jDaper hangings were 
scarcely known in the colonies. 

1639. A house, which is still standing 
and is probably the oldest in the United 
States, was built in Guilford, Conn., for 
the minister. Rev. Henry Whitfield. 

1639. Newport, R. I., was founded 
by William Coddington and his associ- 
ates who had separated from the settle- 
ment of Mrs. Hutchinson at the northern 
end of the island. 



1631-1061.] 



GERMS OF SELF-GOVERNMENT. 



171 



1639. The first Baptist church in 

America was organized in Providence, 
R. I., by Roger Williams. 

1639. The first apple trees In Amer- 
ica were on Governor's Island, Boston 
Harbor, and bore this year "ten fair 
pippins." 

1639. Jean Nicollet crossed from the 
Huron country to Green Bay, Wisconsin, 
and it is thought by some, to the Missis- 
sippi River. 

1640. A powder miU was established 
in Massachusetts, but it was afterward 
suppressed by English hxws. 

XEJF EmiTLKD. 

1640. About twenty-one thousand 
emigrants among whom v\"ere one hun- 
dred ministers, had up to this time been 
received into New England, at a cost to 
the companies of over one million dollars. 
There were twelve settlements east of the 
Hudson, embracing fifty towns and vil- 
lages. Wampum began to be freely 
used as currency among the colonists, 
Beaver skins w^ere used in trade as they 
were also in New Netherland, where the 
Dutch minister of Albany received a 
salary of one hundred and fifty skins a 
year. New industries appeared on many 
hands. Linen, cotton and woolen cloths 
were made by the colony of Yorkshire 
clothiers, at Rowley, Mass. Commerce 
with the West Indies sprang up. 



1640. The Bay Psalm Book was is- 
sued at Cambridge, Mass., and for years 
was thought to be the first real book 
printed on the American continent, but 
books v^^ere printed at Mexico over a cen- 
tury before. A copy of the Bay Psalm 
Book was "sold at auction in 1876 for 
one thousand and twenty-five dollars." 

1640. First Nursery. Gov. Endi- 



cott started an apple tree nursery on his 
farm in Danvers, Mass., irAo. The Long 
and began the selling of ^''"■^i"""'"'' 

^ _ » 1517 1640. 

young trees in large num- Rubens. 

bers. This was probably the first nursery 
on the continent. There was scarcely 
another one till within the last forty years. 

1640. An ordination by laymen took 
place at Taunton, Mass., at which, though 
one or two ministers were present, the 
candidate was ushered into the ministerial 
ofiice by lay members of the church. 

1640. The first brandy made in the 
American colonies was produced at Man- 
hattan, now New York. 

1640. Brazil was erected Into a princi- 
pality and the Portuguese heir apparent 
was made Prince of Brazil. 

1640. The Bermuda Islands were 
put under a regular government by the 
English crown. 

1641. March 2. The charter of Ply- 
mouth colony was surrendered by 
William Bradford to the freemen of the 
whole colony, and the interest held by 
members of the Council for New Eng- 
land was bought for twelve hundred 
pounds, 

1641. April. A Sunday liquor law 
was issued by the authorities of New 
Amsterdam on account of the increasing 
prevalence of drunkenness. It forbade 
the " tapping of beer during divine service 
or after ten o'clock at night, under a pen- 
alty of twenty-five guilders, i64i. Coffee in- 
or ten dollars for each ''y^^"''^^J"^o 

England. 

offense, besides the for- leu. star 
feiture of the beer for the ^Mer and 

rligli Commts- 
USe of the Schout Fiscaal, sion abolished. 

or Attorney General." This law was 
adopted because they said "complaints 
are made that some of our inhabitants 
have commenced to tap beer during 
divine service, and use a small kind of 



172 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



measure which is in contempt of our re- 
ligion, and must ruin the state," 

1641. Curious Financial Peril. 
Wampum, or Indian money, formed a 
great part of the currency of New Neth- 
erland. It consisted of parts of sea shells 
strung together, and was sometimes 
known as seawant. During this year the 
New Amsterdam city council com- 
plained " that a great deal of bad sea- 
want, nasty, rough things, imported from 
other places, was in cii'culation, while the 
good, splendid Manhattan seawant was 
out of sight or exported, which must 
cause the ruin of the cuiuitry." 

1641. A Singular Marriage. Richard 
Belllngham, Governor of Massachusetts, 
made proposals of matrimony to a young 
lady about to be married to a young man, 
was accepted, and without complying 
with the rules of the colony in regard to 
publishing the bans, performed his own 
marriage ceremony, by virtue of his 
office as a magistrate. This direct viola- 
tion of law was afterward brought u]^ 
before the courts, but was finally care- 
lessly dropped. 

1641. Indian Missions. Mr. Richard 
Bourne and ]Mr. Thomas Tupper began 
to labor among the Indians of Sandwich 
and Cape Cod, within the Plymouth 
patent, and had great success for several 
years. They were not ministers, but 
wealthy laymen, and began their work 
very quietly. They studied the Indian 
language, and soon conducted worship for 
the natives. Mr. Bourne was finally or- 
dained pastor of an Indian church at Marsh- 
pee. Both were men of great energy. 

1641. Two Catholic missionaries 
named Jogues and Raymbault, penetrated 
to the outlet of Lake Superior, and 
preached to the Indians. 

1641. December. The « Body of Lib- 



erties," prepared by Rev. Nathaniel 
Ward, of Ipswich, was adopted, and be- 
came the first real constitution of Massa- 
chusetts Bay. Previous to this time there 
had been no code of laws. It was 
claimed that English law could only 
have a restrictive force upon acts contrary 
to it, but that beyond this the people of 
the colony could make such laws as they 
chose. The enactments of the new con- 
stitution were one hundred in number, 
forbade husbands to chastise their wives, 
a privilege which the common law of 
England allowed, forbade cruelty to ani- 
mals, and decreed capital punishment for 
certain offenses, among them witchcraft. 
It also provided that " there should be no 
monopolies but of such new inventions 
as were profitable to the country, and 
that for a short time only." Applications 
for patents were soon made under this 
code. It was also provided "that there 
shall never be any bond slavery, villeinage 
or captivity among us, unless it be lawful 
captives taken in just war, such as will- 
ingly sell themselves or are sold to us, 
and such shall have the liberties and 
Christian usage which the law of God 
established in Israel concerning such per- 
sons, doth morallv require." 

1642. Sir William Berkeley arrived 
in Virginia to succeed Sir Francis Wyatt 
as governor. He brought orders from 
the king for the restoration to the people 
of the right of representation by the 
formation of a general assembly com- 
posed of the governor and council, 
together with burgesses elected by the 
different plantations or towns. 

1642. May 18. Montreal was founded 
by a company which had been commis- 
sioned to establish Catholic institutions 
upon the island. A seminarv, college, and 
Hotel Dieu were to be inausfurated at once. 



1631-1G61.] 

1642. Religious diflBculties and re- 
bellion ill Maryland for two or three 
years, prevented the full progress of that 
colony. 

1642. Aug. 2. Iroquois Barbarity. 
A Huron trading party and four Jesuits 
were captured on the St. Lawrence River 
1564-1642. by the Iroquois, and carried 

i^ss.mt"""- i"t« ^^-^tral New York. 
Rkhelmi. The captives, among whom 
was Father Isaac Jogues, were horribly 
mutilated by Indian torments after they 
had reached the Five Nations. 

1642. The "White Mountains. An 
Irishman "named Darby Field was prob- 
ably the first white man to ascend the 
White Mountains, N. H. He was ac- 
companied by two Indians, and named 
these now well-known hills the Crvstal 
Mountains. 

1642. Powder Houses in New Eng- 
land. A huv was passed by the general 
court of Massachusetts, obliging every 
town to keep a supply of powder on 
hand, and thus the little powder houses 
once seen throughout New England, 
began to be built. 

1642. Fines in Maryland. A full 
code of laws was provided for Maryland. 
Drunkenness was to be punished by a fine 
of one hundred pounds of tobacco, and 
swearing by a fine of five pounds. 

1642. First Home Missionaries. 
More than seventy Puritan settlers of 
Virginia sent a letter to Massachusetts 
Bay, requesting that a number of min- 
isters be sent to them. Three were sent 
and commended to the governor and 
council of Virginia. Their services were 
afterward cut off by lack of toleration. 

1642. Oct. 9. The first class grad- 
uated at Harvard College. 

1642. The Swedes built a fort on 
TInicum Island in the Delaware River, 



GERMS OF SELF-GOVERNMENT. 



173 



and established a mission among the 
Indians. 

1642. The first tavern for strangers 
on Manhattan Island was built this year 
near the head of Cowenties' slip. 

1643. March. Religious Intolerance. 
The assembly of Virginia passed a re- 
solve to enforce conformity with the 
Church of England. Non-conformists 
were ordered " to depart the colony with 
all conveniency." This broke up the 
labors of the Puritan ministers from 
Massachusetts Bay. The same code 
abolished servitude as a punishment. 

1643. Samuel Gorton's settlement at 
what is now Warwick, Rhode Island, 
was broken up by Massachusetts author- 
ities because of his decided heretical views, 
and his troublesome bearing toward those 
among whom he lived. Even Roger 
Williams could not bear him. 

1643. May. The House of Com. 
mons ordered that all exports from and 
imports into New England should be 
without duty. 

FIRHT COLOKML LEAGUE. 

1643. May 19. Massachusetts Bay, 
Plymouth, New Haven, and Connecticut 
colonies formed a league under the name 
of " The United Colonies of New Eng- 
land," for mutual protection against the 
Dutch and Indians. An assembly com- 
posed of two commissioners from each 
colony was to be held. Runaway slaves 
and criminals were to be ^^,^ ^„^^ . . 

1643-1715. Louts 

given up. This was the xiv. King of 
first colonial coalition, and >'"'^''^- 
presented the sight of colonists taking 
their affairs into their own hands. 



1643. The Jesuit priest. Isaac Jogues, 
escaped from the Iroquois while they 
were trading with the Dutch at Albany, 



174 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



went down the Hudson and to France, 
where his mutilations gained him great 
honor. 

1643. First Iron-works in New Eng- 
land. A charter was granted and a 
company was formed for the manufacture 
of iron in New England. John Win- 
throp, Jr. and others raised money in 
England for the establishment of the 
works. A beginning was made this year 
at Saugus, now Lynn, Mass. The name 
Hammersmith was bestowed upon the 
place, because several of the workmen 
had come from that town in England. 
Among these workmen was Joseph 
Jenks, who has been called " the first 
founder who worked in brass and iron 
on the Western continent." A small 
quart pot was the first article turned out, 
and has been preserved in the family of 
Thomas Hudson, upon whose lands the 
iron-works stood. A similar forge was 
established a very little later by the same 
company at Braintree, Mass. These 
works began to meet the demand for 
iron-ware and tools. Their material was 
bog iron ore, found in the lowlands of 
the vicinity. Both works employed men 
of great skill. 

1643. A massacre of the Indians 
around New Amsterdam was insti- 
gated by William Kieft, Governor of 
New Netherland. It brought great 
trouble upon the Dutch colonies after- 
ward. In one of the attacks by the 
Indians Mrs. Hutchinson, who had re- 
moved into New Netherland, was killed. 

1643. Representatives from the towns 
of New Haven colony were for the first 
time associated with the governor and 
magistrates in the general assembly. 

1643. Sugar was made in the West 
Indies by the English for the first time, 
upon the island of St. Christopher. 



MMXTOKOMOH. 

1643. September. This chief, the 
nephew of Canonicus the powerful sa- 
chem of the Narragansetts, was murdered 
by a Mohegan Indian in Connecticut. 
For many years Miantonomoh and Ca- 
nonicus had held the rule over their pow- 
erful nation. Upon the first coming of 
the whites, the former, then a young 
man, thought of making war upon them, 
but having become acquainted with them, 
he decided that it would be better to pre- 
serve peace. At the time of the murder 
of Oldham, Miantonomoh made every 
effort to find the guilty parties', and gave 
great assistance in arresting them. In the 
Fequod war he rendered much service. 
Nevertheless the English authorities were 
always suspicious of him. 

There seems to have long been an ani- 
mosity between himself and Uncas, the 
sachem of the Mohegans. In 1638 a 
treaty was drawn up between the chiefs 
in which among other things they agreed 
to settle their difficulties by an a^^peal to 
the English. 

It having been afterward reported that 
Miantonomoh was plotting against the 
English, he was sent for to appear at 
Boston in 1643. He came, and for two 
days the court was emploved upon his 
case. He manifested much wisdom and 
good judgment in all his answers. 
Having proved his innocence he asked 
for his accusers, saying that they ought to 
suffer the same punishment as w^as in- 
tended for himself But they did not 
choose to show themselves. 

The difficulties between Miantonomoh 
and Uncas finally led to a \var in 1643, 
in which the former was taken prisoner. 
He was taken by Uncas to Boston, that 
his fate might be decided by the English. 
The latter declared that the case was not 



1631-1661.] 

within their jurisdiction, and handed 
him over to the Mohegans for punish- 
ment. Uncas received the commission 
very wilHngly. While going w^ith his 
prisoner between Hartford and Windsor 
his brother came up behind Miantono- 
moh and with a single blow of the toma- 
hawk split open the skull of the unfortu- 
nate chief. 

Thus perished on account of the 
prejudice of the English, one who had 
always been peaceable and well-disposed 
toward them. Miantonomoh could not 
have been past middle age. 



GERMS OF SELF-GOVERNMENT. 



175 



1644. March 14. A charter was 

granted Roger Williams for his settle- 
ments which were to be known as 
" Providence Plantations." He obtained 
the charter by a visit to England. The 
Providence and Rhode Island colonies 
which had been separate up to this time, 
were united. The government was to 
be a pure democracy. 

1644. April 18. A second great 
massacre of the settlers in Virginia was 
attempted by the Indians with such 
five hundred whites 
was the last great 
The veteran chief, 
Opechancanaugh, was taken captive and 
having been mortally wounded by a shot 
from a soldier, soon died. The Indians 
were left without head and without 
energy. 

OPECH:ijYCAMA UGH. 

1644. This chief, styled the King of 
the Pamunkeys, was a brother of the once 
powerful chief Powhatan. He was born 
about the year 1 545 and consequently was 
nearly one hundred years old when he 
died. In the winter of 1608 the English, 
having used up their food, were at the 
point of starvation, and were unable to 



success that nearly 
were slain. This 
organized attack. 



get anything from the Indians by trade. 
Capt. Smith proceeded to Pamunkey, 
determined to secure some corn. Find- 
ing all his efforts to trade with the Indians 
in vain, he suddenly seized Opechanca- 
naugh by the hair and with a pistol at 
his breast, dragged him half dead with 
fright out among the whites. The chief 
was then held as a prisoner until his 
people brought enough provisions to fill 
the boats. The English then released 
him and returned to Jamestown. We do 
not hear much more of Opechancanaugh 
except in the two massacres of 1622 and 
1644, in which he led. In the latter his 
feebleness was so great that he was carried 
upon a litter. While a prisoner he had 
not strength enough to raise his eyelids. 
Just before his death, when he was sur- 
rounded by a crowd anxious to see the 
venerable warrior, he asked that Gov, 
Berkeley be brought into his presence, 
and thus addressed him : « Had it been 
my fortune to have taken Sir William 
Berkeley prisoner, I would not meanly 
have exposed him as a show to my 
people." He left no one to fill his place 
in the leadership of the people. Their 
venerated king had been the complete 
leader of all their movements. 

ELDER BREWSTER. 

1644. April 16. William Brewster, 
one of the Pilgrims who came over in 
the Mayflower, died at the age of eighty- 
four years. He was born at Scrooby, 
England, in 1560, and received his edu- 
cation at Cambridge University. He 
suffered imprisonment for his religious 
views, but finally reached Holland, 
where he taught school, and set up a 
printing press. When the colony came 
to America, the principal religious care 
of it fell upon him, because it was deemed 



176 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



necessary for the pastor, John Robinson, 
to remain in Holland with the rest, and 
come to America at some later day. But 
Mr. Robinson never came, and Elder 
William Brewster continued the full pas- 
toral care of the colony until 1629, 
though he could never be induced to 
administer the sacraments. His influ- 
ence grew to be very great, and deser- 
vedly so. When he died he was an 
object of great veneration. He left a 
library of two hundred and seventy-five 
volumes, sixty-four being in the learned 
languages. The library was valued at 
■^43- 

1644. April 29. Joseph Bressani, 

an Italian Jesuit, was captured by the 
Iroquois as he was going to the Huron 
mission. He was subjected to torment, 
and afterward sold to the Dutch, who 
sent him to France. 

1644. June. The first internal tax 
on liquor in America was laid by the 
Dutch West India Company, at Man- 
hattan, and resulted in much trouble. 

1644. Two Legislative Houses in 
Massachusetts. A case of difticulty in 
regard to swine, which originated in 
1636, and had never been fully settled, 
was brought up again before the magis- 
trates. The sympathies of the people, 
and of most of their representatives, 
were oj^posed to those of the magistrates. 
The animal which caused the difficulty 
by running at large, had belonged to an 
ordinary person. On account ot the 
division of sentiment, the case led this 
year to the establishment of two branches 
of the general court, in order that each 
one might possess a negative vote on the 
other. The humble swine was a means 
of originating in Massachusetts this 
great security of all constitutional gov- 



ernment. The assistants of the governor 
had, however, at several previous times, 
claimed the power to negative the votes 
of the members elected by the freemen 
of the colony. 

1644. Nov. 13. Baptists. A law was 
passed in Massachusetts Bay, pronoun- 
cing sentence of banishment upon all 
Baptists. 

1644. The second Baptist church in 
America was founded at NewjDort, R. L, 
by John Clarke, who served as its pas- 
tor for many years. 

1644. Nov. 19. rirst Protestant 
Missionary Society. The Massachu- 
setts general court became the first Prot- 
estant missionary society of the world 
by passing an order for the county courts 
to care for the Indians within their 
jurisdiction, both to civilize and Chris- 
tianize them. At a little later day it 
ordered that two ministers be chosen and 
sent among the Indians to teach them 
the gospel. There is no earlier modern 
missionary undertaking among the Prot- 
estants, unless it be the establishment of 
a Dutch mission in Ceylon. Ministers 
had been sent by Massachusetts Bay two 
years before into Virginia, at the request 
of Puritan settlers there. But this work 
was the real inauguration of missionary 
effort. 

1645. The " One Hundred Asso- 
ciates" who had held the power of 
trade over Nc\v France, transferred their 
monopolies to the inhabitants of Canada, 
but retained their seignorial rights. 

1645. July. A great peace council 
was held at Sillery, Quebec, between the 
Iroquois and the French and Hurons. 
Isaac Jogues and Couture went into the 
Iroquois country at its conclusion. 

1645. Aug. 30. A treaty was made 
between the Dutch and the Indians, 



1631-1661.] 

bringing a long and cruel war to a 
close. 

1645. Support of Harvard College. 

The commissioners of the New England 
league recommended that every family 
in the four provinces give a peck of corn 
or a shilling to Harvard College. This 
was very generally complied with, and 
afforded considerable aid to the insti- 
tution. 

1645. Four persons were executed 
for witchcraft in Massachusetts. This 
was the remote beginning of the trouble 
which in 1692 became so serious. 

1645. Negro Slaves. A lawsuit was 
held in Boston over the kidnapping of 
some slaves on the coast of Guinea, 
which were brought to New England 
by James Keyset and James Smith. 
They were held to have been taken un- 
lawfully, because without their own con- 
sent, and were ordered to be sent back. 

1645. William Clayborne incited a 
rebellion in Maryland, and seized the 
government of the province from Leon- 
ard Calvert, who was driven away. 

1645. The territory of Brazil north 
of Pernambuco had been entirely seized 
during the last two or thi-ee years by the 
Dutch. Pai-a was the only spot not 
captured. 

1646. Jan. 31. Father De Noue 
was frozen to death in an attempt to 
reach the French fort on the Richelieu 
River. This was the first Jesuit death 
m Canada. 

1646. A law against man-stealing 
was passed in Massachusetts, making it a 
capital crime. Similar laws were soon 
formed in all the New England colonies. 

1346. Certain persons were arrested 
and fined in Massachusetts because they 
petitioned for the admission of those who 
were not church members to political 



GERMS OF SELF-GOVERNMENT. 



177 



rights. An appeal to the commissioners 
in England gave them no redress. 

1646. The first poll-tax in this coun- 
try was levied in Massachusetts this year. 
Up to this time a certain tax had been 
laid upon the entire province, and the 
total amount divided among the towns, 
to be raised as might seem best. At this 
time a tax of i s. S d., and a little later 
3 s. 6 d. was laid upon every male over 
sixteen years of age. A penny a £ was 
laid on personal property and income. 

1646. Leonard Calvert returned with 
a large force and was re- i64g. Air guns 
Instated in his position as inve7Ued. 
governor of Maryland, from which he 
had been expelled by Clayborne in 1645. 

1646. Aug. 29. Father Gabriel 
Druilletes set out on a mission among 
the Abenaqui Indians of Maine along the 
Kennebec, some of whom had been to 
Canada and now requested that a mis- 
sionary might be sent to their people. 
Druilletes visited and taught among them, 
descended the river, went to the Penob- 
scot along the coast, stopped at the Eng- 
lish stations, and the next year returned 
to Quebec. 

1646. Oct. 28. John Eliot preached 
to the Indians for the first time in their 
own language, in what is now the city of 
Newton, Mass. Meetings were soon 
held in other places. Converts began 
to multiply under his influence, and a 
great work soon grew up. 

1646. Thomas Mayhew, Jr. began 
preaching among the Indians of Martha's 
Vineyard, and had great success for the 
next score of years. He had labored in 
teaching them since 1643. He afterward 
perished at sea on board a ship which 
foundered on its way to England. After 
the death of the son his father continued 
the work with Hiacoomes, who was the 



178 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



best Indian preacher of wlioni we have 
any account. 

1646. December. Edward Winslow 
was sent to England to answer charges 
against the Massachusetts colony made 
by disaffected persons. His mission was 
successful. 

1646. The first license law in Mas- 
sachusetts was passed. 

1646. First Scjrthes. Joseph Jenks 
received a patent for fourteen )'ears " for 
the making of engines for mills to go bv 
water for the more speedy disj^atch of 
work than formerly, and for the making 
of scythes and other edged tools." These 
scythes were the first niade in the country, 
and were made like the old English 
scvthe, in the form of the one at present 
used for bush-cutting. 

1647. May. First Complete Relig- 
ious Liberty in the World. The Pro\ i- 
dence colony was organized under the 
1608-1647. charter, and the first general 

Torrkelli. assembly held. A code of 
laws was adopted, declaring the colony 
democratic, and giving equal religious 
jDrivileges to all, of whatsoever name they 
might be. 

1647. An epidemic influenza raged 
through the colonies, attacking Indians, 
French, Dutch and English. 

1647. A famous escape of an Al- 
gonquin squaw named Marie Baptiste, 
from the Iroquois towns took place. She 
wandered two months through the w^oods, 
and at last made her way to Montreal. 

1647. An earthquake destroyed San- 
tiago, Chili, killing one thousand persons 
and sixty thousand cattle. 

c±yoxicus. 

1647. June 4. This powerful chief 
who ruled the great Narragansett tribe, 
died at the age of eighty-four years. 



Canonicus was the grandson of Tash- 
tassuck, whom fame reports as having 
been the most powerful sachem of his 
time. At the time of the advent of the 
white settlers in New England, Canon- 
icus was loud in his threats against them. 
He sent one of his men to Plymouth 
with a bundle of arrows wrapped in a 
rattlesnake skin as a challenge to engage 
in war. On receiving this. Gov. Brad- 
ford defiantly accepted the challenge by 
returning the skin filled with powder 
and shot. The savage chief was so filled 
with superstitious dread ujDon the recep- 
tion of these things, that he refused to 
touch the skin, and it \vas carried about 
to the different villages of the tribe, until 
it was finally brought again to Plymouth. 
Canonicus concluded to remain at peace 
with the English, and throughout his 
life we never hear of his taking up arms 
against them. This is paiily due to the in- 
timacy which he had with Roger Wil- 
liams at Providence. Canonicus came to 
hold Mr. Williams in great esteem, and is 
said to have loved him as his own son till 
the day of his death. The Pequods, before 
beginning the war of 1637, tried very 
hard to induce the Narragansetts to join 
them against the English. A council of 
the Narragansett chiefs was held, and 
they were nearly on the point of yielding 
to the persuasions of the Pequods, when 
Mr. Williams came to the wigwam of 
Canonicus, even while the delegates 
sent by the hostile tribe were there, and 
b3'^ a great effort persuaded the old 
sachem to consent to remain at peace 
with the English. Canonicus died, hav- 
ing seen more than fourscore years, 
greatly respected for his wisdom and 
the moderation of his disposition. He 
had a large share of the virtues of the 
red man. 



1631-1661.J 

1648. The first known mention of 

Niagara Falls was made in the Jesuit 
Relation for this year hy Ragueneau. 

1648. Margaret Jones, of Charles- 
town, Mass., was hung in Boston for 
witchcraft. 

1648. August. The Cambridge Plat- 
form. A council convened at Cambridge 
which established a New England plat- 
form of religious belief, known since as the 
Cambridge Platform. The Westminster 
Confession "was also adopted by the body. 

1648. The first temperance meeting 
on this continent was held at Sillery, near 
Quebec. The chief address was made 
by a converted Algonquin chief, who 
1648. Thirty cxhorted his people to total 
Years' War end- abstinence, and declared to 

ea by J^eace of ' 

Westphalia. Or- them the penalties enacted 

isin of "balance • , -i i "-r"! • 

"^ ^ -^ ... aganist drunkenness, i his 

oj poxver m ° 

Europe. w^as a part of the effort 

made by the priests to prevent the use of 
liquors among the settlers and Indians, 
especially the latter. The habit of drink- 
ing was producing great harm in the 
province. 

1648. Smelting works for copper 
were set up by Gov. Endicott at Salem, 
Mass., because he had discovered that ore 
on his farm. Men were imported from 
Germany and Sweden to do the work. 

1648. Behring's Straits. A Russian 
expedition under the Cossack, Scmocn 
Deshniew, sailed through Behring's 
Straits on a trip from the Kolvma River, 
on the northern coast of Siberia, to the 
mouth of the Anadir, just south of the 
straits. Deshniew thus discovered the 
passage which Behring did not see till 
nearly a century afterward, and then 
did not sail through, as Deshniew did. 
This was a voyage not made before or 
since, until the recent expedition of 
Nordenskjold in 1S79. 



GERMS OF SELF-GOVERNMENT. 



179 



FREE SCHOOLS. 

1649. A law was passed in Massa- 
chusetts requiring every township to 
maintain a free school, and every town 
of one hundred families to maintain a 
grammar school capable of " fitting 
youths for the miiversity." Connecticut, 
Plymouth and New Haven afterward 
took steps in the same direction. 

JOH.y WLYTHROP. 
1649. March 26. John Winthrop, for 
many years governor of Massachusetts 
Bay colony, died at Boston at the age 
of eighty-two years. He was educated 
at Trinity College, Cambridge University, 
and afterward studied law. He was 
prominent among the supporters of the 
company which was attempting to plant 
the colony of Massachusetts Bay, being 
thoroughly in sympathy with the reform 
aimed at by the Puritans. He came to 
America in the large body of colonists 
who arrived June 13, 1630. Soon after 
his arrival at Salem, he moved to Charles- 
town, and chose the site of Boston as that 
of the capital of the colony. He was 
instrumental in securing friendly relations 
with the Pilgrims at Plymouth. For 
several different terms he served the col- 
ony as governor, and was defeated at 
several other times, because of particular 
issues. He was governor at the time of 
his death. John Winthrop, Jr., after- 
ward governor of Connecticut, was his 
only son by a first marriage. By a third 
marriage he left four sons. He was less 
harsh and uncompromising than Endicott, 
but as thoroughly loyal to principle. He 
was a broader man mentally, though 
none the truer of heart. He had a de- 
cidedly literary turn, which has contrib- 
uted to the original historical records 
of New Eno;land much valuable matter. 



180 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



Of such strong stuff ns was in Govs. Endi- 
cott and Winthrop, was Massachusetts 
made. 



1649. Intolerance in Virginia. A 

Puritan church in Virginia which had 
escaped the action of 1643 was obliged to 
leave the colony. Its members, which 
numbered one hundred and eighteen, 
went mostly to Maryland. 

1649. The Tate of the Hurons. The 
Huron towns were destroyed by the Iro- 
I6i9. Charles L (\\\o\^, and many killed, 
of England ex •- together with a part of 

cuted, and com ^, " t •■ rri, tt 

monvjeaithesta>- the Jcsuits. The Hurous 
lisiu'd. abandoned their territory 

and were scattered abroad, ceasing to 
exist from this time as a nation. The 
remaining Jesuits reestablished their mis- 
sion among the refugees, on an island in 
Lake Huron. 

1649. Upon the execution of Charles 
I. in England and the proclamation of 
Charles II. as king, Alaryland, Virginia, 
and the English colonies in the West 
Indies also proclaimed the latter. 

1649. Virginia had at this time fifteen 
thousand white inhabitants and three 
hundred negroes. There were also 
''twenty thousand cattle, two hundred 
horses, fifty asses, three thousand sheep, 
five thousand goats," besides swine and all 
kinds of fowl. There \vere " six public 
brew houses, four windmills, and five 
water mills for grinding corn." There 
were t^venty churches. 

1649. Maryland Act of Toleration. 
The assembly of Mar viand passed the 
"Act of Toleration" givnig the rights 
of liberty to all Christian sects. The 
provisions of the Rhode Island Act of 
1643 were broader in granting toler- 
ation to all religious forms of faith and 
woi"ship. 



1649. Jesuits were forbidden by law 
to enter Massachusetts. If any came a 
second time, they were to be punished by 
death. 

1649. July 27. A " society for prop- 
agating the gospel in New England '* 
was formed in Great Britain by Act of 
Parliament, ^vith special reference to the 
conversion of the Indians. Gov. Wins- 
low and fifteen others composed the cor- 
poration. 

1650. June 10. The Jesuit mission 
among the Hurous was abandoned, and 
the few who were left set out for Quebec, 
where they lived as a mere remnant, and 
are to be found to-day in Indian Lorette, 
west of the city. This ended the chief 
glory of Jesuit missions among the 
Indians. The annihilation of a nation 
robbed these patient men of success. 

1650. The boundary line between 
New Netherland and New Haven was 
decided by commissioners, and thus a long 
dispute was settled. 

1650. The House of Commons pro- 
hibited trade with Virginia and with 
island colonies which had refused to 
acknowledge the commonwealth, de- 
claring them to be in a state of rebellion, 
and sending an armed force against 
them. 

1650. Slavery was made lawful in 
Connecticut under certain restrictions. 

1650. Sept. 1. Druilletes again set 
out into the Kennebec region to arrange 
for trade and military aid between the 
French and English colonists of New 
England. He visited Boston, and was 
received hospitably in spite isge-ieso. 
of the law against Jesuits, Descartes. 

then returned to Quebec hopeful of good 
results, though nothing could be done till 
the next meeting of the Federal com- 
missioners. 



founded by 
Georffe Fox. 



ivuh Tjood >i 
rails near Nezv- 
castle. 



1631-1661.] 

1650. Colonists froiii Virginia settled 
1650. "Friends" Oil the Cliowau Rivei" iu 
the present State of North 
CaroHna. 

1650. Dutch Guiana, S. A., was 
1650. Railroads taken by the English. 

1650. Chocolate was first 
exported from Mexico to 
Europe. 

1650. The General Assembly of 
Maryland was divided into two houses. 
A declaration \vas made that no taxes 
should be placed upon the colony except 
with the consent thereof to the same. 

1651. A patent was given to Gov. 
John Winthrop to enable him to work 
mines in the vicinity of Middletown, 
Conn. 

1651. rather Druilletes and Jean 
Paul Godcfroy Avere sent to New Haven 
from Canada to enlist the English colo- 
nists against the Iroquois, but the attempt 
was imsuccessful. The Federal commis- 
sioners refused all proposals. 

1651. Wampum. An order was 
passed in Massachusetts preventing wam- 
pum from being longer received in the 
colony in payment of taxes. It was cur- 
rent in New Netherland for a long while 
after. 

1651. July 26, Raphael Lambert 
Closse, a great Indian fighter of Canada, 
with sixteen men, fought a band of In- 
dians who were attacking Montreal, and 
after a dav's hard contest drove off the 
entire number. 

1651. Navigation Act. It was or- 
dered by the House of Commons that all 
expoi^ts from the colonies and imports 
into them must be shipped in English 
vessels, and that no sugar, cotton, tobacco 
and other articles should be exported 
from the colonies, save to English domin- 
ions. This order was issued because the 



GERMS OF SELF-GOVERNMENT. 



181 



laws of 1621 and 1637 I'equiring all com- 
modities to be shipped from the colonies 
to England, were evaded by allowing 
Hollanders to do the carrying trade in 
their own vessels. The Navigation Act 
gave great enterprise to the colonial ship- 
yards, because it brought a great deal of 
the carrying trade into the hands of the 
colonists. 

1651. Taxation in Barbadoes. Sir 
George A}\scue was sent out with a force 
to reduce Barbadoes to the authority of 
Parliament, but was unsuccessful until 
reenforced. There was, however, in the 
terms of surrender an express stipulation 
that no taxes should be laid on the 
islanders, save by theinselves, thus an- 
ticipating the principle of the American 
Revolution. 

1651. DiflBculties with the Baptists. 
John Clarke, Obadiah Holmes and a Mr. 
Crandall were arrested in Massachusetts 
for disseminating Baptist doctrines in op- 
position to the injunctions of the magis- 
trates. They were visiting a Baptist 
brother who had been joermitted to live 
for several years in Lynn in perfect peace 
because he did not violently intrude 
his ideas upon the notice of those aroinid 
him. Clarke and Holmes were Baptist 
ministers. The three visitors were tried 
and fined. The fines of Clarke and 
Crandall were paid, but Holmes refused 
to have his paid, and was whipj^ed with 
thirty lashes. Two men who expressed 
sympathy with him were fined forty 
shillings and committed to prison. 

1651. Fort Casimir. Gov. Stuyve- 
sant of New Netherland, went to the 
Delaware River, and having secured an 
Indian title to the west side of the river, 
erected Fort Casimir near the Swedish 
Fort Christiana. 

1651. The first Seventh Day Baptist 



182 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



church in America *was established at 
Newport, R. I. 

1651. The manufacture of wines and 
the cultivation of hemp were encouraged 
in Virginia by premiums. 

1651. Grenada, one of the Wind- 
ward Islands, was settled by the French 
under Gov. Du Parquet, of Martinique. 
The French soon gained the hatred of 
the Caribs by their cruelty to them. The 
Caribs began to retaliate by murdering 
unprotected settlers. Troops were sent 
against them and destroyed large num- 
bers of them. A small number who 
were left, upon being closely pursued 
mounted a steep rock, and rather than 
surrender to the foe, plunged off headlong 
to destruction. This cliff has since been 
known as the Hill of the Leapers. 

1652. March 12. The Common- 
wealth in Virginia. The English fleet 
under Capt. Edward Curtis, received the 
submission of the Virginia colony to 
Parliament after some delay on the part 
of Sir William Berkeley. Tlie terms 
provided for non-taxation, save by the 
provincial assembly; for the use of the 
Book of Common Prayer one year, and 
for one year in which any one could 
remove who did not wish to submit to 
the Commonwealth. Gov. Berkeley's 
commission was declared void, and Ben- 
nett was elected governor. 

1652. Commissioners having been 
appointed "to reduce and govern the 
colonies within the bay of Chesapeake," 
proceeded to act upon Maryland, and by 
so doing brought about difficulties be- 
tween William Stone, the representative 
of Lord Baltimore, and the parliamen- 
tary authority, which lasted several years. 

1652. The first regular bookseller 
in the English colonies was Hezekiah 
Usher, of Boston. 



1652. Some of the towns in the 
province of Alaine submitted to the 
jurisdiction of Massachusetts. In a couple 
of years the authority of Massachusetts 
extended to the Kennebec River. 

1652. May 13. Prohibition of Slavery 
in Rhode Island. The following act to 
prevent negro slavery, was passed by the 
Rhode Island and Providence Planta- 
tions: 

" Whereas there is a common course 
practiced among Englishmen to buy 
negroes, to that end they may have them 
for service or slaves forever; for the j^re- 
venting of such practices among us, let 
it be ordered, that no black mankind or 
white being shall be forced by covenant^ 
bond or otherwise, to serve any man or 
his assignees longer than ten years, or 
until they come to be twenty-four years 
of age, if they be taken in under four- 
teen, from the time of their coming within 
the liberties of this colony ; at the end or 
term of ten years to set them free as the 
manner is \vith the English servants. 
And that man who will not let them go 
free, or shall sell them away elsewhere to 
that end they may be enslaved to others 
for a longer time, he shall forfeit to the 
colony X40." 

In spite of this strict prohibition, slav- 
ery existed in Rhode Island for many 
years, and the city of Newport gained a 
large amount of wealth as a result of 
profit in the slave trade. The greed of 
business would not permit the abolition 
of so hopeful a source of riches. 

1652. June 10. First Mint in the 
English Colonies. The general court of 
Massachusetts established a mint at Bos- 
ton, under the charge of John Hull, 
goldsmith. Silver pieces were issued of 
the value of twelve pence, six pence, and 
three pence. The largest piece became 



1631-1661.] 

known as the pine-tree shilling, from a 
pine tree stamped upon one side. The 
whole issue became known as pine-tree 
money. This mint operated for thirty 
years, in spite of the fact that in Eng- 
land it was regarded as an insult to royal 
power. The master of the mint was 
allowed fifteen pence out of every twenty 
shillings. The mint largely increased the 
circulation of coin in place of wamj^um, 
bullets, and articles of barter. The only 
other colony which issued silver coins be- 
fore the Revolution, was Maryland. 
Several others, however, minted copper 
coins. The dies for the Boston mint 
were made by Joseph Jenks at the iron- 
works at Lynn. 

1652. Slavery in New York. The 
New Netherland Company granted per- 
mission for the direct importation of 
slaves from Africa into New Amsterdam. 
There was no immediate result, but in a 
couple of years the trade enlarged and 
negroes were brought there from Cura- 
coa, W. I. 

1652. An iron bloomery and forge 
was erected at Taunton, Mass., by Henry 
and James Leonard. Other w^orks were 
soon established in other colonies, and the 
manufacture of iron began. 

1653. An elective municipal gov- 
ernment was established at New Am- 
sterdam. 

1654. January. Cromwell having 

dispersed the Parliament in 

1653. Oliver -r^ , , o • i 

Cromtveiibe- Lnglaud, btoue issued a 
came Lord Pro- proclamation in Maryland, 

tector of Eng- , , . , . -r , td 

land. declarmg hrni Lord Pro- 

tector. 
1654. Bennett and Clayborne of Vir- 
ginia deposed the Maryland officials, and 
appointed commissioners to govern the 
province. Roman Catholics were de- 
prived of their civil rights. 



GERMS OF SELF'GO VERNMENT 



183 



1654. Troops were sent to New 
England by Cromwell, to engage in war 
with New Netherland, but before the 
New England auxiliaries could be raised, 
peace was declared between England and 
Holland. The same troops under Major 
Sedgwick were turned against Acadia, 
procuring its surrender to English au- 
thority. 

1654. A minister must be supported 
by each town in Massachusetts, according 
to a law passed this year. 

1654. Lands were set apart for a col- 
lege in the New Haven colony, according 
to a suggestion of Mr Dav- i654. Air pumps 
enport, who claimed that i'^-'^'e'tied . 
the settlement needed better educational 
privileges. Nothing resulted from it, 
however. 

1654. Syracuse Salt Springs. Father 
LeMoyne visited the Onondaga Indians, 
making a French settlement among them, 
and while there discovered the famous 
salt springs of Onondaga, now the city 
of Syracuse, N. Y. 

1654. The Mississippi River. Col. 
Wood, of Virginia, is said to have 
crossed the mountains and reached a 
branch of the Mississippi River, but the 
evidence is slight. 

1654. First American Fire-engine. 
Mr. Joseph Jenks of the Lynn iron- 
works, agreed to build for the city of 
Boston " an engine to carry water in case 
of fire." Very few attempts had been 
made in the world before this to construct 
such a machine. Paris had none for 
fifty years after this time. 

1654. Cayenne, S. A., was abandoned 
by the French. 

1654. The Dutch were entirely ex- 
pelled from Brazil by the Portuguese, 
who regained the territory by the most 
persistent efforts. By i66o the Dutch 



184 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



had given up their attempts to hold the 
province. 

1655. Mrs. Ann Hibbins was hung 
in Massachusetts for witchcraft. 

1655. Conflict in Maryland. Wil- 
Ham Stone made an armed attempt to 
restore the proprietary government in 
Maryland, resulting in a severe defeat 
of the Catholics, and the establishment 
of Protestant power. 

1655. May. First Modern Scythe. 
The modern scythe originated with Mr. 
Joseph Jenks, who obtained a patent upon 
it for seven years. The blade was made 
longer and thinner than in the old scythe, 
and a strap of iron running along the 
back gave it the necessary strength. Up 
to this time IVIr. Jenks had made at the 
foundry in Lynn the old English scythe. 
His improved form of it has remained 
essentially unchanged. 

1655. May 10. Jamaica was captured 
by an English fleet sent out by Cromwell 
against the Spanish West Indies. Some 
of the inhabitants persisted in maintaining 
their independence in one part of the 
island. An attempt was made to colo- 
nize the island, but without much imme- 
diate result. Most of the slaves on the 
island fled into the mountains and com- 
mitted lawless depredations for years. 
The yellow fever at this time killed five 
hundred British soldiers. San Domingo 
was unsuccessfully attacked by this same 
expedition, which consisted of nine thous- 
and seven hundred men under Admiral 
Penn and Gen. Venables. 

1655. The Dutch settlements around 
the Hudson were attacked by the Indians 
who made desperate raids upon Hoboken, 
Pavonia and Statcn Island, in revenge for 
William Kicft's assault vipon the Indians 
a few years before. For several davs 
great terror reigned, but was at last dissi- 



pated by conciliatory measures which 
secured peace. The settlements had 
suffered greatly. 

1655. Sept. 25. End of Swedish 
Power. Gov. Stuyvesant of New Neth- 
erland captured the Swedish forts on 
the Delaware, and thus ended Swedish 
power in North America, though other 
Swedish colonists came at a later day. 

1656. July. First Quakers in Amer- 
ica. Two Quaker women, named Anne 
Austin and Mary Fisher, arrived in 
Boston, were imprisoned immediately, 
and sent back to Barbadoes whence they 
had come. The same summer eight 
more landed in Boston from England, 
but were immediately tried and sent back. 
The Quakers were at that time exciting 
the religious world by their fanaticism, 
and the first effort of all the colonists was 
to keep them away. Nothing else was 
contemplated at the beginning. 

1656. The Caribs massacred all of 
the French colonists of St. Barthol- 
omew, W. I. 

1656. The Palmarese Nation. Run- 
away armed negroes formed a colony 
in Brazil and set up a government of 
their own, with a full list of laws. They 
have since been known as the Palmarese 

nation. 

MILEH ST±\DISH. 

1656. Oct. 3. Miles Standish who 
came over with the Pilgrims in the May- 
flower, though he had not been a mem- 
ber of their church or congregation, died 
at Duxbury, Mass., at the age of seventy- 
two years. He had served in the army 
in Netherland and was elected military 
captain of Plymouth, where John Carver 
was elected governor. He was a natural 
warrior of quick, impetuous disposition. 
He was always the leader of the colony 
in their military affairs, and was ever 



1631-1661.] 

ready to undertake an expedition of 
peace or war. His wife, Rose Standish, 
died soon after they came to America, 
and in trying to secure the hand of Pris- 
cilla Mullens through John Alden, he 
unwittingly served as the instrument of a 
happy marriage. Hobomok, a friendly 
Indian, lived with Standish for awhile, 
and became much attached to him. Capt. 
Standish left several children by a second 
wife. He was an heir to large property 
in England which had been kept from 
him. He was very faithful to Plymouth 
colony in all its interests. His body was 
laid at Duxbury, near Plymouth, where 
a monument has since been erected to 
his memory. 

1657. The support of ministers and 
grammar schools was made compulsory 
in the towns of Plymouth colony by an 
act of the general court passed this year. 

1657. March. Legacy for Educa- 
tion. Edward Hopkins, Ex-governor of 
Connecticut, died in London and left 
Xi,ooo for grammar schools in Hartford 
and New Haven, and ^500 for a college, 
which sum was given to Harvard, as 
there was no college in Connecticut. 

1657. More Quakers. Mary Dyer 
and Anne Burden, Quakers, arrived in 
Boston, and were imprisoned. Anne 
Burden was sent back to England, but 
Mary Dyer was taken by her husband to 
Rhode Island. Soon afterward a num- 
ber arrived in Rhode Island by way of 
New Amsterdam. Mary Clarke went 
to Boston, was arrested, and whipped. 
Others came to the colonies with various 
results. 

GOVERNOR BRADFORD. 

1657. May 9. William Bradford, 
one of the Pilgrims who came over in 
the Mayflower, died at Plymouth, Mass., 



GERMS OF SELF-GOVERNMENT. 



185 



at the age of sixty-nine years. He was 
born in Yorkshire, England, in 1588, 
and received a good, though not a learned 
education. At the death of Gov. Carver 
in 162 1, he was elected in his room and 
held the place for thirty-one years, serv- 
ing in that office till he died, save for five 
periods of one year each, when he de- 
clined a re-election. He was an earnest, 
faithful man, a fine scholar, and had much 
native ability of the finer sort. He wrote 
a history of Plymouth colony, from 1602 
to 1647, which is considered one of the 
authorities on that subject. His personal 
contribution to the success of Plymouth 
colony in its internal administration, in 
its dealings with the Indians and in its 
contact with the Massachusetts colony, 
was very great. His strength and wis- 
dom were largely laid into the foundations 
of the colony. He wore long and well 
in the New World, and his reputation is 
unblemished. His death was lamented 
far and wide. 



1657. July. Increase of Quakers. 
Two Quakers arrived in Salem and 
began their efforts to extend their faith 
by very questionable methods. Others 
appeared elsewhere and began to make 
converts. Some were arrested, impris- 
oned, and whipped. Some in New Am- 
sterdam " testified " in defiance of all law 
and order, were arrested, and sent on to 
Rhode Island. To the authorities of all 
the colonies it seemed as if the coming 
of this new sect brought only religious 
ruin. The fear of them was very great 
among all classes and faiths. 

1658. The French colony upon Lake 
Onondaga in the Iroquois country, find- 
ing that their destruction was intended, 
escaped from the region and made their 
way to Quebec. 



186 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



1658, Oct. 20. Death was threat- 
ened in Massachusetts against the Quak- 
ers, who, havinj^ been once expelled from 
the country, should return. The mere 
announcement of this penalty was ex- 
pected to be effectual in keeping away 
these zealous sectarians. 

1658. A massive Concordance of the 
leba. Oliver Bible was issued by Rev. 

Cromiveii died. Samucl Newman, of Reho- 

His son Richard ,,•.<• t , • , i 

became Prolec- both, MaSS. It WaS pnutcd 

tor. in England, and for a long 

time was the most comi^lete thing of the 
kind in existence. 

1658. The Lake Superior region was 
visited by two traders who spent the 
winter and returned to Canada the next 
summer. These men were among the 
very first white visitors of that country. 

1659. Francis Xavier de Laval 
Montmorency was appointed grand 
vicar apostolic of Canada, and sailed for 
his new home at the age of thirty-six. 

1659. Oct. 27. Two Quakers named 
William Robinson and Marmaduke 
Stephenson, were hung in Boston. The 
terrible tragedy was increasing in vio- 
lence. 

1659. Campeachy was taken b}' the 
English. 

1659. The first Indian church in 
America was gathered on Martha's 
Vineyard by Mr. Mayhew. 

1660. Navigation Acts. At the 
restoration of Charles II. Sir William 
Berkeley was re-elected governor of Vir- 
ginia, and Philip Calvert was commis- 
sioned governor of Maryland by Lord 
Baltimore, who had been restored to his 
proprietary rights. Parliament this year 
added to the force of the Navigation 
Acts against the colonies, and all foreign 
ships were excluded from Anglo Ameri- 
can harbors in the New World. It was 



Charles II. King- 
of Eufflaiid. 
Resloralion of 
the Stuarls, 



provided that a list of certain " enumer- 
ated articles " should not be shipped from 
the colonies, excejjt to English ports. 

1660. The Regicides. Edward 
Whalley, William Goffe, and John Dix- 
well, three of the judges who condemned 
Charles I., fled to New England, where 
they escaped vengeance by being con- 
cealed. 

1660. March. Mary Dyer, Quaker, 
was hung in Boston. 

1660. Praying Indians. The second 
Indian church in America was founded 
at Natick, Mass., by John Eliot. Mr. 
Eliot's success now increased very 
greatly, and in a few years, jeeoiGss. 
with the assistance of other 
laborers, he had secured 
eleven hundred praying In- 
dians. Several churches were organized. 
The results of his labor were diminished 
very much in King Phillip's War in 
1676. 

:4D±V D^ULACS HEROISM. 

1660^ May. One of the most note- 
worthy exploits and heroic self-sacrifices 
in early American history, occurred in 
the daring adventure of Adam Daulac 
and his sixteen companions, who threw 
their lives into the scale to save Montreal 
from an overwhelming attack by Iro- 
quois warriors. It was known that a 
large number of Iroquois Indians and 
their allies had passed the winter on the 
upper Ottawa, and it was suspected that 
in the opening spring an attack upon 
Quebec and Montreal would be carried 
out. Daulac conceived the bold idea of 
anticipating their design, and striking 
them a terrible blow upon their way 
down the river. From the governor he 
begged permission, which was finally 
granted him. Arrangements were soon 
completed, and sixteen young men as. 



1631-lGGl.] 

brave as himself gave in their adherence 
to the undertal':ing-. After the most sol- 
emn farewell ceremonies w^ere performed, 
the " forlorn hope " departed up the river 
in their canoes, w^ith plenty^jjf ammuni- 
tion and supplies. The th^Rftened de- 
struction of Canada was pendiHg, and they 
were to strike the first blow for safety. 
After surmounting several obstacles along 
the way, they at last came to Long Saut, 
a difficult place to pass, on the Ottawa. 
Here was an old Indian battle ground 
with a somewhat dilapidated palisade 
built of small logs. The forest sloped 
gently upward from either bank of the 
stream. Daulac and his companions 
pitched their tents, and the next day were 
joined by a party of forty Christian Hu- 
rons and four Algonquins from Montreal, 
eager for a fray. Within a day or two 
a couple of canoes containing five Iro- 
quois ap2Deared up the river. A volley 
greeted them and killed three or four, 
while one escaped to warn the two hun- 
dred warriors who were making their 
way down the river. The Frenchmen 
had scarcely time in which to secure 
themselves within the palisade, before the 
foe were about them. The Iroquois were 
quickly I'epulsed by the leaden storm that 
poured forth from the twenty loopholes 
with such disastrous efifect. A second 
and a third attack brought like results to 
the irritated and confused savages who, 
being so effectually checked, disjDatched 
a canoe for five hundred allies, whom 
they were to meet at Richelieu. The 
aid arrived after five days, which time 
the French spent in strengthening the 
palisade. Deafening yells arose when 
the reinforcements appeared upon the 
field. Among the latter were several 
Hurons who implored their kindred war- 
riors within the palisade to desert the 



GERMS OF SELF-GOVERNMENT. 



187 



French and come as friends among the 
Iroquois. All but their gallant chief, 
Annahotaha, and the four Algonquins, 
deserted. The whole party had gone 
without water or sleep for five days. A 
final attack was made and as quickly 
repulsed by the thirsty, worn-out French- 
men. All was now confusion and disa- 
greement outside. To give wp the 
attempt would be a keen disgrace to In- 
dian sensibility, much more to such an 
army in the circumstances. After much 
hesitation a number of volunteers made 
an attack. An attempt was made to 
throw over the palisade into the Indian 
ranks a musketoon which had been filled 
with powder, in order that it might do 
the work of a grenade. It caught on a 
timber, and falling back within, burst, 
killing and wounding almost all of 
the heroic defenders. At this moment 
the Iroquois effected an entrance, and 
Daulac was killed. The Frenchmen 
fought so long as they had strength to 
lift an arm, until they w^ere all shot 
down in their places. Four of them 
were found to be still breathing, and 
three of them were burned at once. The 
fourth was reserved for further torture. 
The Huron deserters, only five of whom 
remained alive, were treated likewise. 
The Iroquois, amazed and disheartened 
by such a reception from a few men 
behind a feeble defense, decided at last to 
go home without making further attacks 
on the cities below. Daulac had had a 
somewhat extended military experience 
in France, whence he came to Canada 
in the French army. A trifling affair 
caused a slight blemish on his character, 
and created a resolve in him to obliterate 
it from the memory of others. The heroic 
deed now chronicled, places his name high 
among the early protectors of Canada. 



188 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



1660. The last eruption of Pichin- 
cha, tlie Boilii\G^ Mountain, took place. 

1660. A Lake Superior mission was 
attempted iijDon the south shore of that 
lake by an old Jesuit named Menard, 
who soon jDcrished in some way lui- 
known. 

1660. The Brandy Quarrel. Vicar Gen. 
La\'al of Canada issued an excommuni- 
cation against those engaged in the liquor 
trartic, because of the effect intoxicating 
drinks had upon the Indians. One man 
was afterward shot and one whipped for 
selling brandy to the Indians. The citi- 
zens, many of \vhoni had their trade at 
stake, were arrayed against the prelates, 
and busy opposition was made to the 
ecclesiastical measures. Prohibition could 
not be carried through. The agitation 
continued for the next few years with 
considerable vit)lence at times. 

1661. Indian New Testament. John 
Eliot published his translation of the 
New Testament into the Indian language. 
The word Savior on the title page is 
written Nuppoquohwussuaeneumun. Pie 
also issued the " Christian Common- 
wealth," which was condemned by the 
Massachusetts general court as " too full 
of the seditious doctrines of democratic 
liberty." The author soon suppressed it. 
A bookbinder named John Ratcliffe 
came from England for the purpose of 
binding the Ijidian Bible, He could turn 
out one copy a day. 

1661. The Regicides. An order 
from Charles II. commanded the arrest 
of the fugitive regicides in New England. 
They were sought for with great perse- 
verance and fled from place to place in 
advance of their pursuers. At one time 
they lived in a cave and were finally lost 
from view at Hadley, Mass. They were 
never arrested by the royal officers, and 



lived in obsciu-ity for the remainder of 
their days. 

1661. Intolerance in Virginia. The 
Church of England was reestablished 
in Virginia, and non-conformity was sub- 
ject to penalty. Quakers were closely 
followed up, and many of them went 
into North Carolina. Separatist meet- 
ings were not allowed. 

L^ST QUAKER EXECUTIOX. 
1661. William Lcddra, Quaker, was 
hung on Boston common. This was the 
last execution of the kind. Quakers 
were afterward whipped from town to 
town for several ^-ears, initil royal com- 
mands were issued forbidding it. Much 
of the hostility to the Quakers must be 
accounted for by the spirit of the age, and 
by the eccentricities of the sect. It is no 
wonder, when their remonstrances were 
made during divine sei'vices, causing great 
interruptions, and when young Quaker 
women marched naked through the 
streets of Salem as a sign against the sin 
of the place, and when they persisted in 
returning to do the same things having 
been once sent away, that strict Puritan 
feelings were outraged, and easily went 
to unjustified cruelties. 



1661. William and Mary College. 

Funds were aj^propriated in Virginia for 
the college which afterward became the 
College of William and Mary. By the 
same act schools were to be established. 
1661. Taxation in Massachusetts. 
The general court of ^lassachusetts de- 
clared that no taxes should be laid on the 
colony, except with its own consent. 

M:lSS:iSOIT. 
1661. This powerful sachem of the 
Wampanoag Indians died at about 
eighty years of age. At the landing of 



1631-1661.] 

the Pilgrims he held sway over all the 
country between Narragansett and Mas- 
sachusetts Bays. He made his home 
chiefly at a place called Pokanoket by 
the Indians, and Mt. Hope by the whites, 
near the present site of Bristol, R. I. 
The above large territory was occupied 
by numerous tribes, all of whom ac- 
knowledged allegiance to him. That 
he was able to liold together so many 
tribes under his one rule, shows that he 
possessed more than ordinary governing 
powers. He was of a mild nature, pos- 
sessing much kindness of heart, and 
desiring the welfare of his people. In 
his intercourse with the English he was 
always peaceable. We know nothing 
certainly of his history previous to the 
landing of the Pilgrims. In 1633 Mas- 
sasoit became sick, and hoping to receive 
some benefit from the English, sent for 
one of them to come and see him. They 
sent Mr. Edward Winslow, and through 
his ministration the chief recovered. Out 
of gratitude for this kindness, he revealed 



GERMS OF SELF-GOVERNMENT. 



189 



a plot on the part of some of his subor- 
dinate tribes for the extermination of the 
whites. 

In 1632 Massasoit commenced a war 
against the Narragansetts, which, owing 
to the assistance given him by the Eng- 
lish, lasted but a short time. During 
this war, according to an Indian custom, 
he changed his name, and was ever after 
known as Ousamiquin. In 1635 he gave 
to Roger Williams a tract of land con- 
sisting of the island of Rhode Island, 
which had been for some time in dispute 
between himself and the Narragansetts. 
He afterward sold to Miles Standish and 
some others a tract of land seven miles 
square, on which Bridgew^ater now 
stands, for seven coats, nine hatchets, 
eight hoes, twenty knives, four moose 
skins, and ten and a half yards of cotton 
cloth. Massasoit died very much re- 
spected by the whites for his excellent 
qualities. He left two sons, who were 
called Alexander and Philip, by the 
Ensflish. 



[Note.— For twenty years later than this, the sufferinafs of Quaker in England were terrible. Thousands were im- 
prisoned in the foulest cells, scores died in jail, their churches and dwelling houses were torn down, women and children 
drago-ed through the streets by the hair, their property destroyed to the amount of £1,000,000, their fines made enormous, 
and their persons insulted everywhere. In Massachusetts four were executed, others whipped and imprisoned, but with- 
out the indignities used in England. The persecution in America nearly ceased years before it had spent its force in 
England.] 




^3 tf '1- 



SECTION X. 



'V CTIVITY in exploring the Mis- 
IjL sissippi Valley and the country 
y y around the Great Lakes, is one of 
Aj^ the marked features of the present 
section. Marquette and LaSalle threw 
open a region which had been full of un- 
certainty. In the meantime the strength 
which was finally to dominate those vast 
ai"eas was slowly maturing along the At- 
lantic sea-hoard. The friction between 
royal power and colonial independence 
became more and more pronounced, and 
the slender shoots of self-government 
were toughening in the exposure to which 
they were subjected. The overthrow of 
Dutch power in New Netherland took 
place, by which event the English crown 
gained a rich territory, and a site for a 
great metropolis. Pennsylvania was 
born through the efforts and wisdom of 
its great founder. The outlines of colo- 
nial life were becoming more clearly de- 
fined. Intelligence was doing its work 
in elevating all political and business en- 
terprises. Dark features appear in the per- 
secution of the Quakers and in the witch- 
craft delusion, but a comprehensive study 
of the world at that time will show that 
in spite of these abnormal actions the life 
of the colonies was of a higher order 



than life elsewhere in the world. Stagna- 
tion marked the whole southern sections 
of the continent, which were to await the 
day when the spirit of the English col- 
onies had asserted itself, before they woke 
from their slumber. 



1662. January. A severe earth- 
quake shock was felt in New England. 

1662o April 23. First Connecticut 
Charter. A royal charter was granted 
for the first time to the Connecticut col- 
ony. Its limits embraced the New Haven 
colony, which was at first hostile to the 
union, but afterward waived its objections. 
The charter was in many respects a lib- 
eral one, and was secured by John Win- 
throp, Jr. 

1662. Three persons were executed 
for witchcraft in Connecticut. 

1662. The king demanded that mem- 
bers of the Church of England should 
have the right to vote in Massachusetts. 
The difference between this 1623-1662. 
colony and the royal gov- Pascal. 

ernment was slowly creeping on to a 
condition which would make reconcilia- 
tion impossible. 

1662. Children were made free or 
slave in Virginia, according to the con- 



1662-1692.] 



THE WIDENING FIELD. 



191 



dition of the mother, by an act passed this 
year. 

1662. A premium of ten pounds of 
tobacco for every dozen pairs of woolen 
or worsted stockings made in Virginia 
was oflfered by the assembly of that 
province, and an equal premium was 
offered for every woolen or fur hat made 
in the province. Six pounds of linen 
thread must also be annually raised and 
manufactured by each taxable person in 
Virginia. Each pound of silk raised was 
to receive a premium of fifty pounds of 
tobacco, and the best specimens of linen 
-and woolen cloth were also to receive 
premiums. Tan-houses were also erected. 

1662. A Doubtful Support. The 
following record is found for the New 
England seaport towns of this year. 
*' The court proposeth it as a thing they 
judge would be very commendable and 
beneficial to the towns where God's pro\- 
idence shall cast any whales, if they 
should agree to sett apart some p'te of 
every such fish or oyle for the incourage- 
ment of an able and godly minister 
amongst them." 

1662. The English first began to cut 
logwood on the coast of Yucatan. Set- 
tlements were made in Yucatan by New 
England people, for cutting and exporting 
this tree. 

:iLEX?iKDER. 

1662. Alexander, the eldest son of 
the Wampanoag sachem Massasoit, and 
brother of the celebrated warrior, King 
Philip, died one year after his father's 
death. The two brothers were desirous 
of having English names, and the set- 
tlers to flatter them bestowed upon them 
the names of the two Macedonian kings, 
Alexander and Philip. The former name 
of Alexander was Wamsutta. He mar- 
ried an energetic, strong-minded female 



sachem, Namumpum by name, who 
owned extensive lands in her own right. 
In 1663 she made complaint to the court 
at Plymouth that her husband had sold 
her lands without her consent. It is not 
known whether this was before or after 
his death. Upon the death of Massasoit 
the chieftainship of the tribe fell to 
Alexander. 

In 1663 it was rumored that he was 
plotting against the English, and trying 
to draw the Narragansetts into war with 
them. He was accordingly summoned 
to appear at Plymouth, and explain the 
matter. This he readily promised to do, 
but as he delayed for a time, Major Win- 
slow was sent to bring him by force. 
This so wounded the feelings of the hisfh- 
spirited young chief that he was thrown 
into a fever. Although he was well 
cared for by the English, he died in a 
few days after being taken back to his 
people. 



1663. Feb. 5. An earthquake oc- 
curred in Canada, with frequently recur- 
ring shocks for six months. 

1663. March 24. Carolina. The 
region south of Virginia was granted by 
patent to Lord Clarendon and seven as- 
sociates. The government provided for 
full liberty of conscience, and for a pop- 
ular election of governor and assembly. 
A little settlement had been made by dis- 
senters from Virginia upon the Chowan 
River near Albemarle Sound, and was 
called the Albemarle County colony. 
A few people from New England had 
also undertaken to settle near Cape Fear, 
but the attempt was afterward given up. 

1663. March 26. A seminary of 
learning was founded at Quebec by 
Laval, to which Laval University has 
since been added. 



192 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



1663. The persecution of Quakers in 

New Netherland ceased. 

1663. A law defining slavery was for 
the first time passed in Maryland. It 
provided that the condition of the child 
should follow^ that of the father, because 
English women married negro slaves. 

1633. A property qualification for 
voters was established in Connecticut. 
Each voter must have an estate worth 
X30, about sixty-six dollars, besides cer- 
tain personal proj^erty. 

1683. Navigation Acts. Parliament 
decreed that no articles grown or manu- 
factured in Europe could be shipped to 
the English colonies except from England, 
and in English shipping. Exceptions 
were made of salt, wines, and provisions 
from Scotland. The government de- 
clared that it aimed by these navigation 
acts at a "firmer dependence of the col- 
onies on the home country, the increase 
of English shipping, and a sale for Eng- 
lish manufacturers." Such things as this 
were rapid steps in the alienation of the 
colonies. 

1663. Eliot's Indian Bible. John 
Eliot published his translation of the Old 
Testament into the Indian language. 
This, with the New Testament published 
in i66i, makes up Eliot's Indian Bible, 
which has been sold in recent years for 
one thousand dollars. Col. J. Hammond 
Trumbull, of Connecticut, is said to be the 
only man living who can read it. This 
Bible was printed on the Cambridge 
printing press, and was entirely set up by 
an Indian compositor. 

1664. May 24. Company of the 
West. Louis XIV. of France, created 
the " Company of the West," which was 
to have a monopoly of trade for forty 
years in South America, between the 
Amazon and Orinoco, and in all New 



France. The managers of it were under 
obligation to settle and Christianize the 
regions under their control. This affected 
Canada adversely until certain changes 
for the better were made in the agree- 
ment. 

1664. May 28. First Baptist Church, 
in Boston. \ Baptist church was se- 
cretly organized in Boston bv Thomas 
Gouldaud and eight associates. When 
known to the authorities, the leaders were 
fined and banished, but still the church 
lived and grow. 

1664. May 29. Clarendon County 
Colony. Sir John Yeamans landed with 
a colony at Cape Fear River, Carolina. 
This was the first really successful settle- 
ment, although colonists had gone from 
other provinces into the region before. 
The colonists of Sir John Yeamans 
brought negro slaves with them. A 
government was established, and Wil- 
liam Drummond elected governor. This 
was called the Clarendon County colony, 
to distinguish it from the Albemarle 
County colony upon the Chowan River. 

1664. The whole of New Nether- 
land, together with territoiy east of the 
Kennebec River in Maine, was granted 
by Charles II. of England, to his brother 
James, Duke of York. This grant 
was based upon the English claim to the 
soil fovnided on the original exploration 
of the Cabots. 

1664. June. New Jersey. The 
Duke of York granted the region from 
the Hudson to the Delaware to Lord 
Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. It 
was named New Jersey in honor of Lord 
Berkeley's former governorship in the 
Isle of Jersey. 

1664. Sept. 8. Surrender of New 
Amsterdam. An expedition fitted out 
by the Duke of York appeared before 



1662-1692.] 

New Amsterdam and received its surren- 
der to English authority. The name 
was now changed to New York, and 
Fort Orange became Albany. Col. 
Richard Nichollswas appointed governor. 
Gov. Stuyvesant in his headstrong way 
wished to resist the English, but the. peo- 
ple did not agree with him. Therefore 
the transfer was made peaceably, and 
Dutch power in North America fell with- 
out a blow. 

1664. The royal commissioners ar- 
rived in Massachusetts to assert the power 
of the crown over that somewhat refrac- 
tory province. 

1664. Taxation. The assembly of 
Rhode Island declared that " no aid, tax, 
tallage or custom, loan, benevolence, 
gift, excise, duty, or imposition whatever, 
shall be laid, assessed, imposed, levied or 
required of or on any of His Majesty's 
subjects within this colony, or upon their 
estates upon any manner of pretense or 
color, but by the assent of the general as- 
sembly of this province." 

1664. French Guiana was retaken 
from the English by a French force. 

JOH.Y E.YDICOTT. 

1665. March 15. John Endicott, first 
governor of Massachusetts, died at Bos- 
ton at the age of seventy-six years. He 
was born in Dorchester, England, in 
1589, and came to the Ne\v World in 
charge of the company which settled at 
Salem in 1628. When the charter was 
brought across the water, he was chosen 
governor. He ^ras reelected to that 
office at different times subsequently, and 
served with great fidelity and exactness. 
He was a thorough Puritan in all his 
sympathies, being naturally intolerant of 
opposition, and energetic in his procedures 
against it. He cut out the red cross from 



THE WIDENING FIELD. 



193 



the military standard at Salem with a 
dash of his sword, because it reminded 
him so strongly of popery, which he 
hated with a zealous hatred. In man- 
ners and morals he could bear nothing 
which bordered upon the general laxness 
then prevalent in England and on the 
continent. The strength of his charac- 
ter was very rugged, and yet he was 
possessed of a native nobility which 
made him a great influence in the early 
days of the Bay colony. 



1665. A free school was supported 
by each town in New England. 

1665. May. The political contro- 
versy between the royal commissioners 
and Massachusetts resulted after a long 
time, to the discomfiture of the former, 
who found that they must needs be very 
careful if they would deal successfully 
with the Massachusetts colonial officers. 
They had visited the other New Eng- 
land colonies with some degree of 
success. 

1665. The Indian named Cheeshah- 
teaumuck graduated at 
Harvard College. 

1665. June 12. New 
York City was incorpora- 
ted by Gov. Nicholls under 
a mayor, five aldermen, and 

a sheriff. Thomas Willett was the first 
mayor. 

1665. The wild mountain tribes of 
Chili, after a century of hard fighting, 
forced the Spaniards in that province to 
sign a treaty setting apart certain terri- 
tory for the former. 

1666. January. Gov. Courcelles of 
Canada, with five hundred men, marched 
into the Mohawk country from the 
north, but turned back at Schenectady, 
N. Y,, without attacking the Indian 



1665- 1701. 

CliarJes 11. 
King of Spain. 
1665. Great 
plague in Lon- 
don. Sixty 
thousand per- 
S071S died. 



194 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



towns. Quite a portion of his men 
were lost upon the retreat, by Indians 
and the severe cold. 

LASALLE. 

Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la 
vSalle, was born at Rouen, France, in 
1643, of a family which had considera- 
ble wealth, and was well-known for its 
integrity. Different members of it had 
at times been in the employ of govern- 
ment, and acquitted themselves with 
honor. The young boy had the best 
privileges of study which were to be had 
at that day, and soon proved himself a 
fine scholar. His mind most readily 
grasped whatever involved mathemati- 
cal principles. He early displayed those 
strong qualities of character which ex- 
hibited themselves in his after life when 
he was thrown upon his own resources, 
and was excited by the hints of great 
unexplored regions, and of mighty rivers 
in the western wilderness. The coming 
man was clearly foreshadowed in the 
growing youth. During his early years 
he had some connection with the Jesuits, 
but while it resulted in no complete subjec- 
tion of his will to this great organization, 
neither did it bring to pass any violent 
alienation. LaSalle was too good a 
Catholic, and had himself from the very 
beginning under too thorough control to 
be unduly exercised, even in a scheme of 
life to which his innate qualities of mind 
and will made it impossible that he 
should submit. He was always most 
truly himself, and would never surrender 
himself to be the bare instrument of any 
other human authority. Therefore he 
separated from the Jesuits, and began to 
look about for some path in life. The 
French law at the time made it impossi- 
ble for the one who had been associated 



with Jesuits to inherit property from 
parents. Hence LaSalle was left to his 
own support, save the slight matter of 
three or four hundred livres a year. The 
energetic young minds of the period 
were easily turned toward the New 
World. An elder brother of LaSalle 
was already in Canada, and it was there- 
fore not strange that a journey thither 
should be among the first enterprises 
thought of. His powerful mind reached 
forth over that mass of unknown terri- 
tory lying behind the tiny settlements 
scattered along the Atlantic coast of 
North America. He did not yet know 
that he was to link his name with the 
great Mississippi Valley, and that within 
it he was to meet his death before his 
work was half done, by one of those un- 
accountable circumstances which show 
that the temporal destiny of the great 
and wise is often held at the disposal of 
the reckless, the revengeful and the de- 
structive spirits of the world. Without 
knov\^ledge of aught save that a power- 
ful ambition for activity could there find 
scope, LaSalle set forth for New France. 
1666. LaSalle arrived in Canada and 
received a grant of land above Montreal, 
at LaChine. He began a seignory, and 
soon was aroused In mind by the reports 
of great I'lvers in the interior which he 
felt sure must form a passage to the 

Pacific. 

MARQUETTE. 

1666. Jacques Marquette was sent 
to the missions of Canada. He formed 
an important addition to the number of 
Catholic leaders in the New World. 
He was born at Laon, France, in 1637, 
and became a member of the Jesuit order 
at seventeen years of age. His character 
was from the first singularly sincere and 
devout. The remarkable elevation of spirit 



1662-1692.] 



THE WIDENING FIELD. 



which showed itself in him a few years 
later, just before his death, grew upon 
him from his boyhood. His endowments 
were very great in all respects. Ta- 
dousac, upon the St. Lawrence, below 
Quebec, the spot where the fur-trade 
originated before there was any settle- 
ment in Canada, was the place of his 
first appointment. For it he began his 
preparations by a study of the Mon- 
tagnais language. 

1666. Against the Mohawks. Lieut- 
General Tracy, of Canada, marched 
with thirteen hundred inen by way of 
Lakes Champlain and George into the 
country of the Mohawks, and with more 
perseverance than that displayed by 
Courcelles, he destroyed the Indian 
towns and winter supplies. Peace was 
kept after this severe lesson, for twenty 
years. Gov. Nicholls of New York 
sent to the New England colonies a re- 
quest that they should join him in resist- 
ing the French, but the desired aid was 
refused. 

1666. First Naturalization Act. An 
1666. Greatftre act for the naturalization 

in London. Five- r t ,i r; . <? -j. 

. „ ^ ., oi aliens, the nrst or its 

sixths of cily ' 

bunted. kind in the colonies, was 

passed by the assembly of Maryland. 

1666. Tortola, the most important 
Virgin island in the West Indies, was 
taken possession of by England, and she 
has held the most of that group since. 

1667. Feb. 4. First Ball in Canada. 
A record in the " Jesuit Journal" men- 
tions the first ball ever given in Canada, 
followed by the wish, " God grant that 
nothing more may come of it." The 
priests were at this time greatly troubled 
by the passion for dress among the Cana- 
dian ladies, and by the theatrical enter- 
tainments which began to appear. 



195 

1667. Business in Canada. Intend- 
ant Talon of Canada, built the first 
brewery in New France, in order to keep 
money in the country. He leis-ieei. 
established trade with the J'''-^>"v Taylor. 
West Indies, and encouraged manufac- 
tures. He also arranged a more regular 
emigration to Canada from France. 
Soldiers were induced by large bounties 
to settle in the province. 

1667. Wives for Canada Settlers. 
For some years maidens had been sent 
over to become the wives of the settlers 
in Canada. A large class of young men, 
retired soldiers and others, was growing 
up, and the usual privileges of courtship 
and marriage were as few as in the Eng- 
lish colony of Jamestown at an earlier 
date. This year a better class were sent, 
and during the next few years large 
numbers came. One thousand were 
sent by the year 1673. Sometimes 
thirty settlers were married at a time. 
It was once in a while found that some 
young woman had come and left a law- 
ful husband at home. We do not learn 
that these French girls were ever sold 
as were the English women at James- 
town. 

1667. July 31. The Treaty of Breda 
between England, Holland, France and 
Denmark, confirmed New Netherland 
to the former power in return for Suri- 
nam in Guiana, S. A., which was to be 
given up to Holland. Nova Scotia was 
to be returned to France. 

1667. The Cathedral of Mexico, be- 
gun in 1573, was finished. It cost $2,000,- 
000, and is full of great wealth in 
ornaments and altars. Its length is five 
hundred feet, and its breadth four hun- 
dred and twenty. The site of the cathe- 
dral is the spot on which Montezuma's 
temple stood. 




FRONT OF CAIHI DRAl OF MEXICO 



1662-1692.] 



THE WIDENING FIELD. 



197 



1668. Jacques Marquette was sent 
into the upper lake region to preach to 
the Indians. He visited the outlet of 
Lake Superior whither the Indians came 
in large numbers to fish, and then went 
on to the western end of the lake, where 
he established the inission of St. Esprit. 
He here first learned of the Mississippi 
River from the Illinois Indians who came 
to the lake to fish, and formed the desire 
to explore its course. 

1669. First Survey of Magellan's 
Straits. Sir John Narborough was sent 
out by Charles II. to explore the region 
of Magellan's Straits, and to make plans 
of the coast and anchorages. 

1669. May. The Old South Church 
was organized In Boston by a minority 
of the Boston church. The separation 
originated in the trouble which arose 
from the " Half Way Covenant," by 
which those who were not church mem- 
bers were admitted to the sacraments as 
a iTieans of grace. 

1669. The Grand Model. John 
Locke finished drawing up the " Grand 
Model," or "Fundamental Constitutions" 
for Carolina. It was a very elaborate 
piece of -work, and though adopted by 
the proprietaries, was never made the 
basis of legislation. 

1669. July 6. LaSalle and his 
■companions set out on an exploration. 
They reached Lake Erie, but the course 
of their journey is not known with cer- 
tainty. It is, however, asserted that in- 
vestigations prove that on this and a sub- 
sequent trip La Salle discovered the Ohio 
and the Mississippi, before Mnrquette 
reached the last named river. 

1669. Reeollet priests were allowed 
to return to Canada from which thev 
were driven in 1629 at the English con- 
quest. 



1669. Green Bay Mission. Father 
Claude Alloucz was sent to Green Bay, 
Wisconsin, to found a mission at that 
place among the Indians. He entered 
the region with considerable difficulty, 
and commenced preaching. 

1670. Thankfulness for Ignorance. 
Sir William Berkeley^ Governor of Vir- 
ginia, in a report of the condition of the 
colony to the commissioners in London, 
wrote as follows : " I thank God there 
are no free schools nor printing, and I 
hope we shall not have these hundred 
years, for learning has brought disobedi- 
ences into the world, and printing has 
divulged them and libels against the best 
governments. God keep us from both." 

1670. The Mississippi River Is said 
to have been reached through the wilder- 
ness from the east by Capt. Bolton, but 
the proof is not sufficient. 

1670. The Carteret County Colony. 
William Sayle and Joseph West landed 
a colony at Port Royal, S. C, proceeded 
to what is no\v Charleston Harbor, and 
established their settlement above the 
mouth of the Ashley River, naming it 
Charlestown. 

1670. Allouez was joined at Green 
Bay, Wis., by Dablon, and together they 
visited some of the Indian ,^„„ 

1610. Bayonets 

towns In the vicinity of invented at Bay- 
Lake Winnebago. They '""'^' 
were told much by the Indians about the 
great river at the west. 

1670. Bees were Introduced into 
America at Boston by the English. 

1670. Slavery was defined for the 
first time in Virginia by a law passed 
this year. 

1670. The Hudson Bay Company, an 
English corporation composed of adven- 
turers and merchants, was organized under 
the patronage of Prince Rupert, with ex- 



198 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



elusive rights of trade in all the country i posts." Great energy marked its opera- 
which drains its waters into Hudson's Bay. tions, and great wealth flowed into its 
It was to hold the lands forever. This 1 treasury. The fur trade of French Can- 







CANADIAN TRAPPER. 



very soon became a large company and 
extended itself over its territory in every 
direction by means of little " trading 



ada at this time was carried on by means 
of the Indians and of roving French 
hunters known as coureurs des bois or 



1663-1693.] 

wood-rangers, who gathered up the furs 
as an individual enterprise, and took them 
to the merchants of the colony. 

1670. December. Panama was 
sacked and burned by Henry Morgan, 
the English buccaneer. It was afterward 
rebuilt on its present site, three miles 
from the old one. He had upon this 
same trip captured Porto Bello and the 
booty he seized in both places made him 
a very wealthy man. He was really for 
some years the leader of all the West 
India pirates, and made his name remem- 
bered as a terrible scourge. He was a 
Welshman by birth. The active part of 
his life was spent in the nefarious pursuit 
indicated above. He was knighted by 
Charles II. during his residence in Ja- 
maica, where he lived after the close of 
his expeditions. 

1670. Balize, British Honduras, was 
first settled by the English. Trouble 
with the Spaniards continued a long 
time, because the latter claimed that the 
English had no right in those regions. 
Wood-cutters had been attracted to the 
place for years. , 

1671. A great council of Indians 
was called by the French at Sault Ste. 
Marie at the foot of Lake Superior, and 
j^ossesslon of the lake region was taken 
in the name of the French crown. The 
name Chicago appears for the first time 
in the account of this council. 

1671. Early Abolitionism. George 
Fox, while laboring in Barbadoes, pub- 
licly besought the " Friends " to let their 
slaves go free after a while, and not to let 
them depart unbenefited. 

1672. An anti-rent insurrection oc- 
curred in New Jersey. It arose from the 
demand of the proprietors of the prov- 
ince for a half-penny an acre as a quit- 
rent from the householders who had 



THE WIDENING FIELD. 



199 



bought their lands of the Indians. The 
injustice of this caused great trouble. 
The peojole deposed Philip Carteret and 
elected James Carteret governor in his 
stead. 

THE FIRST M^IL. 

1672. A mall was established between 
Boston and New York through Hart- 
ford. The rovuid trip was to be made 
once a month. Postage was fourpence 
for each letter carried less than sixty 
miles, and twopence for each additional 
one hundred miles. 



1672. The first copyright law in 
America was passed by the general court 
of Massachusetts, granting John Usher 
the privilege of issuing on his own ac- 
count a revised edition of the laws of the 
colony. 

1672. George Fox, the founder of 
the Quaker sect, made a missionary tour 
through the English colonies in North 
America, but did not enter Massachusetts 
or Connecticut. 

1672. The White Mo?jintains were 
mentioned for the first time in print in 
John Josselyn's " New England's Rari- 
ties Discovered," an account of an ex- 
ploration made by the writer, and devoted 
very largely to the flora of the region. 
The same writer afterward issued an ac- 
count of the mythology of the hills. Mr. 
Josselyn spent several years in New 
England, and probably visited the moun- 
tains themselves. 

1672. Runaway slaves could be law- 
fully killed in Virginia, according to a 
decree of the assembly. 

1672. St. Thomas, one of the Virgin 
Islands, was settled by the Danes, who 
soon after also settled St. John. These 
two islands have remained in the posses- 
sion of Denmark till the present time. 



200 



1672. The Bahama Islands 

colonized bv the English. 

1672. All English vessels carrying 
logwood from Yucatan were captured by 
the Spanish. 

1672. Kingston, Canada. Count 
Frontenac, Governor of Canada, and La 
Salle, made an expedition to Lake On- 
tario and built Fort Cataraqui on the 
northern shore. It afterward became 
known as Fort Frontenac, and was granted 
to LaSalle as a seignory. It is now the 
city of Kingston. 



COLONIAL LIFE. 

were 



the New World from the home gov- 
ernment. 

1673. Virginia was unjustly granted 
by Charles II. to the Earl 1622-I673. 
of Arlington and Lord Cul- Mohcye. 

pepper for a term of thirty-one years. 
It caused great trouble among the 
citizens. 

1673. Jacques Marquette and Louis 
Joliet started in search of the Mississippi 
River, passing up Green iin-,.w73. 
Bay and the Fox River, Sahator Rosa. 
and crossinsf over into the Wisconsin 




MARqLETTE DESCENDING THE MISSISSIPPI. 



1673. February. First Internal 
Colonial Taxation. The British minis- 
try passed an act levying duties on sugars, 
tobacco, indigo, cotton, wool, etc., which 
should be carried from one American 
colony to another. This was the very 
first tax laid on the internal trade of the 
colonies. Royal custom-houses were for 
the first time established in the colonies 
to collect these duties. This step was 
proiiounced unconstitutional by some of 
the colonies, and was quite a marked step 
in the process of alienating the settlers of 



River, to which they were guided by 
Indians. 

1673. June 17. They reached the 

Mississippi and floated out into it from 
the Wisconsin. They were greatly re- 
joiced at the sight of that stream of which 
they had heard so much. They com- 
mitted themselves to its strong current, to 
be carried thev knew not whither. 

1673. June 25. Marquette and Joliet 
having j^ursued their way down the Mis- 
sissippi without finding any signs of in- 
habitants for a long time, at last saw foot- 



' 1663-1692.] 

steps on the bank of the river, and fol- 
lowed a path in the neighboring woods 
till they came upon several Indian vil- 
lages. Advancing they made themselves 
known, and were received with great 
honor. The Indians were found to be 
the Illinois. The Frenchmen smoked 
the pipe of peace with the chiefs, and 
were feasted upon Indian meal boiled in 
grease, boiled fish, a dish of cooked dog's 
meat, and another of buffalo meat. The 
leader of the feast fed the visitors with 
his own hands. The Frenchmen re- 
mained in the villages till the next morn- 
ing, and having been conducted back to 
their canoes by several hundred attend- 
ants, set out once more upon their voj^age 
of discovery. 

1673. July 17. They reached the 
mouth of the Arkansas River, and after 
some intercourse with Indian tribes in 
that region, they decided to set out upon 
their return for fear that something might 
occur if they went further, to niake the 
knowledge they had gained unavailable 
to their country. 

1673. July 30. New York was re- 
taken by a Dutch fleet through the weak- 
ness of the garrison. 

1673. September. Marquette and 
Joliet reached Green Bay upon their re- 
turn, the former being in very poor health. 
Joliet went at once to Quebec to report. 

1673. A short-lived insurrection oc- 
curred in Brazil under Beckman, whose 
\vatchword was " Down with the Jesuits 
and all monopoly." 

1674. Feb. 19. The Treaty of 
Westminster was concluded between 
England and Holland by the terms of 
which New York and all associated ter- 
ritory were restored to the English. 

1674. Laval was appointed the first 
bishop of Quebec. 



THE WIDENING FIELD 



201 

1674. Aug. 10. An awful hurricane 

occurred in Barbadoes, and did great 
damage. Scarcely a house or tree was 
left, save as it might have been sheltered 
by the hills. Ruin was visible every- 
where, and many lives were lost. 

1674. Oct. 25. Father Marquette 
set out on a trip down the Mississippi to 
found a mission at Kaskaskia, among 
the Illinois Indians. He was accompa- 
nied by two Frenchmen, and was joined 
on the way by parties of Indians. They 
passed down the shore of Lake Michi- 
gan, and entered the river Chicago. At 
a short distance up this stream the health 
of Marquette became so enfeebled that 
the party was obliged to stop and make 
preparations for spending the winter. 
They remained till the following March, 
living upon game, and visited by wan- 
dering tribes of Indians. 

1674. Oct. 31. Edmund Andros hav- 
ing been appointed governor of the 
lands belonging to the Duke of York, 
arrived in New York and received the 
city from the Dutch. 

1674. An Indian mission was es- 
tablished near Easthampton, Mass., by 
Rev. Samuel Treat, who began his ar- 
duous labors among them with great 
enthusiasm, and accomplished a gigantic 
work. He visited and preached in dif- 
ferent villages. The Indians became 
very much attached to him. The ap- 
proaching King Philip's war was very 
disastrous to the " praying " Indians 
scattered through Massachusetts. It did 
not affect those of Plymouth colony so 
greatly. At the close of this century 
there were about three thousand " pray- 
ing " Indians in New England. Only 
two hundred and five of them were in 
Massachusetts. The rest were in Ply- 
mouth colony, and on the islands of 



202 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



Southern Massachusetts. These praying 
Indians have since wasted away. A 
remnant, of impure blood, still remain. 

1674. The first Sunday School in 
America was started at Roxbury, Mass. 

1675. An Effectual Rebuff. Edmund 
And r OS, governor of New York, visited 
the Connecticut River with the design of 
claiming this territory as being within 
the grant of the Duke of York. But he 
was not allowed to read the patent of the 
Duke to the people at Fort Saybrook. 
He was prevented from doing so by 
Capt. Bull, of that place, who would 
not listen to any assumption of authority 
by Gov. Andros. So the disappointed 
officeholder returned to New York. 

1675. Father Marquette, being 
stronger, set out for his destination, the 
Indian village of Kaskaskia, near the 
Mississippi. Finding before long that 
his strength was again failing, he set out 
upon his return to the northern missions. 
He reached Lake Michigan and began 
his trip up the eastern shore toward 
Michillimackinac. 

DE^TH OF MtIRQUETTE. 
1675. May 19. Father Marquette 
died upon the shore of Lake Michigan, 
at a spot where his followers were 
obliged to stop on account of his extreme 
w^eakness. He sank rapidly away, and 
died calmly at last. His was one of the 
noblest spirits of early Canadian history. 
His talents were remarkable, and his 
character pure and holy. The interest 
in his work is destined to increase. The 
man has never been fully known in 
America. 

1675. The Seneca Indians gave 
trouble in Virginia. The planters were 
aroused, and many were killed on both 
sides, by an irregular warfare. 



1675. June 24. King Philip's war 

broke out in New England by an attack 
upon Swansea, in which some of the in- 
habitants were killed as they returned 
from meeting. The town was afterward 
burned. This was the opening of that 
bloody struggle which filled so many of 
the growing villages with sorrow and 
ashes. It swept from one to another 
with frightful rapidity. The colonists 
s^^eedily took up arms, and there was con- 
stant bloodshed till Philip's death in 1676. 

1676. Bacon's Rebellion. Nathaniel 
Bacon of Virginia, originated a rebellion 
against Berkeley's government, because 
prompt measures were not taken to sup- 
press Indian outrages. The difficulty 
passed through several stages, during one 
of which Jamestown was burned by the 
conspirators, and was never rebuilt. Ba- 
con finally died, and the rebellion sank 
away. Berkeley inflicted many punish- 
ments during this year and the next. 
Twenty-two of Bacon's followers were 

hanged. 

KIXG PHILIP. 

1676. Aug. 12. King Philip was 
slain, and his war brought to a sj^eedy 
close. King Philip was the second son 
of Massasoit, the Wampanoag sachem. 
His former Indian name was Metacomet. 
Upon the death of his elder brother, 
Alexander, in 1662, after a short rule of 
about one year, Philip succeeded to the 
chieftainship of the tribe. From the 
very first the English seem to have sus- 
pected him of plotting against them. 
One of his first acts was to proceed to 
Plymouth with some of his jDrincipal 
chiefs and there sign a treaty, setting 
forth his desire to remain on the same 
terms of friendship with the English, 
which had been maintained by his father 
and brother. For the first nine years of 



1662-1692.] 

his rule nothing of importance is men- 
tioned as having taken j^lace. 

In 1 67 1 signs of a plot against the 
English seemed more apparent. A 
council was held as soon as possible at 
Taunton, in which Philip confessed his 
guilt and signed a treaty, the conditions 
of which he failed to fulfil. At another 
hearing in Boston he made the same 
pledges. But at the same time he was 
making pre^oarations for a general war. 
The neighboring tribes had been secretly 
enlisted for the work. The powerful 
Narragansetts had promised to have four 
thousand wari'iors ready for the war by 
1676. Several Christian Indians had 
hinted to the English that war was med- 
itated. John Sassamon, a converted In- 
dian, formerly a subject of Philip, was 
sent to preach among the Namasket 
Indians. He had not been among them 
long before he became convinced that 
war would be begun at no distant day. 
As soon as possible he communicated 
with the governor at Plymouth, at the 
same time enjoining upon him the strict- 
est secrecy. Philip soon learned in some 
way that Sassamon had revealed the 
plot, and the life of the latter soon paid 
the penalty. The trial and execution of 
three Indians for this murder, hastened 
the outbreak planned by Philip. The 
full tide of horrid Indian warfare was 
soon rolling over Massachusetts. For a 
time terror reigned complete. But after 
awhile reverses began to dampen the 
ardor of Philip's allies. 

The Deerfield Indians, then the Nip- 
mucks and Narragansetts retired from 
the contest. Another series of reverses 
followed. From July nth to Aug. ist 
he lost many of his people by death and 
capture. Upon the last date his wife and 
his son, then nine years old, were taken. 



THE WIDENING FIELD. 



203 



Such was his affection for these that he 
is said to have declared that his heart was 
ready to break, and that he was now 
willing to die. The pursuit was kept 
up until the Indians took refuge in a 
swamp near Pokanoket. This last re- 
treat was surrounded by the whites early 
on the morning of Aug. 12 th, the situation 
having been made known by an Indian 
deserter. A force under Capt. Golding 
was sent into the swamp. Philip, just 
aroused from sleep, started to flee with 
only a portion of his clothing. He was 
soon confronted by an Englishman 
named Caleb Cook, with the Indian who 
had betrayed the place, and was named 
Alderman. Cook took deliberate aim, 
but his gun missed fire. The Indian, 
whose gun was loaded with two balls, 
then fired, and Philip fell, shot through 
the heart. His head was cut off, taken 
to Plymouth, and exposed upon a gibbet 
for twenty years afterward. The body 
was denied burial. Philip, like his father, 
Massasolt, was always opposed to the 
Christian religion. The conduct of the 
English, often as barbarous as that of the 
savages theinselves, was not such as to 
favorably incline the minds of these war- 
riors toward the faith of the white man. 
Philip was a man of many good traits, 
but his impatient spirit rebelled at the 
injustice practiced toward his people; an 
injustice which has been the part of the 
red man from his first contact with the 
whites down to the present time. 



1676. Indian Slaves. Major Wal- 
dron seized by a stratagem a large num- 
ber of Indians, including some of King 
Philip's men who had fled thither, at 
Dover, N. H. He sent three hundred of 
them into slavery. This occasioned 
fresh Indian outbreaks for years. 



204 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



1676. Right of Taxation. Virginia 
declared it to be the " right of Virgin- 
ians as well as of all other Englishmen, 
not to be taxed but by their own consent, 
expressed by their representatives." 

1676. Edward Randolph came to 
Massachusetts as a royal commissioner, 
but he could effect nothing with that 
colony. There was too much wit and 
knowledge in the sturdy colonial magis- 
trates. He soon returned to England. 
The trade of Massachusetts was now 
reaching such an extent as to cause 
serious opposition in England. 

1677. February. A great naval bat- 
tle was fought between a French fleet 
and a Dutch fleet near the island of 
Tobago. The former were attempting 
to get possession of the island, but failed. 
The battle was very severe. Twelve 
vessels were burned, and all the rest dis- 
mantled. The result was almost com- 
jDlcte destruction. 

1677. The Province of Maine was 
bought from the heirs of Gorges, by 
Massachusetts, for £1,350. Mr. Usher 
of Boston made the transaction, and 
passed the right over to the colony sub- 
sequently. The colony thus outwitted 
the king, who was planning to buy the 
right for the government, and get the 
settlements out from the jurisdiction of 
Massachusetts. 

1677. December. Tobago was finally 
taken by the commander of the French 
fleet, who landed, and utterly destroyed 
the property of the Island. He trans- 
ported the inhabitants. The French did 
not repeople the island. The island has 
changed hands several times since, but is 
now English. 

1679. A synod was held in New 
England to deliberate upon the subject 
of public calamities, and to promote 



reformation of manners throughout the 
colonies. 

1679. New Hampshire was made a 
royal province, the authority of Massa- 
chusetts over it having been annulled. 
John Cutts was made governor. This 
was the first royal province in New 
England. 

1679. The English residents In Yu- 
catan were seized by the Spanish and 
sent to Havana as prisoners. Their 
property, to the amount of X'l 00,000, 
was confiscated. 

1679. rirst Collectors. Edward 
Randolph landed in Boston to assume 
the duties of royal collector, to which he 
had been appointed. He was made col- 
lector, surveyor of all New England, and 
was to appoint deputies for the other 
New England colonies. He attempted 
his work, but was constantly opposed and 
could get no redress from the colonial 
courts. The ship-owners treated him 
with constant aversion. He was at one 
time imprisoned. In other colonies the 
collectors did not fare inuch better. 
Conflicts took place for a time, but ceased 
at last, because the collectors ceased to 
carry out their orders exactly. Thus the 
laws fell into disuse very greatly until 
the necessity of raising money at the 
close of the French and Indian war In 
the next century, caused the restrictions 
which precipitated the Revolution. 

1679. The first vessel ever built on 
the upper lakes was constructed on the 
United States shore just above Niagara 
Falls by LaSalle, and was named the 
" Griffin." It was of forty-five tons bur- 
den, and sailed through Lake Erie, the 
Straits of Detroit, Lake St. Clair, up to 
Michilllmacklnac. LaSalle proceeded 
dow^n the shores of Wisconsin In canoes 
and sent back the Griffin to Fort Fron- 



1662-1692.] 

tenac with a load of furs, and directions 
to return as soon as possible with aid. 
With fourteen men, among them several 
priests, LaSalle pushed on in four heavily 
laden canoes. They were soon near the 
Wisconsin shore, but were put in great 
danger of destruction by gales which 
came on with great severity, and lasted 
several days. They sustained themselves 
as best they could, and at last pushed on 
to the southern end of Lake Michigan. 
Here LaSalle decided to wait for the ex- 
pected reinforcements from Michillimack- 
inac. They began building a fort, and 
remained until a man named Tonty 
reached the camp with a small company. 
The Griffin was never heard from. It 
is probable that she sank in a gale while 
on her way to Fort Frontcnac. 

1680. January. LaSalle in Illinois. 
After much difficulty LaSalle and his com- 
panions reached the vicinity of the present 
city of Peoria, Illinois. Here they built 
a fort which was named Fort Crevecoeur, 
and was the first spot at which white 
men attempted to make a permanent 
habitation in Illinois. It was here that 
LaSalle became convinced of the loss of 
the Griffin, upon which he had relied to 
return and bring an outfit for a second 
vessel to be built for the descent of the 
Mississippi. 

1680. Feb. 29. A party set out 
from Fort Crevecoeur to explore the 
river Illinois to its mouth. 

1680. March 2. LaSalle and five 
companions set out from Fort Crevecoeur 
for Fort Frontenac, in order to obtain sup- 
plies necessary for the further voyage 
down the Mississippi. 

1680. May 6. A Great Journey. 
LaSalle arrived after surmounting almost 
incredible difficulties, at Fort Frontenac, 
on Lake Ontario. He had marched 



THE WIDENING FIELD. 



205 



about one thousand miles in sixty-five 
days, and had accomplished " the most 
arduous journey ever made by French- 
men in America." Here he found that 
his property had been seized, and yet he 
gained at Montreal new supplies for 
another trip. But news soon reached 
him that almost the entire garrison he 
had left at Fort Crevecoeur had destroyed 
what they could at that place and had 
deserted, going north to Michillimackinac, 
and committing depredations at several 
places. These were the difficulties over 
which LaSalle constantly and cour- 
ageously triumphed. 

1680. Aug. 10. LaSalle with twenty- 
five men set out from Fort Frontenac to 
attempt once more the exploration of the 
Mississippi. He desired to relieve Tonty 
who remained foithful to his leader 
through all changes, and to whom a 
large place should be given in any full 
account of this great enterprise. Tonty 
was now waiting at Fort Crevecoeur to 
know the further plans of LaSalle. 

1680. December. LaSalle reached 
the ruins of Fort Crevecoeur, but found 
no traces of Tonty and the few men who 
had remained faithful. He descended 
the river, found that the Illinois Indians 
had been terribly slaughtered bw the 
Iroquois, and finally turned back to the 
St. Joseph's River, where the larger part 
of his last force were awaiting his com- 
mands. In the meantime, Tonty and his 
companions, after severe experiences in 
the war between the Illinois and the Iro- 
quois, had turned north, and at last 
reached Green Bay. 

1680. Charleston, S. C. Old 
Charlestown in Carolina was abandoned, 
and the present city of Charleston was 
founded, and soon became the capital of 
the southern j^rovince. 



206 

1680. Indian Slaves. An Indian 
war broke out in Carolina, but was vigor- 
ously suppressed. A bounty was oflfered 
for every Indian, and many were sold to 
the West Indies for slaves. This con- 
tinued till the proprietors learned of it, 
and stopped it. 

1680. Eight of Taxation. The New 
Jersey assembly this year declared that 
duties laid on goods without its consent, 
were "illegal and unconstitutional." Re- 
sistance to the collection of them was 
offered in one case. 

1680. A Sunday school was opened 
in Plymouth colony. 

1680. The Rogerenes, a kind of 
Seventh Day Baptists, were established 
in Connecticut. 

1680. The Savoy Confession was 
adopted by a synod of New England 
churches. 

1681. March 4. William Penn re- 
ceived from Charles II. a grant of 
Pennsylvania in full for a claim of six- 
teen thousand pounds against the Eng- 
lish government, transmitted to him by 
his father, Admiral Sir William Penn, of 
the navy. He addressed a letter to the 
inhabitants of the province, which he 
sent by Capt. William Markham, whom 
he directed to take charge of the province, 
and act as governor. 

1681. Roman Catholics were dis- 
franchised in Maryland, and public offices 
were to be given onlv to Protestants. 

1681. The " Old Ship " in Hingham, 
Mass., was built, and is still used by the 
Unitarian Society of that town as a 
place of worship. It is probably the 
oldest church in New England. 

1681. A printing press was set up 
in Virginia, and a volume of colonial 
laws was being printed, when orders 
came from England to "allow no person 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



to use a press on any occasion whatever." 
This shut off all printing in the province 
till 1729, 

1681. " Plant-cutters " in Virginia. 
The difficulties from over production 
of tobacco became so great that some 
impatient leaders, with a band of men, 
went from plantation to plantation cut- 
ting up the young tobacco plants. But 
this method did the situation no good. 
Lord Culpepper hanged some of the 
men who started this movement, and un- 
dertook to remedy the difficulty by inflat- 
ing the currency. His efforts were 
attended with very poor results. 

1681. LaSalle having spent the win- 
ter at Fort Miami, on Lake Michigan, 
formed an alliance among the remnants 
of Indian tribes which dwelt in the re- 
gion, with a view to the aid which this 
alliance would bring to his plan for the 
exploration of the Mississippi. He then 
set out for Canada in order to get further 
help and supplies. At Michillimackinac 
he found his old friend Tonty, the Italian. 
Having reached Montreal he made his 
plans to start once more, in hope of a 
complete success. Late in the autumn 
he arrived with his followers at Fort 
Miami, at the southern end of Lake 
IMichigan. 

1681. Dec. 21. The first portion of 
LaSalle's company set out into the wil- 
derness by way of the river Chicago, 
and were soon followed by all the rest. 
In spite of snow and ice they pushed 
their way onward past the scenes of 
LaSalle's former experiences. 

1682. East Jersey was sold to pay 
the debts of Sir George Carteret, the 
proprietor, who had died in 1679. 
Twelve persons bought it, one of whom 
was William Penn, who thus became 
associated with the entire province of 



1662-1692.] 

New Jersey. Both East and West Jer- 
sey were now owned by Quakers. 

1682. Feb. 2. LaSalle and his com- 
pany reached the Mississippi and found it 
so full of floating ice that they were 
obliged to wait a week. They soon set 
out upon the bosom of the stream whose 
course had been such a mystery. They 
swept on past the mouth of the great 
Missouri, down through the freshly 
springing verdure of warmer latitudes. 

1682. April 9. Louisiana Named. 
They reached the Gulf of Mexico and 
took formal possession in the name of 
the French crown, conferring the name 
of Louisiana upon the whole region. A 
column was erected, with the arms of 
Fi'ance upon it. A cross was placed be- 
side it, and a leaden plate bearing the 
French arms, was buried in the soil 
beneath. 

1682. May. Philadelphia. The site 
of the great town which was to be the 
capital of Pennsylvania, was determined 
upon, and streets were laid out by survey. 
The name Philadelphia is found in a 
deed dated the loth of 5th mo. 1683. 
The ground upon which it was built was 
bought of the Swedes. 

1682. Ten Scotch families settled at 
Por-t Royal, S. C, under Henry Erskine, 
second Lord Cardross, who came to this 
country to escape the tyranny of Lauder- 
dale, High Commissioner of Scotland. 
Lord Cardross soon returned to Great 
Britain. 

1682. August. Delaware. The Duke 
of York gave the counties of Delaware 
by deed to William Penn, at the latter's 
solicitation, in order that the province of 
Pennsylvania might have better access to 
the Atlantic Ocean. Delaware was thus 
separated from New York. It was un- 
der the authority of Pennsylvania until 



THE WIDENING FIELD. 



207 



the Revolution, although for a long time 
it held a separate assembly. 

1682. August. Peter Stuyvesant, 
the last governor of New Netherland, 
died on his farm near East River, in 
what is now the city of New York. He 
was boi"n in Friesland in 1602, and as his 
parents intended him for the ministry, his 
early education was quite extended. His 
own choice, however, led him later to 
enter the army. He served in the West 
Indies, where he lost a leg, which disabled 
him for future service. In 1647 ^^^ ^'^' 
rived in New Amsterdam as the governor 
appointed by the Dutch government. 
His first measure was to conciliate the 
Indians who had been growing unfriendly. 
He then adjusted the dispute between his 
province and the English, concerning 
boundary lines. When the fleet sent by 
James, Duke of York, to take possession 
of the grant given him by his brother 
Charles II. appeared in the Harbor, the 
stern old governor refused to surrender. 
For twenty years he had ruled with an 
iron hand, believing his authority to be 
absolute, and not until he saw that the 
people would not resist, did he give up the 
city. After this he lived quietly on his 
farm till his death. He and his wife were 
buried in St. Mark's church on Tenth St., 
New York. 

1682. Oct. 27. William Penn ar- 
rived in America and landed at New 
Castle on the Delaware, receiving pos- 
session of that territory from the magis- 
trates. He at once visited Upland which 
he named Chester, also Philadelphia, 
where there were already many settlers. 

1682. The English prisoners who 
had been sent from Campeachy to Ha- 
vana by the Spaniards, went to Jamaica. 

1682. November. A great treaty 
was arransred between William Penn 



208 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



and the Indians of Pennsylvania under 
the old " treaty tree " at Shakaniaxon. 
It is now asserted that no evidence exists 
of the conclusion of such a treaty, but 
some relations of good will were without 
doubt formed about this time. A monu- 
ment stands upon the spot to commemo- 
rate the " Treaty Ground." 



the great accession of territory to the 
French crown. But having heard that 
the Iroquois were about to wage another 
war on the western Indians, 1600-I682. 
he deferred his departure, Claude Lorame. 
and with a company of men went into 
the territory of the Illinois and fortified 
a camp upon the summit of a high rock 




PETER STUYA'ESANT. 



1682. Dec. 4. The first general 

assembly ever held in Pennsylvania was 
called at Chester by William Penn. A 
body of laws was passed for the province. 
Roman Catholics were tolerated. 

1682. Fort St. Louis. LaSalle and 
his companions having worked their way 
up the Mississippi reached Mfchillimack- 
inac whence the former was about sailing 
for France to report in person concerning 



which rises above the river. Here they 
prepared to spend the winter. Around 
their camp the Indians gathered in large 
numbers to gain protection. This place 
was called Fort St. Louis by LaSalle. 
Col. Dongan, Governor of New York, 
was behind the movements of the Iro- 
quois and tried to instigate them to at- 
tacks upon the western Indians in order 
to ofet control of the fur trade in that 



1662-1692.] 



THE WIDENING FIELD. 



region. The poor Indians in many in- 
stances were made the instruments of the 
white man's policy. The jealousy of 
government or trade has been sufficient 
in its power to rouse whole tribes to wars 
of extermination. 

UKCdS. 

1682. Uncas, the first chief of the 
Mohegan Indians, died. He had formerly 
been a minor chief of the Pequod tribe. 
A short time before the Pequod war he 
became dissatisfied with Sassacus, the 
head sachem, and revolted, drawing away 
with him the people in the southern part 
of the Pequod territory known as Moheag. 
He was called by the whites the King of 
the Mohegans. He is said to have been 
a strong, courageous man, but crafty, 
subtle and treacherous. For a long time 
he was in the greatest favor with the 
whites. In the Pequod w^ar he fought 
with his Mohegans on the side of the 
English against his own countrymen and 
relatives. The long enmity which existed 
between Uncas and Miantonomoh, sa- 
chem of the Narragansetts, is well known. 
The death of the latter caused his rela- 
tives and followers to pursue the war 
further, with the hope of avenging their 
leader. Through aid given by the Eng- 
lish the Mohegans escajoed annihilation. 
In August, 1675, when the English were 
just entering upon their war with King 
Philip, Uncas was compelled in order to 
insure his neutrality, to deliver up all the 
arms of the tribe, and to leave two of his 
sons, then about thirty years of age, at 
Boston as hostages for his good behavior. 
He lived to be quite old, as dissolute, 
wicked and vicious in his old age as he 
had been in his younger days. His life 
nowhere presents at any point evidence 
that he possessed a single noble trait of 



209 

character to relieve the gloom of his 
history. His grave is in a beautiful and 
romantic spot in the town of Norwich, 
Conn., close by the falls of the Yantic 
River. 



1683. 



ROGER WILLMMS. 
April. Roger Williams died 



at Providence, R. I., at the age of eighty- 
four years. It is difiicult to give an esti- 
mate of this wonderful and yet singular 
man. He was a type of a class of men 
scattered around the world, and through 
all time, who have some remarkable gifts 
which put them in a sense in advance of 
their times, who are, however, deficient 
in those other qualities as eminent as the 
first when possessed, which would enable 
them to be at peace with their own times 
without the compromise of principle; 
which would in foct enable the possessor 
to serve as a true leader of the times to 
better things. The life of Roger Wil- 
liams was a stormy one, not because of 
his principle, but because of the abuse of 
his principle, which so set him in antago- 
nism to communities in which he lived, 
that there could be no harmony till he 
should go. Doubtless mistaken judg- 
ments wei-e pronounced upon him, and 
evil words were spoken of him, for 
which there is no excuse. He and his 
opponents were alike liable to err. He 
had the faculty of magnifying differences, 
which is so disastrous to any cause we try 
to help. Most of his long life was spent 
in America. He was born in Wales, 
England, in 1599, studied at Cambridge, 
and sailed to America in 1630. He laid 
the foundations of Rhode Island, and is 
justly honored for the things he held ac- 
cording to the truth. It was after his 
removal to Rhode Island that he be- 
came a Baptist. 

14 



210 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



1683. The first Jesuit mission in 

Old or Lower California was founded by 
Father Eusebius Kino, and was speedily 
followed by fifteen other missions which 
were operated until the Jesuits were ex- 
pelled from Spain and its provinces in 

^759- 

1683. The first school in Pennsyl- 
vania was a tuition school taught ■ by 
Enoch Flower, who taught " reading, 
writing, and casting accounts," for eight 
shillings a year. 

1683. July. The first " yearly meet- 
ing" of the Friends was held in Phil- 
adelphia. 

1683. The first representative as- 

sembly was called in New York by the 

governor, and a "Charter of Liberties " 

was adopted. It provided for trial by 

jury and the right of suf- 

1GS3. Penny post ■> -J * _ 

esiabiiskcd in fragc, together with other 

^'""^""- privileges. This charter 

was never really approved bv the Duke 
of York, and was subsequently declared 
void by the throne. 

1683. A notice of Chicago aj^pears 
on a map dated at " Quebec, Canada, 
16S3." The spot is laid down as " Fort 
Checagou." 

1683. LaSalle atter having remained 
at Fort St. Louis most of the year in a 
vain attempt to get supplies from Canada, 
where his property had been seized and his 
enemies increased in power, at last went 
to Quebec and sailed for France, in order 
to establish the usefulness of his ex- 
plorations. 

1683. A buccaneer expedition was 
organized against Vera Cruz by Van 
Horn, of Ostend. A force of twelve 
hundred men sailed in six vessels and 
seized the city by surprise in the night. 
The city was ravaged for booty, and an 
offer of $2,000,000, which the inhabitants 



agreed to pay as a ransom, was accepted. 
A Spanish fleet having appeared, the 
buccaneers sailed away with $1,000,000, 
which had been paid, and fifteen hundred 
prisoners. 

1684. Piracy in Spanish waters was 
encouraged by the governors of Carolina. 
There was at this time a rapid change in 
the governors of the province. 

1684. The grant of Virginia made 
to the Earl of Arlington and Lord Cul- 
jDcpper, was revoked by the king. Vir- 
ginia became once more a leoc-iosi. 
royal j^rovlnce. Culpepper's ComcUie. 

government had been an entire failure. 
Lord Howard succeeded hnn as royal 
governor and increased all the old diffi- 
culties by his selfishness and greed. Pop- 
ular liberty was undergoing discipline for 
a time to come. 

1684. The Charter of Massachusetts 
was revoked by the king. The great 
blow had at last fallen, and the colony 
was to suffer a period of greater disci- 
pline than had yet come upon it. But 
relief would come at last. 

1684. A woman charged with witch- 
craft in Pennsylvania was acquitted. 

1684. June 12. "William Penn sailed 
for England, to care for the interests of 
his province. 

1684. Expedition to Gulf of Mexico. 
LaSalle having arrived in France peti- 
tioned the crown for the further support 
of his enterprises, and obtained the royal 
favor. A messenger was sent to Canada 
with orders for the restoration of all La 
Salle's property. Four vessels were as- 
signed for the expedition to the Gulf of 
Mexico for the purpose of founding a 
colony at the mouth of the Mississippi. 
LaSalle strongly urged this as a means, 
of securing command of the whole region 
of the Gulf of Mexico, and forming the 



1663-1692.] 

best guard against the enlargement of 
the Enghsh colonies. 

1684. Aug. 1. LaSalle sailed with 
about two hundred and eighty persons 
for the foundation of the proposed colony 
in Louisiana. But the passage was ren- 
dered disagreeable by grave differences 
between himself and the other officers of 
the fleet. At last one vessel was taken 
by the Spaniards, and LaSalle became 
seriously ill. 

1684. Dec. 28. They sighted land 
on the northern shore of the Gulf of 
Mexico, and coasted to the west toward 
the mouth of the Mississippi. 

1684. The buccaneers, under Van 
Horn, made an attack upon some of the 
settlements of Peru. Four thousand 
men joined in the raid, and left destruc- 
tion behind them along the coast. Great 
plunder was taken, and when a ransom 
was exacted, it was forced to be of gold, 
pearls, or jewels. Many people were 
murdered. 

A. Novel Currency. Intend- 
ant Meulcs of Quebec, is- 
sued a currency made of 
common playing-cards cut 
into four pieces, stamped 
with the French royal 
stamp, and signed by the 
officials. It was soon is- 
sued by others, and was de- 
clared convertible into bills of exchange at 
certain times only. It grew in amount 
until it killed trade. In 17 14 it amounted 
to two million livres. 

1685. The Faithful Soldier. Gram- 
mont, a buccaneer, seized Campeachy 
and raided upon the countrv around for 
several weeks. At the first assault the 
town was captured, and the force set for 
its defense totally overcome. An attack 
was made upon the citadel, and in a short 



THE WIDENING FIELD. 



211 



1685. A 

1618-1685. 

Murillo. 
1685. Edict of 
Na?i(es revoked 
by Louis XI V. of 
France. Prot- 
estants persecu- 
ted. 

1685-1689. 
James II. King 
of England. 



time it was abandoned by all save one, 
who affirmed that he would remain at 
his post though all the others fled. He 
did so, and when the buccaneers entered 
the stronghold their commander was so 
struck with this singular fidelity to duty, 
that he forbade the man or his posses- 
sions to be injured, and gave him a re- 
ward besides. Because the governor of 
the province would not ransom the city, 
Grammont blew up the citadel, burned 
the place, and then withdrew with his 
force and plunder to San Domingo. 

1685. February. The expedition of 
LaSalle having passed the mouth of the 
Mississippi without knowing it, at last 
was disembarked at what is now Mata- 
gorda Bay, Texas. Troubles arose con- 
stantly among the members of the com- 
pany, and the vessels were injured by 
being carelessly run aground. Every- 
thing seemed to be adverse to the desires 
of LaSalle. The Indians disturbed 
them, and sickness prostrated many. 

1685. Nov. 1. LaSalle set out from 
the temporary colony in order to explore 
the region to the east, and find the Mis- 
sissippi. He took with him about thirty 
men. 

1686. The English trading posts 
upon Hudson's Bay, except one at Port 
Nelson, were all seized by the French. 

1686. The Scotch settlement at Port 
Royal, S. C, was entirely broken up by 
Spaniards from St. Augustine, in revenge 
for the piracy which had been committed 
upon their commerce in West India 
waters by English ships. The same 
force also penetrated the North Edisto 
River and destroyed several plantations. 
A number of persons were killed during 
the raid. 

1686. Huguenot settlers arrived in 
New Enofland. 



212 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



1686. Feb. 13. Tonty having heard 
that LaSalle had sailed from France for 
the Gulf of Mexico, set out from Fort 
St. Louis, on the Illinois River, and de- 
scended the Mississippi to meet him. He 
went to the mouth of the river and failed 
to find any trace of his beloved leader. 
He w^rote a letter and committed it to an 
Indian chief by whom it was given four- 
teen years later to d'Iberville, w^ho was 
then successfully colonizing Louisiana. 
Tonty then left a few men near the 
mouth of the Arkansas, and returned to 
the Illinois. 

1686. March. LaSalle and a portion 
of his companions returned to the tempo- 
rary settlement at Matagorda Bay, after 
having wandered about with many mis- 
fortunes. LaSalle now determined to 
make his way through the wilderness to 
Canada. 

1686. April 22. The company se- 
lected for the march set out upon their 
undertaking. 

1686. Oct. 17. LaSalle and a rem- 
nant of those who had set out with him, 
came back again to the old place. He 
had been severely ill, and some of his 
men had deserted, so that it was useless 
to proceed. Difficulties thickened about 
this persistent explorer, and almost any 
other man would have given up in despair. 

1686. All the charters of the New 
England colonies were annulled by King 
James, and Sir Edmund Andros was 
appointed governor of the whole territory, 

1686. Dec. 19. Andros reached 
Boston to serve as governor of New 
England. He laid taxes, and excited 
trouble at once. He ordered that no 
marriage be solemnized save by a Church 
of England minister, and that no print- 
ing press be operated. He also declared 
that Episcopacv should he established. 



and that the popular power should be 
humbled. 

1686. Printing in Pennsylvania. The 

first printnig press outside of Massachu- 
setts, was set up at Shakamaxon, Penn,, 
by William Bradford, who had come to 
America through the influence of Wil- 
liam Penn. Mr. Bradford's first issue 
was an " Almanac for the Year of the 
Christian's Account." 

1687. Jan. 7. LaSalle set out once 
more upon an attempt to push through 
the forests of Canada. The entire col- 
ony was now much reduced by deaths, 
and the situation had become extremely 
sad. Their only hope lay in reaching 
friends in the way proposed. Their ves- 
sels were totally destroyed, and no other 
resource was afforded them save a trip 
through the woods to the St. Lawrence. 

DtMTH OF L7iS>LLLE. 

1687. March 19. LaSalle was shot 
by some of those who accompanied him, 
and who wei*e reckless, dangerous sj^irits. 
Thus ended a life of great purpose, at the 
early age of forty-three years. It was a 
life of constant struggle with difficulty. 
The mind of LaSalle was bent upon 
opening the Mississippi to the stream of 
colonization. But he was cut off before 
his great project was realized, and left 
the name of one of the greatest Ameri- 
can explorers. 

1687. October. A number of the 

men who had set out with LaSalle ar- 
rived at the Illinois River. Other mur- 
ders were committed after the death of 
LaSalle. All knowledge of ^^87. Teh-graph 
the great leader's end was i>'rent,d. 
carefully kept by deceit from the Indians 
upon the way, and from the men at Fort 
St. Louis, including Tonty. The wander- 



1663-1692.] 

ers finally went to France, where they 
told their story. 

1687. The Hidden Charter. Sir 
Edmund Andros went from Boston to 
Hartford, Conn., to secure the Connecti- 
cut charter, but was defeated by the ab- 
straction of it from its box, after the de- 
mand had been laid before the assembly. 
The lights were suddenly blown out, the 
charter hurried off and hidden in Char- 
ter Oak, Hartford, where it remained till 
the dejDOsition of Andros occurred. An- 
dros, however, took the government of 
Connecticut into his hands. 

1687. A treasure of ^^300,000 was 
raised from a sunken vessel on the coast 
of Hayti by William Phips of New 
England. He had already made one un- 
successful attempt. The Duke of Albe- 
marle aided him in fitting up his present 
expedition. He received £16,000 as his 
share of this recovered treasure, and a 
gold cup worth £1,000 was presented to 
his wife. He was afterward knighted 
by the king. 

1687. An earthquake destroyed Cal- 
lao, S. A. 

1688. Sir Edmund Andros was ap- 
pointed governor of New York and 
New Jersey, as well as of New England. 
1628-16S8. The whole territory was 

70/1,1 Bimyan. yc\^(\Q the Dominion of New 
England, much to the dissatisfaction of the 
citizens of New York. The boundary 
line between New York and Connecticut 
was now fixed in its present location. 
This ended a great dispute. 

1688. A popular insurrection took 
place in Virginia because 
of the difficulties of the 
government and the finan- 
cial depression, but was soon quelled. 

1688. A popular insurrection in 
North Carolina deposed Seth Sothell 



THE WIDENING FIELD. 



213 



168S. Revolution 
in Ena-land. 
'James II. abdi- 
cated. 



from the governorship of that province, 
because of his greed for gain and power. 

1688. New France had a population 
of about eleven thousand, and the Eng- 
lish American colonies about two hun- 
dred thousand. 

1688. Slavery in Canada. A request 
was made to the French crown that 
negro slaves be allowed to be imported 
into Canada. The request was granted, 
but the system never flourished in that 
dominion. 

1688. Feb. 18. First Remonstrance 
against Slavery. The German Friends 
were the first to publicly remonstrate 
against slavery, which they did this year 
by adopting in their meeting at Ger- 
mantown, Penn., a paper setting forth 
the unlawfulness of " traffic in men- 
body," and claiming that there was 
no more liberty to do it in the case of 
negroes than in the case of white 
people. 

1688. Witchcraft. An Irishwoman 
was executed in Boston for witchcraft 
after a solemn examination, in which the 
accused stated nothing clearly. The 
affiiir made a great impression, and an 
account was issued consisting of a dis- 
course by Cotton Mather who was de- 
ceived by the case. The account was 
afterward issued in England by Richard 
Baxter, who declared that the evidence 
would convince all except a " very obdu- 
rate Sadducee." 

1688. December. Tonty having heard 
of LaSalle's death and of the wretched 
colony in Texas, set out from Fort St. 
Louis to see if he could succor it. He 
traveled southward and pushed his way 
onward through swamps and forests, but 
finally, by the desertion of his men and 
the failure to obtain Indian guides, was 
obliged to turn back. 



214 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



1689. The colony established tempo- 
rarily at Matagorda Bay, Texas, by La 
Salle's expedition, was almost completely 
destroyed bv the Indians. The survivors 
li^■ed a wretched life among the tribes, 
and some of them in course of time got 
free, but only after very severe experiences. 

1689. King William's War began 
between England and France, and ar- 
rayed New France and the English col- 
onies against each other. New agita- 
tions and horrors now began, and Indian 
depredations broke out. 

1689. April 18. Sir Edmund Andros 
was arrested in Boston by the excited cit- 
izens, before the news of William's acces- 
sion to the English throne 

1689-1702. Wil- => 

Ham ami ^fary, reached them. The an- 
Eii^its/i mon- n o u u ce m e n t o f T a m e s' o V c r- 

arclis. ^ 

iG89.m5. Peter throw Came shortly, and 
i/ie Great, Caar causcd great joy. The peo- 
ple of Boston had been 
greatly tried by the authority of Andros. 
He was sent to England as a prisoner in 
the following July, and accusations were 
presented against him, but he was never 
formally tried. 

1689. June. Leisler Revolution in 
New York. Capt. Jacob Leisler, a mili- 
tia captain in New York, seeing the 
weakness of the officials, seized the gov- 
ernment of that city, proclaimed the new 
king, and received the subjection of a 
large number of the troops. The mem- 
bers of the former council soon flcfl, and 
Leisler was in power for one and a half 
years. The poj^ulation of New York 
at this time was not quite three thousand. 

1689. An Indian war began in East- 
ern Maine, and many of the smaller set- 
tlements were abandoned. 

1689. Major Waldron was killed at 
one of the garrison houses in Dover, N. H., 
by the Indians for his deceit in seizing 



some of them as prisoners in 1676. 
They gained access to him by friendly 
pretensions, and then hewed him to pieces 
in a most terrible maiuier. 

1689. Aug. 25. Montreal was taken 
by the Iroquois. 

1689. A public school was estab- 
lished by the Quakers in Philadelphia. 

1689. A colony of Huguenots settled 
at New Rochelle, N. Y. 

1689. A "news placard" was issued 
in Boston for the first time, and was the 
forerunner of the newspaper. 

1689. King's Chapel was established 
in Boston, and the first edifice was erected. 

1689. Buccaneers on the New Eng- 
land Coast. Thomas Hawkins and 
Thomas Found, buccaneers, did consid- 
erable damage along the coast. Massa- 
chusetts Bay sent out Capt. Samuel 
Pease in the sloop Mary to capture their 
vessel. Capt. Pease found the pirates 
near Wood's Holl, and took them after a 
fierce conflict in which he was so severely 
wounded that he afterward died of it. 
Piracy was common along the coast and 
on the Newfoundland banks. 

1690. Feb. 8. Schenectady, N. Y., 
was burned, and the inhabitants massa- 
cred during a violent snow- 
storm by a force of French 
and Indians from Canada. 
The French Jesuits \yere 
no^v instrumental in insti- 
gating the Indians to a series of horrible 
deeds, because of the accession of the 
Protestant William to the English throne. 

1690. March 27. Salmon Falls, N. 
H., was burned by the Indians. 

1690. May. The settlement at 
Casco Bay was destroyed by the Indians. 
The object was to kindle a blaze along 
the entire New York and New. England 
frontier. 



1690. White 
paper first made 
ill England. 
1690. Stereotyp- 
ing invented by 
"John Midler at 
Leydcn. 



1662-1692.] 



THE WIDENING FIELD. 



215 



1690. May. An American congress, 

the first ever summoned, was called by 
Gov, Leislcr, and met at New York to 
consider the question of a united defence 
of the colonies. It was decided to at- 
tempt the conquest of Acadia and Can- 
ada. A force was to go by land to 
threaten Montreal, and a second force by 
sea against Quebec. 



1690. Sir William Phips was sent 
in the meantime with a fleet and a force 
of eight hundred men against Acadia. 
Port Royal and other towns were taken, 
and plundered. 

1690. August. Failure of the Two 
Expeditions. Sir William Phips sailed 
from Boston with thirty-two vessels and 
twenty-two hundred men. He reached 




INDIAN ATTACK. 



1690. Hiacoomes, the first Indian 
convert to Christianity in New England, 
and a faithful minister, died at about 
eighty years of age. He is said to have 
been the best Indian preacher of whom 
we have any account. He began preach- 
ing in Martha's Vineyard, and finally 
became pastor of an Indian church there. 
" He was a faithful and successful min- 
ister, slow of speech, grave in manners, 
of blameless life, and sound in doc- 
trine." 



Quebec, but was obliged to return 
after a series of misfortunes, with 
nothing accomplished. His fleet 
w,as greatly damaged by a storm, 
and a large number of men were 
lost. The land force against Mon- 
treal had no better success. 

1690. A colony of French refugees 
settled in Carolina. 

1690. Francis Nicholson was ap- 
pointed governor of Virginia, and eflfected 
a great change in the condition of the 
province. He was active in improving 
production and trade, and took . measures 
to promote the morals of the community. 
The people were much pleased with his 
administration. 

1690. The first Presbyterian church 



210 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



in America was founded at Snow Hill, 
Maryland, by Francis Mackemie, the 
father of the Presbyterian church in the 
New World. 

FIRST .YEWSP^PER. 
1690. A newspaper, the first in 
America, was issued in Boston, Mass., 
under the editorship of Benjamin Harris. 
It was called " Public Occurrences both 
Foreign and Domestic." The publisher 
promised that the country " should be 
furnished once a month (or if a glut of 
occurrences happen, oftener) with an ac- 
count of such considerable things as have 
occurred under our notice," and " to en- 
lighten the public as to the occurrents of 
Divine Pro^•idence." On account of cer- 
tain political utterances it was suppressed 
after the first issue. 

FIRST P:IPER MILL. 

1690. The first paper mill in the New 
World was set up at Roxborough, near 
Philadelphia, by William Rittenhouse, 
William Bradford the printer, and 
Thomas Tresse. Paper was made for 
writing, printing, and wrapping purposes. 
The mill was afterward carried off by a 
freshet, and others were established at the 
beginning of the next century. 



1690. Whale-fishing was for the first 
time begun on a large scale in America, 
by the Nantucket sailors. 

1690. December. First Paper Money. 
Bills of Credit were issued by Massa- 
chusetts to pay for the expedition against 
Quebec, to the amount of £40,000. 
This was the first paper money issued in 
the English colonies, and probably upon 
the continent. 

1691. March 19. Trouble in New 
York. Col. Henry Sloughter who had 
been appointed governor of New York, 



arrived In that city. Trouble aldose over 
the delivery of the authority to him by 
Leisler, who was arrested and tried. 

1691. May 16. Execution of Leis- 
ler. Leisler, and his son-in-law jMil- 
borne, were executed in New York on a 
charge of rebellion and treason. They 
sympathized with popular power, and 
were not very wise men. It is said that 
Gov. Sloughter signed their death war- 
rants while he was intoxicated. Gov. 
Sloughter died very suddenly in the 
July following. The Leisler and the 
antl-Lelsler factions vexed the political 
life of the province for years. 

1691. Major Schuyler of Albany, 
with an English force and three hundred 
Mohawk Indians, went down Lake 
Champlain and defeated a French force 
of eight hundred men. 

1691. Nov. 26. Port Eoyal, in Aca- 
dia, was retaken by a French ship. 

1691. Maryland was taken from 
Lord Baltimore, and became a royal 
province. The Catholics were disfran- 
chised, and the Church of England was 
made the church of the province. 

1691. The yellow fever visited Bar- 
badoes, W. I., with great severity. 

1691. The volcano Imbabura, In 
vSouth America, poured forth vast quan- 
tities of mud, and thousands of little 
fishes. 

1692. June 7. An earthquake des- 
olated the Island of Jamaica. Port 
Royal, which stood upon a point jutting 
into the sea, was sunk in three minutes. 
Two thousand houses were destroyed. 
The ruin extended over the whole 
island. 

1692. Episcopalians, Baptists, and 
Quakers In Massachusetts, were released 
from the obligation to help support Con- 
ofreofational churches. 



1692. First Opera 
m Londoji. 



1662-1692.] 

1692. William Penn was deprived of 
his rights as governor of Pennsylvania? 
on account of charges of treason made 
against him. 

1692. " Mast Trees." The new char- 
ter of New England provided that 
through the immense pine forests all 
trees which were more than two feet in 
diameter at a foot above the ground, should 
be the property of the king for the royal 
navy. A "surveyor-general of the king's 
woods " was appointed, whose duty it 
was to see that such trees were marked 
by stamping the "broad arrow" upon 
them. The fine for cutting one of these 
marked trees was Xioo. Innumerable 
conflicts arose. Lumber- 
men in the woods and at 
the mills became mad very frequently 
because they found their best trees 
stamped with the arrow, especially since 
they had been gaining a trade in spars 
with the French and Spanish islands. A 
vessel loaded with spars for these islands 
was likely to have the arrow of confis- 
cation placed upon her by the royal 
officer. Wrangles of all sorts occurred. 
Many of the stamped trees rotted in the 
forests, which made the trouble all the 
w^orse. These forest laws excited a 
great deal of thought over the king's 
prerogativCo It was a cruel policy to en- 
force them, because the fishermen and 
lumbermen were dependent on the lum- 
ber trade. 

WITCHCRrlFT DELUSIOK 

1692. September. The flame of this 
fearful excitement in Massachusetts 
burned at its height during this month. 
It had slowly risen from the first kind- 
lings until it threatened to sweep every- 
thing before it. At the present day we 
do not see how it could have attained 



THE WIDENING FIELD. 



217 



such a heat. But at that time nearly the 
whole world believed in witchcraft, sor- 
cery, and kindred things. A few isolated 
cases, attributed to such influences, had 
occurred in the history of the diflferent 
colonies during the previous fifty years. 
But it was reserved for Salem, the home 
of peace, to witness the grim tragedy in 
all its horror. The origin of the delusion 
seems to lie with widely contrasted par- 
ties, two Indian slaves from South 
America, who lived in the family of 
Rev. Mr. Parris, pastor at Salem village, 
and a band of children about ten years of 
age, who met during the winter of 
1691-2 for the purpose of practicing 
tricks and magic of diflferent sorts. It 
was not long before their antics began to 
attract tlie attention of older persons. 
John Indian and his wife Tituba helped 
on the children. What was at first a 
matter of play and curiosity became at 
last a part to carry out before people, and 
a deception to maintain. Older persons 
gradually became involved in the delu- 
sion. At first the fallings and queer mo- 
tions and interruptions in church, prac- 
ticed by the " afflicted children " were 
not laid to any one except the evil spirits. 
But at last in some way it became sug- 
gested that certain persons in the vicin- 
ity were causing the ti'ouble by a mali- 
cious power. Then the evil began to 
have more dread consequences. The 
accusations at first fell upon three per- 
sons. Sarah Good, a destitute, sickly 
woman, Sarah Osburn, " a melancholy, 
distracted old woman," and Tituba, the 
Indian woman, were arrested Feb. 29 
of this year. A crowd attended the 
examination. The " children " went 
through various exercises, alleged to 
have been caused bv looking at the ac- 
cused. Martha Corey and Rebecca 



218 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



Nourse were soon assailed, and commit- 
ted. The recklessness of the accusers 
Avas rapidly fixing its terrible peril to 
some of the best persons in Salem vil- 
lage. The movement of the circum- 
stances was constantly becoming more 
and more intense. The whole region 
was aroused and distracted. Ministers 
preached upon the trouble in awful tones. 
'Worthy Christian lives did not now pre- 
vent accusation and commitment. Dur- 
ing April several were imprisoned. The 
month of May saw the visitation spread- 
ing into other towns, including Andover. 
The life and the business of the country 
around were filled with dread. During 
June executions began upon the gallows 
on Witch Hill, Salem. Rebecca Nourse, 
a saintly woman, was one of five hanged 
July 19. Rev. Geo. Burroughs was one 
of five executed Aug. 19. Several of 
these condemnations were only carried 
through by the constant exhibition of 
afflictions on the part of the accusers. 
Noble spirits suffered thus, but w^ould not 
secure their acquittal by confessing witch- 
craft, which they knew to be false. In 
September others were executed, a-nd old 
Giles Corey was pressed to death. His 
fate deserves more than a jDassing me-n- 
tion. His wife had suffered before him, 
partially through his own testimony. He 
had at the first believed in witchcraft, 
and had thought that his holy wife 
might be possessed of some such power 
as was charged upon her. But now that 
his own misfortune had come, his mind 
was cleared, and he saw the atrocious 
imposition practiced. At last he made 
his determination. He would plead 
neither " guilty " nor " not guilty." If 
he should plead " not guilty," and be 



convicted, as w^ould certainly be the re- 
sult, his property would be confiscated, 
and his children left without any. He 
therefore made his will in prison, giving 
his estate to two sons who liad believed 
in the innocence of their mother in her 
day of trial. When called before the 
court he would not open his mouth. The 
end came. He sufTered the English 
penalty for refusing to plead. The old 
man, eighty-one 3'ears of age, was laid 
upon his back, and weights of stone 
placed upon his chest until he expired. 
He suffered heroically. We hope that 
his terrible death had a part at least in 
causing the revulsion of public sentiment 
which soon followed. The excitement 
declined. An accusation against the 
wife of Rev. Mr. Hale of Beverly, was 
so eminently false that it pierced the 
bubble. Within a short time one hun- 
dred and fifty were let loose from prison. 
Twenty had been executed, and two lost 
their lives in prison. 

The dehision had wrought terrible ill. 
The year had been spoiled for all busi- 
ness, and piercing regrets entered the 
hearts of many. .The region was sad- 
dened. Homes were desolated. The 
effect was awful to contemplate. As 
much as could be done in after years to 
remove the infamy, was done by churches, 
jurors, and leading accusers. Judge 
Sewall was humiliated for life by the 
part he had taken in the affair. His con- 
fession of error was read to the congre- 
gation in the Old South Church, Boston, 
while he stood in his pew with bowed 
head. Witchcraft in any such form as 
that of I693, Avas forever gone in Amer- 
ica. It could not rise again to work ruin 
and misery. 



[Note. At this very time witches were being- executed in England. 30,000 in all were executed there. In Europe, 
executions continued long after they had ceased in America. Between 15S0 and 16S0, 100,000 witches were executed in 
Germany. In 1515, in three months, Joo were burned in Geneva. Fifty years after this, Blackstone argued the 
existence of witchcraft. Coke, Bacon, and other eminent and learned men believed in it. America was free from 
belief in this delusion sooner than any other country.] 



SECTION XI. 



)ARTY warfare began at the first 
of the present period to be more 
distinctly outlined in New England. 
The new charter was the occasion 
of this. Those who advocated the old 
charter which had been annulled, were 
called " Liberty men," and those who 
supported the new charter were called 
<' Prerogative men." Under the new 
charter more scope was given to the 
royal power which was striving to gain 
the supremacy through all the colonies. 
The parties of the Revolution had their 
rise in these days. The enmitv of Eng- 
land to American manufactures became 
more manifest. A development had 
begun, however, which could not be re- 
pressed. In spite of the " Hat Act," 
*' Sugar Act," etc., the colonies gre\v in 
intelligence and skill. Religious move- 
ments helped train the people in a strong 
faith and patience which would be tested 
in coming days. Good elements were 
emigrating from the Old World to try 
the life and freedom of the New World. 
The men were now being born who 
were to lead in the stormy times a little 
later. Benjamin Franklin was already 
showing his remarkable gifts. In the 
comparative quiet of this time many 



forces were maturing for the great strug- 
srle ahead. 



1693. Episcopacy in New York. 

Through the influence of Gov. Fletcher, 
of New York, Church of England min- 
isters were settled in a portion of the 
parishes of that State. The act which 
was passed decreed that in the counties 
of Westchester, Queens, and Richmond, 
a certain number of vestrymen and 
wardens should be annually chosen by 
the people. The ministers were to be 
elected by these vestrymen. Although 
the act did not expressly state that only 
Episcopal ministers should be chosen, yet 
the affair was so managed that such was 
the result. In many towns, therefore, 
some people were obliged to help sup- 
port two ministers, their own and an 
Episcopal one. 

1693. The first printing house in 
the province of New York was set up 
by William Bradford, of Philadelphia. 
He was induced to undertake this bv a 
grant of X40 a year, and had the pri\i- 
lege of printing on his own account. 
His first issue was a proclamation. 

1693. Connecticut Pluck. Gov. 
Fletcher of New York, having been 



220 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



ordered bv the king to take command of 
the Connecticut militia, proceeded to 
Hartford, but was prc\ented from mak- 
ing his commission heard while being 
read, by Capt. William Wadsworth, who 
caused the drums to beat. Gov. Fletcher 
at first ordered silence, but afterward 
gave up the attempt, when Capt. Wads- 
worth had said to him, " If I am inter- 
rupted again, I will make the sun shine 
through you in a moment." 

1693. William and Mary College 
was founded at Williamsburg, Va., ac- 
cording to a charter of the previous year. 
The first building was erected upon a 
plan made by Sir Christopher Wren, the 
great English architect. 

1693. Kingston, Jamaica, was 
founded because of the destruction of 
Port Roval the previous year. 

1694. First Rice Planted. A little 
package of rice from Madagascar was 
given by a sea captain who was forced 
to put into Charleston Harbor, to Gov. 
Smith of Carolina, who planted it, and 
thus originated the culture of that which 
has since been one of the great staple 
productions of the region. 

1694. Maryland Sehools and Libra- 
ries. Annapolis was made the capital 
of Maryland, in ^Xtxzq of St. Marty's. It 
was arranged for each county to have a 
school. " King William's School" was 
opened at Annapolis this year. Each 
parish of the colony was also to have a 
library of fifty volumes. Annapolis 
lilirary had a library of eleven hundred 
volumes. 

1694. William Penn having proved 
the falsity of the charges against himself, 
was reinstated in the proprietary govern- 
ment of his province. 

1694. A revolt of negroes occurred 
in Pernambuco, and was traced in its 



origin to the influence of the " Palmarese 
Nation." 

1695. February. A colony of per- 
sons from Dorchester, Mass., composing 
a church with Joseph Lord for pastor, 
emigrated to South Carolina and founded 
a town on the Ashley River, twenty miles 
above Charleston. The influence of this 
colony grew to be very great, and has been 
felt in the history of the whole region. 

1695. Feb. 18. Death of Gov. Phips. 
Gov. Phips of Alassachusetts, who had 
gone to England to answer certain charges 
made against him, died in London at the 
age of forty-five years. He was born at 
Woolwich on the Kennebec River, 
Maine, in 1650. He tended sheep till he 
\vas eighteen years of age, and subse- 
quently displayed great energy in several 
directions. He became commander of a 
vessel which he had built, and undertook 
to search for sunken treasure in West 
India waters. His success in this en- 
riched him, and brought him a reputation 
as a successful man, besides gaining for 
him the honors of knighthood. His ex- 
pedition against Quebec was a failure, but 
his government of Massachusetts was in 
the main wise and beneficent. 

1695. John Archdale, a Quaker, was 
appointed governor of Carolina, and me- 
diated successfully between the different 
political and religious elements in the 
colony. 

1696. A " Board of Trade " was es- 
tablished in England, to have general 
oversight of colonial affairs. This board 
of seven \vas a constant source of annoy- 
ance to the colonists, and helj^ed produce 
the Revolution. They were appointed 
to enforce the Laws of Trade and the 
Navigation Acts. 

1696. Pemaquid was taken by a 
French force under Col. Iberville, who 



1693-1743.] 

thus extended French power into the 
very center of Maine, and opened New- 
England to Indian raids. He also took 
English posts upon Newfoundland. 

1696. John Archdale, Governor of 
Carolina, resigned his government amid 
the blessings of the people. He was 



THE MATURING FORCES. 



221 



moral well-being of such as were owned 
as slaves. This action was due to the 
discussion of the matter in several 
" Quarterly Meetings." 

1696. Piracy. Owing to the trouble 
between England and France, many 
jDrivateers were cruising the ocean, and 




MRS. DLSTIN AND 

succeeded by Joseph Blake, who con- 
tinued the work of firmly establishing 
the colony. 

1696. A fort was established at Pen- 
sacola, Florida, by the Spaniards. 

1696. Slavery Among Quakers. The 
Society of Friends at its Yearly Meeting 
passed a resolve to discourage the buying 
of more negroes, and to provide for the 



THE INDIANS. 

capturing merchant vessels. Measures 
were taken in England to provide for the 
suppression of these, and Capt. William 
Kidd was put in command of the Ad- 
venture, which had been fitted up by the 
Earl of Bellomont and others. He 
sailed from New York with a commis- 
sion forbidding him to leave the Atlantic 
waters. Failing to find the objects of his 



222 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



search, however, he sailed to Madagas- 
car, which was at the time a noted resort 
of pirates. 

1696. The Palmarese Nation of free 
bhicks in Brazil was exterminated by 
the Portuguese, as it was thought that 
they had instigated trouble among the 
colonists at large. Lancaster, with six 
thousand men, overthrew the first negro 
kingdom planted in America. 

MRS. DUSTIjV'S escape. 

1697. March. Haverhill, Mass., was 
attacked and partially destroyed by the 
Indians. Mrs. Hannah Dustin, her 
nurse, named Mary NefF, and a boy 
named Samuel Leonardson, were carried 
away captive. During a night on the 
march through New Hampshire, the 
three persons rose silently while their In- 
dian captors had sunk away to sleep, 
and by the light of the fire in the center, 
tomahawked ten of the red men. The boy 
had found out the day before from one of 
the Indians how to strike a man so as to 
cause instant death. The cjuestion was 
answered because it was thought to have 
been asked from mere idle curiosity. 
Only a squaw and a child were left alive, 
and they fled for their lives. The cap- 
tives then made the best of their way 
])ack to the settlements, taking the scalps 
along with them to prove the truth of 
their story, wdiich would hardly be cred- 
ited without some tangible evidence. 
The general court of Massachusetts paid 
the escaped captives £$o. A beautiful 
monument was erected in 1874 upon 
Dustin's Island in the Merrimac River, 
above Concord, N. H. It bears the 
names of the three, and devices to sym- 
bolize their heroism. 



1697. The Huguenots were again 
enfranchised in Carolina, and more suc- 



cessfully than in 1691. Roman Catho- 
lics were disfranchised. 

1697. Sept. 20. The treaty of Rys- 
wick ended King William's war. The 
French received the west portion of San 
Domingo. 

1697. Buccaneers. Cartagena, S. A., 
was taken by a large force of buccaneers 
under Pointis. There were twelve hun- 
dred men in seven ships. No such 
stronghold as Cartagena had before 
been taken by the buccaneers. Out of 
$8,000,000 booty Pointis kept a large 
part for himself, and his men, disappointed, 
plundered the city again. The fleet was, 
however, very nearly destroyed by 
Dutch, English, and Spanish ships. 
After this time the power and organiza- 
tion of the buccaneers began to decline. 
Many former pirates passed into other 
pursuits. 

1698. The Scotch Darien Colony, 
A colony of twelve hundred men under 
William Paterson, was founded by the 
Scotch on the Isthmus of Panama. Sev- 
eral hundred thousand pounds were raised 
for the expedition. The colony was es- 
tablished about thirty miles noiihwest of 
the Gulf of Darien. The settlers named 
the region New Caledonia. They had 
expected to obtain supplies from the Eng- 
lish colonies but this was prevented, and 
the members began to die from the effects 
of iniusual diet and circumstances. In a 
few months the colony was abandoned, 
almost no one being left to hold it. 

1699. Jan. 25. Sieur Lemoyne 
d'lberville having been sent by the King 
of France w^th an expedition to attempt 
the colonization of the Mississippi Valley, 
arrived on the coast of the Gulf of Mex- 
ico, near Pensacola. 

1699. March 2. Biloxi. He en- 
tered the Mississippi River and explored 



1693-1743.] 

the vicinity. He afterward established 
a settlement on the Island of Biloxi in 
Mobile Bay, and then returned to France. 

1699. July 6. Capt. William Kidd 
was arrested in Boston, whither he had 
been induced to come by a letter from 
Gov. Bellonlont promising him security. 
Kidd had at this time been known to 
have seized a merchant vessel, and to 
have been otherwise piratical in the later 
part of his cruise, although he stoutly 
claimed to have been fulfilling his com- 
mission. After his arrest he was sent to 
England for trial. 

1699. Too Late. Col. Campbell, 
with thirteen hmidred men, arri\ed at the 
wScotch colonv of Darien after its aban- 
donment. The Spaniards attacked and 
1639-1699. captured the reenforcement, 

Racine. ji,-j(j very fcw of the colo- 
nists found their way home again. This 
was the end of the great Scotch project 
for colonizing the Isthmus. 

1699. Gold mines were discovered in 
Brazil. 

1699. An "emigration pamphlet," 
the first in America, was issued at Boston 
to induce Yankees to settle in Panama. 

1699. The yellow fever was seen 
for the first time in Philadelphia, 

1699. William Penn again arrived 
in America, after having had much 
trouble in England through the misrep- 
resentation of his conduct and motives. 
He found Pennsylvania greatly increased 
in all respects. 

1700. The first distillation of liquor 
in America was at Boston in the making 
of New England I'um from West India 
molasses. 

1700. D'Iberville came again from 
France and established a settlement on 
the Mississippi River nearly forty miles 
below New Orleans, at Poverty Point. 



THE MATURING FORCES. 



223 

1700. Natchez. The site of Natchez 
was selected for a settlement and named 
Rosalie by De Tonty, who had come 
down the river from Canada with a 
party. The place was soon abandoned, 
and not occupied till 1716. 

1700. The lead mines at Dubuque, 
Iowa, were discovered by a Frenchman 
named Le Sueur. They were not worked, 
however, till 17SS, by Julien Dubuque, 
from whom the place was named. 

1700. Origin of Yale College. Ten 
Connecticut clergymen, feeling the need 
of higher education in the , ,^ ,. , 

^ nOO. National 

province, came together, debt of England 
each bringing several books, "''?■""• 
and saying upon depositing them on the 
table, " I give these books for the found- 
ing of a college in Connecticut." This 
gave a real start to the enterprise, which 
resulted in the establishment of Yale 
College. 

EXECUTION OF C<LPT. KIDD. 

1701. May 24. Capt. Kidd was ex- 
ecuted in London whither he had been 
sent after his arrest in Boston. He had 
had a trial only in name, being refused 
counsel and the privilege of sending for 
papers or witnesses. With such injustice 
as that was he tried and condemned. 
One charge which was made against 
him was the murder of William Moore, 
a sailor whom he was alleged to have 
killed in a wrangle by striking him over 
the head with a bucket. For this, and 
for piracy, he and nine companions were 
executed. Capt. Kidd asserted that he 
struck Moore for mutinous conduct, and 
that he was forced by his men to take the 
Quidah Merchant. This man who has 
had such a singular reputation was a 
native of Scotland, and was the son of 
John Kidd, a non-conformist minister. 



224 



COLONIAL. LIFE. 



He early went to sea, and soon exhibited 
the quahties of an excellent navigator. 
He came to America and sailed hence 
upon numerous voyages, gaining a name 
for energy and skill. He became engaged 
in the attempts to suppress piracy, and in 
1 69 1 the colony of New York paid him 
^150 for his aid in protecting it against 
freebooter^.. The command of a vessel 
which was sent out by a company to cajD- 
ture piratical vessels was given to him. 
In 1695 and 1696 he was granted two 
commissions giving him authority to en- 
gage in that service. He made one or 
two captures of French vessels, bringing 
them into New York, and then sailed to 
Madagascar, which had become a famous 
resort for pirates. This was in 1696 and 
1697. ^^ ^'^''^^ asserted within a year that 
Capt. Kidd had himself become a pirate. 
Orders for his arrest were sent out to all 
English colonies. He came to the West 
Indies in the Quidah Merchant, for the 
capture of which vessel he was afterward 
condemned, and leaving it at a little 
island near Hayti, came north to the 
New England coast in a sloop. He here 
entered into correspondence with the 
Earl of Bellomont, at that time governor 
of the New England colonies, with the 
apparent desire of reinstating himself in 
the favor of government. Some treas- 
lu-e was buried by him on Gardiner's 
Island. He was then enticed to Boston 
where he was arrested in a few days, and 
from which place he was sent to Eng- 
land with the result above detailed. The 
Earl of Bellomont afterward secured the 
spoil which had been hidden on Gar- 
diner's Island, to the amount of iCi4,ooo. 
Many persons have in later years dug for 
other treasure reputed to have been hid- 
den by Capt. Kidd, the traditions of 
which were wholly without foundation. 



The ill which the man did, for he un- 
doubtedly during those last two }'ears 
engaged in piracy, has grown until it 
completely overshadows the years of ser- 
vice which he rendered to commerce. 
When measured in the scales of exact 
and impartial justice, the character of 
Kidd does not seem to equal in ill-desert 
the characters of Drake and Hawkins 
and others who spent years in raiding 
upon the South American coast cities, 
and carrying off their ill-gotten booty. 
There is nothing to show that Kidd was 
as cruel, heartless, bloodthirsty, and greedy 
of gain as cither of the men above men- 
tioned, whose cases apjoear diflferent be- 
cause they sailed under the authority of 
the English government in conducting 
their infamous enterprises. 



1701. Boston instructed its represen- 
tatives to " put a period to negroes being 
slaves." 

1701. Yale CoUege Charter. The 
ten clergymen who had agreed to found 
a college in Connecticut, obtained from 
the assembly a charter for their institu- 
tion, with a grant of one hundred and 
twenty pounds a year. The institution 
was located at Saybrook. 

1701. A new constitution, called a 
" Charter of Liberties," was adopted for 
Pennsylvania. It made the noi-noo. PhiUj^ 
qualification of a voter to .,' "'^ ", ,^ , 

T. Spam and Port- 

be fifty acres of land free tigai. 
from incumbrance, or personal property 
worth £50. A new charter was given 
the city of Philadelphia. 

1701. " Jesuits and popish priests " 
were declared by acts passed in New 
York and Massachusetts to " be incen- 
diaries," and were threatened with " per- 
petual imprisonment." 

1701. July 24. Detroit was founded 



1693-1743.] 

by a company of settlers and soldiers 
under De la Motte Cadillac, who named 
the place Fort Pontchartrain, and be- 
came commander of the post. The set- 
tlement suffered great opposition, both 
from Indians and Canadians. 

1702. May. Queen Anne's War be- 
gan by a declaration of war by England 
against France. The American colonists 
soon began to feel its influence. 

1702. Lord Cornbury became gov- 
ernor of New York, and until his recall 
in 1 70S, conducted the affairs of the 
province solely for his own advantage. 
He was a profligate man, and sometimes 
ajDpeared upon certain occasions in the 
dress of a woman. 

1702. A pestilent fever which was 
brought to New York from St. Thomas, 
carried off six hundred persons, which at 
the time constituted one-tenth of the 
whole population. It was probably the 
yellow fever. 

1702. A grammar free school was 
established in New York by an act 
passed this year. 

1702. A Spanish expedition across 
the country from Florida to attack 
Charleston, S. C, was met and routed by 
some English traders and friendly Creek 
Indians. 

1702. St. Augustine was blockaded 
with an expedition from South Carolina 
under Gov. Moore. There was no rc- 
1702-1714. Anne '^"^t. The province issued 
^neen of Eng- its paper money to the ex- 
tent of $36,000 to pay for 
the undertaking. The Spaniards now 
began to arouse the Indians more com- 
pletely. 

1702. The French fort at Biloxi was 
transferred to Moliile River, and became 
the first settlement in what is now Ala- 
bama. 



THE MATURING FORCES. 



225 



1702. Vincennes, Indiana, was set- 
tled by French soldiers from Canada, 
who soon became accustomed to Indian 
life, and were in the end greatly assimi- 
lated to those around them. 

1702. St. Christopher, one of the 
Leeward Islands, became a scene of con- 
fusion this year, in the expulsion of the 
French settlers by the English. The 
island had formerly been neutral ground, 
though there had been more or less 
trouble for fifty years. Many of the 
English settlements in the West Indies 
originated in St. Christopher, or St. Kitts, 
as it is sometimes called. 

1703. January. A great fire de- 
stroyed Fort Royal, Jamaica. 

1703. June 20. An Indian confer- 
ence was held by Gov. Dudley, of Massa- 
chusetts at Casco Bay, in the province 
of Maine, with ajoparently good results. 
But in a few weeks the eastern Indians 
were again burning the settlements, and 
murdering the inhabitants. 

1703. An expedition against the In- 
dians friendly to Spain was made by the 
governor of South Carolina. Man}-- 
villages were burned, and eight hundred 
captives taken. 

1703. Indications of Independence. 
Quarry, in a memorial to the British 
government on colonial affairs, says, 
" Commonwealth notions ^7^3 pi^^t 
imjDrove daily, and if it be 
not checked in time, the 
rights and privileges of 
British subjects will be thought too nar- 
row." He advised interference with 
towns. This little thing speaks loudly 
of a coming struggle. 

1704. March 1. Massacre at Deer- 
field, Mass. A party of French and 
Indians fell upon the town of Deerfield, 
Mass., murdering forty-seven of the in- 

15 



Russian nezvspa- 
per. Saini Pe- 
tersburg found- 
ed. 



220 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



habitants, and carrying one hundred and 
twelve away captive into Canada, 
through the deep snow and severe cold. 
The expedition was undertaken for the 
purpose of securing the bell which 
hung in Deerfield meeting house. The 
bell had been sent from France for a 
village church in Canada, but had been 
taken by a privateer and carried with 
other goods to Boston, where it was 
bought by the people of Deerfield. It 
was taken away at the time of the mas- 
sacre, and now hangs in the place which 
it was originally intended for. 

FIRHT FER.M±YE.yT XEW'SP^IPER. 

1704. April 24. " The Boston News- 
Letter," the first permanent newspaper 
in the New World, Avas published at 
Boston, Mass., by Bartholomew Green, 
for John Campbell, postmaster and book- 
seller. The first number consisted of 
three very small pages, and contained 
only one advertisement, that^ of Mr. 
Campbell. ^ The " News-Letter " ex- 
isted forty years before it had three hun- 
dred subscribers. 



1704. Printing was introduced into 
Louisiana bv the French. 

1704. A great agitation was caused 
1632-1704. ii^ Carolina by the attempt 

jo/m Locke, ^q bring the province under 
the authority of the Church of England. 

1704. A raid was made by Col. Ben- 
jamin Church with five hundred men 
upon the Indian settlements of Eastern 
Maine. Villages were burned, and 
many prisoners taken. The Indians had 
been harassing the colonists very se- 
verely. 

1704. July 20. Capt. Peregrine 
White, who was born on board the May- 
flower in Cape Cod Harbor, Nov. 20, 



1620, died at Marshfield, Mass., at the 
age of eighty-three years, eight months. 
He was a strong, fine looking man, and 
had lived a useful life. 

1704. September. Alexander Sel- 
kirk, a vScotchman, was left on the island 
of Juan Fernandez, four hundred and 
twenty miles west from the coast of 
Chili, and remained alone there for four 
years and four months. Selkirk sailed 
from England in charge of the Cinque 
Ports, a privateer, as pilot. Having 
quarreled with the captain, he asked to 
be put ashore as above stated. Supplies 
were furnished him, which were added 
to by the resources of the island. Capt. 
Woodes Rogers, of the, privateer named 
The Duke, took Selkirk from the island. 

1705. Gov. Nicholson was recalled 
from Virginia, and there was no royal 
governor in the province for five years. 
The assembly governed, and prepared 
the way for better times. This afforded 
a chance for a slight home training in the 
free management of affairs, which was. 
verv wholesome. 

1705. The first Presbytery in Amer- 
ica was organized at Philadelphia by 
seven "Tneinbers of the Presbyterian 
church, four of them being from Ireland. 

1706. " Petticoat Insurrection." The 
women of Mobile became very angry 
and threatened rebellion ^^o^.i^.tr,. joint 
against tlie colony, because '"• King oj 

1 r 1 .L !• Portugat. 

they were lorced to hve on 
Indian corn. The supplies of the colony 
were very low, and considerable trouble 
resulted. The above danger has become 
known in history as the " petticoat in- 
surrection." 

1706. The law in Carolina disfran- 
chising dissenters, was repealed. 

1706. Nevis,' one of the Leeward 
Islands, was ravaged by the French. 



nOT. England 
and ScMland 
united under ti- 
tle of Great 
Britain. - 



1693-1743.] 

1707. June. An expedition against 
Acadia was sent out by the inhabitants of 
New England, who were exasperated by 
a long series of liidian warfares chiefly 
produced by French influence. The ex- 
pedition was entirely unsuccessful. Dur- 
ing this time bounties were ofTered for 
Indian scalps, as they were at other times 
in the history of the country. 

1707. Nevis, which had been ravaged 
by the French, was this 
year almost completely de- 
stroyed by one of the 
" most violent hurricanes 
ever recorded." It had been prosperous 
before this time, but was now brought 
vcrv low. 

1707. Germs of Liberty. The as- 
sembly of New Jersey prepared a 
remonstrance to Lord Cornbury, setting 
forth grievances under which the prov- 
ince was laboring, and asking that they 
be redressed. The paper contained one 
significant sentence : " Liberty is too val- 
uable a thing to be easily parted with." 
Lord Cornbury answered the communi- 
cation with considerable insolence, and 
helped by it to pave the way for his 
recall the next vcar. 

1708. Aug. 29. Haverhill, Mass., 
was destroyed by French and Indians. 

1708. Saybrook Platform. The 
churches of Connecticut held a conven- 
tion at which a platform of belief and 
organization was adopted, and has since 
been known as the Saybrook Platform, 
because the meeting took place at Say- 
brook. The Westminster and Savoy 
Confessions, and the Thirty-nine Articles, 
were in general the basis of belief. 

170^ The first printing press in 
Connecticut was set up at New London 
by Thomas Short. 

1709. The oldest mining charter in 



THE MATURING FORCES. 



227 



the English colonies was granted a com- 
pany to work the Granby copjoer mines 
in Connecticut. They have 

-' 1709. Prussia 

sometimes been known as add discovered 
theSimsbury mines. Cop- ^->' ^'-*^«^/'- 
per was found about this time at a few 
other places. These mines were after- 
ward bought by the State and v/orked by 
convicts. 

1710. German Immigration. Sev- 
eral thousand G<;rmans left their homes 
in the Palatinate, Germany, because of 
poverty, and settled in New York, Penn- 
sylvania, Virginia, and Carolina. The 
transfer from their own country was 
carried out under the patronage of Queen 
Anne of England. 

1710. The first government post- 
ofla.ces were established in America in 
accordance with an act of Parliament 
providing for a general joostoftice for all 
English dominions. One central office 
was to be at New York, and other offices 
were to be at convenient places in each 
colony. 

1710. Oct. 13. Acadia Captured. 
A combined English and colonial force 
having sailed for Acadia, captured Port 
Royal, and changed its name to Annapo^ 
lis in honor of the queen. Acadia came 
under British control as Nova Scotia. 
This was the second time it had been 
taken^ by the English. The colonial 
officers deemed it of the greatest impor- 
tance to drive the French out of America. 

1710. Dec. 11. Wreck of thB Not- 
tingham. The Nottingham, a galley 
from London, went ashore in a northeast 
gale on Boon Island, one of the Isles of 
Shoals. For several days they had not 
been able to get an observation. The 
crew saved themselves upon the rocks as 
best they could during the short time in 
which the ship went to pieces. Not a 



228 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



mouthful of food was saved except two 
or three " small cheeses," which they 
picked out of the seaweed. Now began 
a struggle for life. The weakest ones 
began to die from starvation. A boat 
which the survivors roughly put together, 
was broken up by the sea. A raft was 
then built, and two men started upon it 
for the New Hampshire shore. Neither 
of them reached it alive. One was 
washed up on the sand and led some of 
the settlers to search the vicinity, when 
the others were found in a very low con- 
dition. They had subsisted for a few 
days upon the body of the carpenter. 
For twenty-four days they had faced 
death on this little island. The captain's 
name was John Deane. He afterward 
prepared an account of the calamity, and 
it was published the next year at the end 
of a sermon by Cotton Mather. 

1710. Diamonds were discovered in 
Brazil, and have since been mined there 
in great quantities. 

1711. Aug. 10. Invasion of Canada. 
A great English expedition under Sir 
Hovenden Walker sailed from Boston 
for the capture of Quebec, but was pre- 
vented from entering the St. Lawrence 
by storms and fogs. It returned with 
the loss of eight ships and one thousand 
men. The same day a force of four 
thousand men left Albany to attack Mon- 
treal, but turned back when the disaster 
to the fleet was learned. The province 
of New York issued its first paper money 
or bills of credit in aid of this expe- 
dition. 

1711. October. The Tuscarora In- 
dians of North Carolina formed a plan 
to exterminate the whites, and massacred 
one hundred and thirty-seven in one 
night. The horrible work continued for 
three days. The natives were afterward 



successfully resisted, and driven from the 
country. 

1711. A slave market was opened 
in New York City. 

1711. A severe fire occurred in 
Boston, consuming one hundred buildings. 

1711. Mobile, Alabama. The little 
French settlement on the Mobile River 
came near being entirely destroyed by a 
flood and hurricane, and was removed to 
the present site of Mobile, as being a 
safer place. 

1712. Abolitionism. William Southe- 
by, of Maryland, a Roman Catholic, 
petitioned the assembly of Pennsylvania 
to abolish slaveiy within that province. 
The reply was that it was "neither just 
nor convenient to set them at liberty." 
Mr. Southeby had written upon the subject 
of slavery fifteen or twenty years before. 

1713. March 20. The Six Nations. 
A large Indian fort was captured in 
North Carolina, and the troubles in this 
colony apparently ended. Eight hundred 
captives were taken, and given to friendly 
tribes. A few Tuscaroras fled to New 
York, and were admitted as a sixth na- 
tion to the Iroquois confederacy. The 
term "Five Nations " at this date 
changes to " Six Nations." 

1713. April 11. The Treaty of 
Utrecht closed Queen Anne's War. 
Acadia was ceded to England, and one 
year was given the settlers in which to 
take the oath of allegiance, or leave the 
country. New Brunswick, which had 
previously been in dispute, was included 
in the cession. 

1713. Forts at Crown Point and Ni- 
asfara were erected bv the i''ii-i~~''- 

» " Geor^rc I. King 

French. of Eugiand. 

1713. The entire province of Maine 
came under the jurisdiction of Massa- 
chusetts. 



1693-1743.] 

1715. April 13. An uprising of the 

Yemassee Indians took place in the Car- 
oHnas. A great league was formed, and 
a massacre occurred. Over four hundred 
persons were slain. But the trouble ^vas 
speedily put down by the energy of 
Charles Craven, governor of the south- 
ern province. A great blow was warded 
ofT partially. 

1715. A law was passed in Mary- 
land making a child follow the condition 
of its mother. The original law of 1663 
making the child follow its father's condi- 
tion, had been repealed in 1683. 

1715. The logwood tree was propa- 
gated in Jamaica, from seed brought 
171a n-i Loiih fi'oiii Central America. It 
XIV. King of grew rapidly, and soon cov- 
ered the island, which has 
since then furnished considerable of this 
wood to the trade of the world. It is 
only to be found there and in Spanish 
America. 

FIRST COFFEE CULTURE.. 

1715. A single coffee-plant was in- 
troduced into Martinique, W. I., by Capt. 
Descleux, a French officer, who attempted 
to bring several plants from Marly, but 
succeeded in getting only one to Marti- 
nique alive. Capt. Descleux himself en- 
dured thirst upon the voyage rather than 
have this plant perish for lack of -water, 
which was getting low on shipboard. 
This plant is said to have been the parent 
stock of all the coffee culture in the West 
Indies and Brazil. It was speedily in- 
troduced into othei" islands, and raised 
with success. 



THE MATURING FORCES, 



229 



1716. Two thousand slaves were 
owned in Massachusetts this year. 

1716. Natchez was settled by the 
French under Lemoine de Bienville. 



1716. Oct. 21. A " dark day " oc- 
curred in New England. ^^^^ p^^.^^ 

Peo^ile W^ere obliged to use standing army 
i-i- • 1 T 1 i • ^1 1 in England. 

artincial nghts \\\ the day- 
time with which to do their ordinary 
work. 

1717. February. " The Great Snow 
Storm" occurred in Boston and the re- 
gion, blocking up all travel. 

1717. June 24. Port of Boston. 
For three years ending with this date, 
twelve hundred and forty-seven vessels 
had cleared at Boston. 

1717. August. The Mississippi 
Scheme. An edict was issued in France 
giving the celebrated John Law permis- 
sion to form the "Western Company " 
for trade and colonization in the Missis- 
sippi Valley. This was the beginning 
of the great "Mississippi Scheme." 

1717. A paper mill is said to have 
been erected in Massachusetts. 

1717. Yale College was removed 
from Saybrook to New Haven, because 
the most money could be obtained upon 
condition that it should be at the latter 
place. It received its name from Ellhu 
Yale, one of its early benefactors. He 
gave about £500 in all. 

1717. The first hospital in the Eng- 
lish colonies was opened at Boston for 
persons sick with contagious diseases. 

1717. A merchants' exchange was 
for the first time permitted at Montreal 
and Quebec. 

1717. The " Margravate of Azilia." 
A colony on the Savannah River was 
planned by Sir Richard Montgomery, 
who purchased the site for the new town. 
The whole region was to be symmetri- 
cally divided as fast as the population in- 
creased. It was to be a model for regu- 
larity and beauty, and was to be called 
the " Margravate of Azilia." The 



230 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



scheme was a fine one upon paper, but 
was a complete failure practically, be- 
cause no emigrants appeared. The grant 
was from the proprietors of the Car- 
olinas, and lay between the Savannah 
and Altamaha rivei's. 

1717. Montevideo, Uruguay, was 
founded by families from the Canary 
Islands. 

1718. New Orleans. The site of a 
city was selected at the mouth of the 
Mississippi by the French, and named 
New Orleans. This was a part of the 
great scheme of John' Law. 

1718. Silk and indigo were intro- 
duced into Louisiana by the great 
"Western Company" under John Law. 

1718. The first copper-plate engrav- 
ing in America was a porti^ait of Licrease 
Mather. 

1718. The first Presbyterian church 
in New England was founded at Derry, 
N. IL, by colonists from the North of 
Ireland. The manufacture of linen bv 
the foot spinning ^vheel was also first 
introduced into this country by these 
settlers. 

1718. Convicts were transported by 
England at this time at the rate of two 
thousand a year, and were sold to settlers 
for a term of years. Many at the end of 
their service became proprietors for them- 
selves. In this way the English Ameri- 
can colonies received cjuite a large num- 
ber of settlers. 

1718. Black Beard. Pirates had 
grown so powerful upon the coast of 
Carolina that a determined effort w^as 
made to put them down. Two expedi- 
tions were made against them, the last 
one of \vhich succeeded in capturing the 
notorious leader of them all, known as 
Black Beard, though he and most of his 
men were slain in the attemjDt. 



WILLMM PEXX. 
1718. July 30. William Penn, the 
founder of Pennsylvania, died at Rus- 
combe, England, at the age of seventy- 
four years. Few men concerned in the 
colonization of America have left in his- 
tory a distincter name than he. He lived 
an eventful life, almost from his childhood* 
He was expelled from Christ College, 
Oxford University, for having embraced 
Quakerism, to which he was converted 
by Thomas Loe. He could not be con- 
tent to hold his new views quietly, for 
they had taken a strong hold upon his 
mind, and he considered himself under 
obligation to work for the truth. Rujd- 
tures occurred at different times between 
him and his father. Admiral Sir William 
Penn, who was greatly opposed to Quak- 
erism, but peace was always reached 
again after each of these, and the estates 
of the admiral were left to William at 
the former's death. After the abrupt 
close of his studies, the son was sent upon 
a trip to the continent, and afterward put 
in charge of the family jDroperty in Ire- 
land. Having been discovered in attend- 
ing a Quaker meeting, he was thrown 
into prison, but v/as soon set free, although 
he was obliged to leave Ireland. Now 
began greater and sterner troubles 
through his devotion to the sect whose 
views he had adopted so heartilv. He 
began to preach and to publish some 
^vritings in behalf of the Quaker doc- 
trines. Before a great while he was 
thrown into the To\ver, where he wrote 
during his imprisonment. He was once 
more set free through the influence of 
the Duke of York. But his difficulties 
were not at an end. In 1671 he was 
thrown into prison and lay in Newgate 
six months because he would not take an 
oath at his trial. " The Great Cause of 



1693-1743.] 

Liberty of Conscience " was written by 
him during tliis confinement. His pen 
was almost always busy, even when he 
could not speak for his principles. His 
mind was rapidly maturing those views 
upon peace and toleration which were so 
signally inanifest in what he did in col- 
onizing America. He again visited the 
continent, and was married when he went 
back to England. The government had 
owed his father an unpaid claim of 
•£16,000, and now conferred upon the 
son a large tract of land in America, in 
payment of this sum. He was to be left 
entirely free in the establishment of laws 
for the management of the colonies 
which might be induced by him to settle 
upon his territory. This was the origin 
of his labors in Pennsylvania, \vhich he 
at first named Sylvania, but to this his 
name was added in spite of his objections, 
making it Pennsylvania or Penn's Woods. 
The first settlement and growth of the 
province were somewhat remarkable. 
He still labored at the cost of difhculties, 
and was once or twice severely accused 
of treasonable designs in reference to the 
English government. He spent a series 
of years in America, and in general 
gained the confidence of the settlers upon 
his territory. His friendly contact with 
the Indians has been a famous part of his 
hfe in the New World. He went to 
England in 1701 to look after his estates 
A\''hich had been very poorly cared for by 
his agent. He never returned to Amer- 
ica. He failed in health, and was injured 
mentally by an apoplectic attack in 171 2. 
He was the subject of numerous unjust 
imputations all through his life, but we 
may safely say that they were incorrect, 
and that William Penn was one of the 
leading inen of his times in everything 
■which goes to make up genuine charac- 



THE MATURING FORCES. 



231 



ter. His sense of justice was certainly 
highly developed. The influence of his 
life may be set down as having entered 
into American colonization, and as hav- 
ing perpetuated itself along the lines of 
toleration and humanity. 



1719. The melodies of Mother 
Goose began to be used in the nurseries 
of Boston. Thomas Fleet, who married 
Elizabeth, the daughter of Mrs. Vergoose, 
is said to have written them down as he 
heard them sung to his little children by 
his mother-in-law. 

1719. " The Reasons for a Market 
in Boston " was the subject of a sermon 
preached by Dr. Coleman. Such themes 
were taken into the pulpit, because the 
press was under a censorship, and be- 
cause no pamphlet even could be issued 
without a license. The pulpit was free. 
At a little later period than this, matter 
for newspapers must be examined by the 
colonial secretary. Almanacs were sub- 
ject to examination. This hindered the 
growth of letters in America, and yet at 
the same time it promoted the cause of 
freedom. 

1719. Large numbers of slaves be- 
gan to be brought into the Mississippi 
Valley by the French. 

1719. A sect called "New Born " 
was founded at Oley, Berks County, 
Penn., by Matthias Bourman, of Ger- 
many. Perfectionism without depend- 
ence on the sacraments or on the Word 
of God, was their chief tenet. 

1719. Bunkers or Dunkards. The 
German Baptists, more generally known 
as Dunkards, were first established in 
this country at Germantown and other 
places in Pennsylvania. They are some- 
times called Tumblers because they bap- 
tize themselves by kneeling down and 



232 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



pusliing the head and body under the 
water. " Brethren " is the term they 
apply to themselves. They were founded 
in Germany in 1708, hut within ten years 
from this date they all came to Amer- 
ica. They have about 50,000 commvmi- 
cants. They practice the brotherly 
washing of feet, the kiss of charity, 
threefold immersion, and the anointing 
of the sick with oil. 

1719. Daniel Defoe, an English 
author, issued " The Life and strange 
surprising adventures of Robinson Cru- 
soe of York, Mariner, who lived eight 
and twenty years all alone in an unin- 
habited island on the coast of America, 
near the mouth of the great river Ori- 
noco." 

1719. Dee. 17. The Aurora Bore- 
alis was first noticed by the inhabitants 
of New England, who regarded the ap- 
pearance with some degree of terror. 

1719. Dec. 21. The Boston Ga- 
zette, the second newspaper in the 
English colonics, was established and 
issued by James Franklin, an older 
brother of Benjamin. 

1719. Dee. 22. The first newspaper 
in Pennsylvania called the " American 
Weekly Mercury," was issued at Phila- 
delphia by Andrew Bradford and John 
Copson. 

1719. Tobacco Pipes. The first ad- 
vertisement of home made tobacco pipes 
in the colonies appeared in the IMercurv, 
published in Philadelphia. It offered 
" good long Taylern Tobacco-pipes, sold 
at 4s. per gross by the single gross, and 
3s. for a larger quantity, by Richard 
Warden, tobacco pipe maker, living un- 
der the same roof with Philip Syng, 
goldsmith, near the market place ; where 
also any that have occasion may have 
their pipes burned at 8 d, per gross." 



1719. Whaling in Davis' Strait was 
begun by the Dutch, who found it safe 
and profitable. 

1719. St. Vincent, one of the West 
Indies, was settled by the citizens of 
Alartinique, many of whom took up their 
residence in the former island. It had 
been left by general consent to the 
Caribs, vmtil the present time. At a time 
unknown, some Africans had taken ref- 
uge in the island, and mixing with the 
natives, had originated the race known as 
" Black Caribs." 

1720. Tea began to be used in Boston. 
1720. Witchcraft. An attempt was 

made to revive the witchcraft delusion at 
Littleton, Mass. The fraud was followed 
up closely by some persons who sus- 
pected it, and one of the principal agents 
afterward confessed the falsity of the 
claim. 

1720. Salt springs in Southern Illi- 
nois were known and used at this date 
by the French and Indians. 

1720. Lead mines were discovered 
and worked in Missouri by two French- 
men named Renault and LaMotte. 

1720. Failure of John Law. John 
Law's great scheme for the colonization 
of Louisiana was entirely annihilated by 
the loss of public confidence in the paper 
shares, stocks and bonds, which he had 
issued in the name of the " Company." 
During the excitement which attended 
this issue, thousands of persons had 
rushed to Paris for speculation, men had 
made fortunes in an hour, money had 
been loaned at a quarter per cent, for 
fifteen minutes, and everything was be- 
witched. When the end came it was a 
terrible blow to the thousands who were 
ruined. John Law himself was left 
almost penniless, and \vandered hence- 
forth from place to place as a gambler, 



1693-1743.] 

till his death in 1729. Louisiana became 
a royal province. 

1721. First Inoculation for Small 
Pox. The small pox raged in Boston 
very extensively, and more than five 
thousand persons w^ere attacked. The 
general court adjourned to Cambridge. 
Cotton Mather induced Dr. Zabdiel 
Boylston to try inoculation upon his 
own children, ser^'ants, and a few others 

1721. luoculation who WOuld COnSCUt tO it. 

iMuced into ^j_^jg created great excite- 
dy Montague. mcut amoug the citizens, 
and much abuse was heaped upon those 
who favored the practice. Two hundred 
and eightj'-six were inoculated, and only 
six of them died. Of the five thousand 
seven hundred and fifty-nine jDcrsons at- 
tacked by the disease, eight hundred and 
forty-four died, or a very much greater 
proportion than in the case of those who 
were inoculated. Half the population of 
Boston was taken down by the scourge. 
The efficacy of the new step was proved 
beyond a doubt. 

1721. August. " The New England 
Courant" was established by James 
Franklin in Boston, the printing of the 
Gazette having been taken away from 
him by the owner. He undertook to 
make the new enterprise a vehicle for 
free criticism, but was imprisoned. The 
Courant lived about six years. Benjamin 
Franklin set type for it, and wrote some 
articles for it. Disagreement between 
the brothers finally led Benjamin to run 
away to Philadelphia. 

1721. First Attempt at Marine In- 
surance. John Copson of Philadelphia, 
undertook to start an office for marine 
insurance, and advertised to that effect, 
but was entirely unsuccessful, because the 
ship merchants felt that they could get 
safer insurance in other countries. This 



THE MATURING FORCES. 



233 



was the earliest attempt at insurance of 
any kind on this continent. 

1721. The " Apostle of Greenland." 
Hans Egede, a Danish clergyman from 
Vaagen, Norway, sailed from Denmark 
in the barque Hope, with two hundred 
and forty settlers, besides his wife and 
four children. His object was to find the 
lost Norse colony in Greenland, of which 
he had read in the old chronicles, and to 
convert the natives. He founded a set- 
tlement called Godthaab or Good Hope 
upon BaaFs River, and soon began to 
teach. For a time the settlement suf- 
fered privations, and at one time it was 
ordered by the governinent to be given 
up. But the perseverance of the devoted 
leader at last secured the victory. This 
colony was the beginning of modern 
Greenland. Egede found some slight 
remains of former settlers, but 110 settle- 
ment. All had perished. 

1721. First Masonic Lodge. The 
iVlbion Lodge, formerly No. -17, E. R., 
of the city of Quebec, is the oldest lodge 
of Free Alasons upon the American con- 
tinent, having been instituted twelve 
years before the first United States lodge. 

1722. Brunswick, Maine, was burned 
by the Abenaki Indians. These hostili- 
ties were for the sake of resisting the 
English occupation of the province, and 
were incited to a very great extent by 
the French. This was the outbreak of 
the third Indian war in New England. 

1722. The first paper money in 
Pennsylvania was issued by vote of the 
assembly to the amount of ,£45,000. It 
was guarded with special care to prevent 
its depi'eciation. 

1722. The Timber Controversy. The 
strife which had raged in New England 
for thirty years over the confiscation of 
the best timber from the forests for gov- 



234 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



ernmcnt use, did not cease. The survey- 
ors still \vent through the forests and put 
the king's " broad arrow " upon any tree 
Avhich pleased the eye. The colonists 
could never submit to have their best 
timber culled without compensation. 
Difficulties continued to arise, and royal 
power was even then threatened by the 
indignant freemen of New England. 
The colonists were also forbidden to sell 
timber to Spain and Portugal. 

1722. Aug. 28. Port Royal, Jamaica, 
was overwhelmed by the sea. This was 
the result of a tremendous hurricane 
which swept over and desolated the 
whole island. 

1722. The University of Havana 
was established by a bull of Pope Inno- 
cent XITI., and was afterward approved 
by the Spanish government. 

1723. Indian wars broke out in 
Chili and lasted for fifty years, to the 
great distress of the province. 

1724. May 3. A pirate vessel was 
brought into Boston which had been 
taken by John Fillmore, Edward Cheese- 
man, and an Indian. The pirate Capt. 
Phillips had taken the fishing sloop 
Dolphin, of Cape Ann, on the banks. 
Fillmore and the other sailors were im- 
pressed on board the captor^ but finally 
the above three laid their plans and suc- 
cessfully took control of the vessel, killing 
three, including Phillips. Fillmore was 
the great grandfather of Millard Fill- 
more. 

1724. First Mutual Benefit Society. 
The Carpenter's Society was organized 
in PhiladeljDhia, and led the way in the 
long list of union societies for all trades 
and lines of work. At the first of the 
present century a great many were or- 
ganized. 

1724. Aug. 22. Father Rale Killed. 



Norridgewock, Maine, an Indian village, 
was attacked by English settlers because 
of Indian outrages. Father Sebastian 
Rale, the Jesuit who had established 
himself among the Indians and become 
very influential among them, was slain 
in the attack. His death ended French 
^lower over the eastern Indians, who now 
grew more peaceful. 

1724. Uruguay was conquered from 
the Portuguese by the Spanish, and an- 
nexed to the viceroyalty of Buenos 
Ayres. 

1725. May 8. A severe fight took 
place in what is now Fryeburg, Maine, 
between a company of whites under 
Capt. John Lovewell, and the Pequawkett 
or Pigwacket Indians under Paugus, 
their sachem. Both leaders were killed, 
and the Indian tribe went farther north 
to live. The whites lost a score or more 
of men. 

1725. A repeating fire-arm is said to 
have been exhibited in Boston by a Mr. 
Pirn, ^vho had constructed it. Penhal- 
low,in his account of the Indian wars, 
states that it would fire eleven times 
without reloading. 

1725. The first newspaper in New 
York, named "The New York Gazette," 
was established by William Bradford. 

1726. Three pirates named William 
Fly, Samuel Cole, and Henry Greenville, 
were executed in Boston. Before the 
execution a sermon was preached to the 
doomed men in Old Brattle St. church 
by Dr. Coleman. Capt. Fly would not 
go into the church, and Avas smiling and 
careless to the verv last. The bodies 
were buried on an island which was 
afterward worn away by the sea. 

1727. The vast importation of slaves 
was bitterly complained of by South 
Carolina. 



1G93-1743.] 



THE MATURING FORCES. 



235 



1727. Steel. A Connecticut black- 
sir smith discovered the way 



16421727 
Isaac Newton. 
1727-1760. 
George II. Kin^ 
of England. 



iron 



of changing common 

into good steel. 

1727. The first levee 
along the Mississippi at Ne^v Orleans, a 
mile in length, was erected by Perier to 
guard against the annual overflows of 
tlie river, which had been quite trouble- 
some. 

1727. Oct. 29. A severe earth- 
quake was experienced in the English 
colonies. It was alarming enough to 
cause many persons to suspend their oc- 
cupations in great terror. 

1728. The first newspaper in Mary- 
land was established at Annapolis by 
William Parks. 

1728. James Ogelthorpe besought 
Parliament to interfere for imprisoned 
English debtors. He secured the release 
of manv, and sent them to America. 

1728. Sir William Keith suggested 
extending by act of Parliament the duties 
upon parchments to America. The 
effort was prevented by Sir Robert 
Walpole. 

1728. The Log College was founded 
at Neshaminy, Penn., by William Ten- 
nent from Ireland, the father of William 
and Gilbert Tennent, for the education 
of the Presbyterian ministry. 

1728. Vitus Behring was sent out 
by the Russian government into the seas 
Avhich border upon the northeast coast of 
Siberia. In this trip he discovered the 
strait which bears his name, though it is 
not known that he sailed through it. 
This was his second voyage of explora- 
tion, his first not being in those waters. 

1728. The great Dismal Swamp was 
for the first time accurately surveyed by 
•Col, William Byrd. It lies partly in 
Virginia, and partly in North Carolina. 



A great deal of lumber is taken from the 
swamp. A canal and roads run through 
it in several directions. 

1728. Duel on Boston Common. A 
duel was fought under the " old elm " on 
Boston Common by two young men 
named Woodbridge and Phillips. They 
met alone in the night, and used swords 
in their deadly encounter. Woodbridge 
was killed, and Phillips immediately fled 
to France. The affair caused a great 
excitement, and led to a new law against 
duelling. 

1728. The most active known vol- 
cano in the world is Sangay, lying south- 
east of Quito. It is about seventeen 
thousand feet high, and has been in al- 
most constant eruption since this date. 
Its roar has been heard three hundred and 
forty-eight geographical miles. Every 
fifteen minutes it sends out a vast amount 
of fiery scoriae. 

1729. Jan. 23. Berkeley in Amer- 
ica. George Berkeley, Dean of Derry in 
Ireland, afterward Bishop of Cloyne, ar- 
rived from England at Newport, R, I., 
in pursuance of his plans for promoting 
education and Christian labor. He had 
the idea of founding a university in 
America for the general good of the 
Anglican church, and for the conversion 
of the natives by training teachers to go 
among them. He obtained a promise of 
X20,ooo from Sir Robert Walpole, jDrime 
minister of George I. This money was 
diverted to other objects by the influence 
of other people. Berkeley labored as a 
pastor among the people at Newport, but 
kept the idea of his college steadily in 
view. Waiting against hope, he at last 
received advice from Walpole through a 
friend, which convinced him that he 
could no longer rely upon the old expec- 
tations. He therefore returned to Eng- 



236 COLONIAL LIFE. 

land. He built a house which is still 
standing neai* Newport, and the rocks in 
whose retreat he is said to have composed 
" The Minute Philosopher," are now 
known as Berkeley's Rocks. He left his 
farm and a library of eight hundred and 
eighty volumes to Yale College. 

1729. The proprietors of Carolina 
sold their right in the province to the 
English government for XSpoo. North 
and South Carolina were now separated, 
and continued to be royal pi'ovinces till 
the Revolution. 

1729. Independence Hall, in Phila- 
delphia, which served till the Revolution 
as a State House, was also begun this 
year. 

1729. The Old South Church in 
Boston was built. It was preceded by a 
^-„« T, 11 cedar wood church, which 

1129. Balloons ' 

invented by Gtis- waS built in I 6^0. ThuS it 

""" " proved that two of the most 

important buildings in the Revolution 
were built the same vear. 

1729. The Natchez Indians rose and 
inassacred the French at Rosalie, on the 
present site of Natchez. This created 
the hostility which resulted in the hnal 
extinction of the Natchez trilic. 

1729. Six thousand Irish emigrants 
arrived this year, and dispersed through 
the colonies, jDrincipally Maryland and 
Virginia. During the next ten years a 
large number of Irish, Scotch and Quaker 
families entered the Shenandoah and 
Alonongahela valleys. 

1729. The yellow fever made its first 
appearance in New Granada, S. A., at 
Cartagena. 

1730. The Natchez Indians were 
destroyed by the French in retaliation 
for the inassacre of the colony at Rosalie 
a few months before. 

1730. A great earthquake in Chili 



destrovcd all the cities and villages be- 
tween Concepcion and Coquimbo. 

1730. April. Rum Among Indians, 
" The Chieffs of ye Delaware at Alle- 
gaening on the inain road " sent a com- 
munication to Gov. Thomas at Philadel- 
j^hia, stating that two or three recent bar- 
barities upon white men had been caused 
by rum which had been brought to the 
Indians, and praying that the business 
might be suppressed. 

1731. A I'ebellion took place in Par- 
aguay under Antiqucra, but it was soon 
crushed by the government. It ended in 
the flight, capture and death of Anti- 
qucra. Another unsuccessful attempt 
was made in i 734. 

1731. " Dr. Bray's Associates " were 
organized in England to promote the in- 
struction of negro children in the South- 
ern colonies of North America. 

1731. The Reflecting Quadrant, in- 
vented by Thomas Godfrey of Pennsyl- 
vania, began to be used this year. It 
was issued in England under Hadlev, by 
whose name it is \vronglv known. 

1731. First Subscription Library. 
A public library scheme was set on foot 
bv Benjamin Franklin at Philadelphia. 
He obtained fifty subscribers at forty 
shillings each, to the original stock. They 
also agreed to pay ten shillings annually 
for fifty years. 

1731. Fear of American Manufac- 
turers. The House of Commons directed 
the Board of Trade to make report with 
respect to the trade and manufactiu'cs 
carried on in the colonies " detrimental 
to the trade, navigations and manufac- 
tures of Great Britain." In the report 
subsequently given, express mention was 
made of the paper mill in Massachusetts,, 
which it was " feared would interfere 
with the profit made by the British mer- 



1693-1743.] 

'chants on foreign papei* sent thither." 
'The very general manufacture of shoes 
•also friglitened the English. A great 
nuinber of itinerant shoemakers went 
from house to house and made such boots 
and slioes as were needed by a family for 
a long time. This was a custom which 
in some sections has continued nearly 
down to the present day. By such 
things did English merchants fear that 
their handsome profits would be cut off. 

1731. The first newspaper in any of 
the present English American colonies, 
•was issued at Barbadoes by Samuel 
Keimer, and was named " The Barba- 
does Gazette." 

1732. The first newspaper in Caro- 
lina, named "The South Carolina Ga- 
zette," was issued at Charleston. 

1732. The first newspaper in Rhode 
Island, named " The Rhode Island Ga- 
zette," was issued at Newport by James 
Franklin. His was the first printing 
press in Newport. 

1732. " Poor Richard's Almanac " 
was issued tor the first time b}- Benjamin 
Franklin under the name of Richard 
Saunders. It obtained a wide circulation 
through its well known wise sayings and 
good advice. Its maxims were copied 
and translated in other languages. 

1732. Jtme 9. Georgia. James Ed- 
ward Ogelthorpe and twenty other 
trustees received a charter for the terri- 
torv between the Savannah and Alta- 
maha Rivers, to be called Georgia. The 
charterwastorun twenty-one years. The 
object of the colony was to provide a 
place for poor debtors in English prisons, 
many of -whom were very worthy men, 
and willing to \vork. The plan met 
with considerable tavor. The trustees 
were forbidden by their patent to take 
any land or compensation for themselves. 



THE MATURING FORCES. 



237 



whatever. The enterprise was to be 
sustained at first by charity in providing 
jDassage for those who were willing to 
go. It was also intended to make 
Georgia chiefly a silk and vine growing 
colony. 

1732. The yellow fever visited some 
portion of the West Indies almost every 
year after this. 

1732. Hat Act. Parliament decreed 
that no hat should be exported from the 
English American colonies, w^hich had 
already begun to send these goods in 
large quantities to foreign countries. The 
same act forbade them to be carried from 
one province to another. This and sim- 
ilar laws were steps in the process of 
alienation. 

1732. Early Modern Missionaries. 
Two men named Dober and Nitschman, 
set out from Denmark for St. Thomas, 
in the West Indies, having been told by a 
negro that a sister of his and others upon 
that island were longing to have religious 
instruction. The two missionaries had 
but six dollars each in their pockets when 
they started. They reached St. Thomas, 
began labor, and their mission was en- 
tirely successful. 

1733. Feb. 12. First Colony Ever 
Founded by Philanthropists. Ogel- 
thorpe and thirty-five families founded 
Savannah, Ga. This colony had been 
selected with great care from debtors 
who were honest and moral. They 
had arrived in Carolina in January, and 
had received much attention from the 
people of that province. Ogelthorpe 
in the meantime went into the new 
region, and selected a proper site for 
the colony. The men of South Car- 
olina helped in erecting the first buildings. 
Mulberry trees were planted at once. 

1733. Negro Slavery in Georgia. 



238 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



The trustees passed an act excluding 
slavery from Georgia, because it would 
endanger a border province. Another 
reason was found in the fact that the in- 
habitants being poor must start upon a 
small scale, and therefore could not sup- 
port slaves. These reasons were annulled 
in the after history of the colony. The 
presence of a slave-holding province on 
the north made it impossible to exclude 
slavery perpetually. 

1733. Rum in Georgia. The trus- 
tees also excluded ardent spirits. They 
however established ale-houses and pro- 
vided for wines and for brewing beer, 
because these drinks would be more 
wholesome and refreshing to the people. 
It was intended to make a temperance 
colony of Georgia. But violations of 
this occurred even among the officers of 
the colony. There were constant eva- 
sions of the law till its repeal took place 
in 1742. 

1733. First Jewish Synagogue. 
Forty Jews soon arrived in Georgia and 
erected a synagogue, the first on this 
continent. These Jews were sent out by 
three commissioners who had been ap- 
pointed to collect money. This action 
caused great excitement among the trus- 
tees, who wrote to Ogelthorpe to have 
the Jews removed from the colony at 
once. Benefactions in England had 
ceased, and prejudice had been aroused 
against the colony by the presence of the 
Jews in Savannah. But Ogelthorpe 
wrote back excellent accounts of their 
behavior, and saw at once that they were 
a great addition to the working force of 
the province. They were therefore not 
molested. 

1733. A complaint of Massachusetts 
against encroachments upon popular 
power, was " rebuked as a high insult 



tending to shake off the dependence of 
the colony upon the kingdom." 

1733. A treaty was held at Phila- 
delphia with the " Six Nations," to induce 
them to resist the operations of the 
French on the upper Ohio and Alle- 
gheny. 

1733. May 21. A treaty with the 
Creek Indians was concluded by Ogel- 
thorpe, by the terms of which mutual 
trade was to be carried on. The rela- 
tions of Ogelthorpe to the Indians were 
commendable, and rank with those sus- 
tained to the natives by William Penn 
and Roger Williams. The treaty was 
held under four pine trees on the banks of 
the Yamacraw. 

1733. July 30. First Masonic Grand 
Lodge. The first grand lodge in the 
United States was constituted at Boston 
for New England, and was named St. 
John's Grand Lodge. Henry Price of 
Boston had been commissioned to do this 
by Anthony, Lord Viscount Montague* 
grand master of England. 

1733. A play-house was in existence 
in New York, though it is not known 
that performances were given in it. 

1733. The first paper money in 
Maryland was issued, and proved a great 
injury to the province. 

1733. St. Croix, one of the Leeward 
Islands, was sold to the Danes by the 
French. It has been twice taken by the 
English, and twice returned. With St. 
Thomas and St. John it constitutes the 
only Danish possessions in America. 

1734. March. Salzburgers. An 
" evangelical community " of Lutheran 
Salzburgers settled the village of Eben- 
ezer, Ga. They had fled from the long 
persecution which they had experienced 
in their own country, and were true re- 
ligious pilgrims. The first step toward 



1693-1743.] 

their coming had been taken by the 
" London Society for the Propagation of 
Christian Knowledge " in finding out 
whether they would be willing to emi- 
grate to America. Ogelthorpe received 
them gladly, and aided them in preparing 
their settlement. Other Salzburgers 
came at a later date, 

1734. Eight pounds of silk cocoons 
raised in Georgia were taken to England 
by Gov. Ogelthorpe. A trunk full was 
afterward caiTied. The silk was woven 
and shown to Queen Caroline, who was 
so much pleased with it that she selected 
a pattern from which a court dress was 
made. She appeared in this diess at a 
levee upon her next birthday. Silk cul- 
ture, however, was not a complete success 
in the colony. 

1734. A colony of Schwenckfelders 
came to Pennsylvania. They denied the 
efficacy of the Bible. 

1734. The old State House, after- 
ward Independence Hall in Philadelphia, 
begun in 1732, was completed. 

1734. Sugar Act. Parliament passed 
an act for thirty years " for the better se- 
curing the trade of His Majesty's sugar 
colonies in America." Duties were laid 
so high as to practically exclude sugar 
and molasses from entering English 
American ports. 

1734. Nov. 17. Free Press in New 
York. John Peter Zenger, printer of 
the New York Weekly Journal, which 
defended popular rights against the 
demands of the ci"own, was acquitted 
after imprisonment and trial, amid the 
rejoicing of the colonies. The case 
grew out of the demand made by the 
new governor of the province for salary 
before he arrived in America. Zenger 
resisted the demand with the above result. 
The spirit of liberty was moving through 



THE MATURING FORCES. 



239 



all the colonies in opposition to the at- 
tempted restrictions of Parliament. The 
trial was long and able. Andrew Ham- 
ilton, an eminent lawyer from Philadel- 
phia, was counsel for Zenger. 

1735. First Moravian Colony. Ten 
Moi'avian families settled upon the Ogee- 
chee, in Georgia. This colony, the first 
in America, grew out of the efforts of 
Count Zinzendorf to promote their in- 
terests. They hoped to find a place in 
which they could freely carry out their 
ideas. Moravian missions were also 
founded in Greenland this 3^ear. 

1736. January. A colony of Scotch 
Highlanders settled at New Inverness, 
Ga. These people were among the best 
and hardiest of the section from which 
they came. 

1736. The first newspaper in Vir- 
ginia, named "The Virginia Gazette,'* 
was issued at Williamsburg, where the 
first printing press in the colony had been 
set up by William Parks 

1736. February. John Wesley and 
his brother Charles came to Georgia in a 
company of colonists. The former be- 
came the parish minister of Savannah. 
Charles was secretary of Indian affairs, 
and chaplain to the governor. An alien- 
ation soon occurred between the two, but 
they were afterward reconciled. Charles 
went to England soon, and never came 
back, on account of poor health. More 
Moravians and Salzburgers came upon 
this voyage. It is related that a fearful 
storm came upon the vessel and nearly 
carried it to the bottom. All were in 
great terror, except the Moravians. The 
storm broke upon them on Sundav, just at 
the time of service. A sudden burst of the 
tempest made the rest ci*y out in anguish. 
Rut the Moravians continued to sing the 
hymn which they had begun, and con- 



240 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



ducted their worship to the end very 
cahiily. After the storm was over, John 
Wesley said to one of the Moravians: 
"Were you not afraid?" "I thank 
God, no," was the reply. " But were 
not your women and children afraid ?" 
" Our women and children are not afraid 
to die," was the sublime response. 

1736. John Wesley's Sunday School. 
John Wesley established a school of 
about forty children in the parish of 
Christ Church, Savannah. He put it in 
charge of a Mr. Dclamottc, but met the 
school himself every Sunday evening, 
heard the catechism, questioned them 
upon the sermon, and taught them the 
Bible. This preceded all modern Sun- 
day schools, by more than half a centurv. 

1736. The first steam engine built in 
America was made this year after the 
Newcomcn type, for the copper mines of 
Mr. Schuyler, in New Jersey. 

1736. The first bell foundry in 
America was established at New Haven, 
Conn., b}' Abel Parmalee, who petitioned 
the colony in vain for the monopoly of 
the business for twenty years. 

1737. Paper hangings were for the 
first time advertised and sold in America. 

1737. Sept. 19. Great Indian "Walk. 
By a treaty arranged with the Delaware 
Indians, the proprietary government of 
Pennsylvania was to have as much land 
from them in the settlement of a dispute 
as should be determined by a walk of a 
day and a half. Edward Marshall, 
James Yeates and Solomon Jennings, 
were selected for the walk. Jennings 
gave out upon the way, and was in poor 
health till his death in a few years. 
Yeates fell the second morning in a faint- 
ing spell, and died in three days. Mar- 
shall kept on, and at noon of the second 
day had walked about eighty-six miles. 



A line was run obliquely to the Delaware 
and gave great offence to thp Indians, 
who contended that it should be run in 
the most direct way from the end of the 
walk. The affiiir gave rise to much 
trouble, and in after years, to bloodshed. 
The Indians alwavs claimed that they 
had been cheated by the way in which 
the walk had been conducted. Alarshall 
lived to be ninety years of age. 

1738. May 7. George Whitefield 
arrived at Savannah in order to under- 
take religious labor in the new settle- 
ments. He had already caused great 
wonder in England by his oratorical 
gifts. 

1738. An insurrection took place 
among the slaves near Charleston, S. C. 
Arms were procured, and a number of 
whites were killed. They were finally 
overcome by the citizens. This trouble 
was instigated by the Spanish of St. 
Augustine, who had been planning to 
destroy the Southern colonics. The 
slaves marched toward Charleston, de- 
stroying property and killing those who 
opposed them. At last they stopped to 
drink, and sing and dance, and while at 
their revelry were surrounded by the 
aroused planters, and subdued. 

1738. Benjamin Franklin advertised 
the following clothes as having been 
stolen from him, viz : " Broadcloth 
breeches lined with leather, sagathee coat 
lined with silk, and fine homespun linen 
shirts." 

1738. Removal of Moravians. A 
part of the Moravians of Georgia on ac- 
count of the troubles w^ith the Spanish, 
which put them under the necessitv of 
bearing arms, a thing excluded by the 
conditions of their settlement in Georgia, 
left, and went to Pennsylvania. The rest 
followed in a vear or two. 



1693-1743.] 

1740. The first type foundry in 

America was established at Germantown, 
Penn., by Christopher Sower, wlio cast 
the type of tlie German Bible which he 
issued a few years later. 

1740. A great fire raged in the city 
of Charleston, S. C, and .£20,000 were 
appropriated by Parliament for its relief. 

1740. The yellow fever made its 
first recorded appearance in Ecuador at 
Guayaquil. 

1740. A law defining slavery was 
passed for the first time in South Caro- 
lina, though negroes were brought into 
the province by Sir John Yeamans in 
1670. 

1740. George Whitefield labored 
through Georgia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, 
and New England. 

1740. Whitefleld's Bethesda Orphan- 
age. A house for orphans was opened 
by George Whitefield in Georgia. At 
1740. The Gen- first hc hired a building, but 
afterward moved into a 
house built for his purpose. 
This plan was something 
upon which Whitefield set 
his heart very strongly. He had raised 
some money for it in England, and pro- 
vided for a certain revenue in America. 
In about a year he had sixty-eight orphans 
under the care of his institution. The 
work went on for a while, but did not 
become a permanent establishment. 

1740. "Great Awakening." The 
labors of Whitefield in New England be- 
gan the "great awakening" which swept 
through large sections with great power. 
His preaching was attended by crowds 
over which he had a most wonderful 
influence. 

1740. A Sunday school was estab- 
lished among the Seventh Day Dunkers 
at Ephrata, Penn., by Ludwig Hoecker. 



THE MATURING FORCES. 



241 



tleman^s Maga- 
zine, the oldest 
in the -world, 
started in Eng- 
land by Edz'jard 
Cave. 



The school was in existence about thirty 
years. 

1740. St. Augustine was blockaded 
by a force under Gov. Ogelthorpe of 
Georgia. He had a land force of two 
thousand men, but was obliged to retire 
at last because his ships could not get 
near enough to join in the siege. 

1741. The Braganza, a diamond 
weighing 16S0 cai^ats, was found in Brazil 
and is now in the possession of the royal 
house of Portugnl. 

1741. A brilliant Aurora was visible 
in the New England colonies. The 
earth was completely illuminated by the 
apparent flame in the heavens. Rain 
fell in the night and looked while falling 
like drops of blood. This phenomenon 
caused great fear while it lasted. 

1741. The first schism in the Pres- 
byterian church in America took place 
in the form of a " Protestation" in regard 
to the licensure of candidates im^oerfectly 
educated. It occurred in the synod of 
Philadelphia. 

1741. Universalism was preached 
in America for the first time by Dr. 
George de Benneville. 

1741. The first literary magazine 
in the country was published by Ben- 
jamin Franklin, and named the " General 
Magazine and Historical Chronicle." It 
died in six months. 

1741. Bethlehem, Penn., was settled 
by Moravians. 

1741. Copper money was for the 
first time coined in Cul^a. 

1741. Vitus Behring made his third 
and last voyage to explore the waters be- 
tween America and Kamschatka, and 
determine the separation between them. 
The expedition had been ten years in 
preparation, with great labor to the 
Siberians. Behring was sick most of the 

16 



242 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



time during the trip, and was too much 
broken down to enter ujDon it. It was 
therefore a failure for the most part, al- 
tliough the American coast was reached, 
and a few landed. No investigations 
were made. Behring finally died on one 
of the Aleutian Islands, on which they 
were obliged to stop for the ^vinter. He 
was a Dane of certain very excellent 
qualities. His last voyage established the 
nearness of the two continents. He 
named Mt. St. Elias which rose before 
the sight crowned with snow. 

THE XEGRO PLOT. 

1741. New York City was convulsed 
this year by an excitement which in its 
results was as fearful as the witchcraft 
excitement of Massachusetts. A num- 
ber of circumstances caused a few per- 
sons to susjDect that a plot had been laid 
by some negroes to rise and kill the 
whites. The matter originated in the 
robbery of a shop by negroes. The 
governor's house and barracks were 
burned. A week afterward another fire 
was discovered, and on the following 
w^eek another one. Several fires broke 
out within two days of the next week. 
Suddenly suspicion fell upon some Sj^an- 
ish negroes lately brought to the colony. 
The fear of an insurrection at once spread 
like wild fire. Many negroes were ar- 
rested and brought forward for trial. 
The excitement grew by the testimony 
of several witnesses, among them a girl 
named Mary Burton, fifteen years of 
age. The accused were allowed no 
counsel, and their bearing beneath the 
increasing weight of false evidence, added 
to the popular tumult. One hundred 
and fifty negroes were imprisoned; one 
hundred were convicted of being conspir- 
ators; twelve were burned; eighteen 



were hanged. Four white persons 
were hanged. Twelve negroes were 
transported to be sold as slaves. The 
commotion at one time was awful. At 
last a reaction set in, and in a few months 
the revulsion was complete. It has been 
judged since, that if several negroes did at 
the time commit some misdeeds, no evi- 
dence of a conspiracy was really found 
to exist. 



1742. Faneuil Hall, Boston, the 
" Cradle of American Liberty," was 
built and given to the town by Peter 
Faneuil, a Huguenot merchant. It w^as 
built as a market, but contained the hall, 
which, after rebuilding as a consequence 
of the fire in 1760, became so famous. 
This, and the Old South Church, wei"e 
the two sacred spots of Revolutionary 
days in Boston. 

1742. Franklin Stoves. An open 
iron fireplace was invented by Benjamin 
Franklin, and has since been known by 
his name. Its use has been very exten- 
sive down to the present time. At the 
first a great ai'gument for its use was 
the saving of fuel and the better warm- 
ing of the room, than by the old brick 
fireplace. Franklin issued a little pamph- 
let explaining the principles of the 
stove. A friend of his began making 
the castings, and the trade in them grew 
dailv. Franklin refused an olTered pat- 
ent upon it, affirming that as we are bene- 
fited by the inventions of others, we 
ought to dedicate ours to the general 
good. A man patented it in England, 
and made considerable money upon it. 

1742. First Cotton Gin. A cotton 
gin was invented by M. Dcbreuil, a 
French planter of Louisiana, and entered 
into use. Cotton was previously separated 
from the seed by hand, which was a very 



1693-1743.] 

slow process. The new gin 
prove very efficient. 

1742. July. The Bloody Marsh. A 
Spanish force of thirty -six vessels and 
three thousand men arrived at St. Simons, 
Ga., for the invasion of the country. 
They were vigorously resisted, but suc- 
ceeded in forcing their way upon shore 
at last, and set out into the interior. A 
severe battle occurred at what has since 
been known as the " Bloody Marsh," 
but the Spaniards were almost immedi- 
ately deceived by a stratagem in regard 
to the number of troops around them, 
and becoming frightened, took to their 
ships and sailed away. 

1743. Gov. Ogelthorpe, of Georgia, 
retired from his office this year, and re- 
turned to England, after a wise and 
effective administration in establishing 
that province. Great honor is due him for 
having founded a philanthropic colony, 
and for having sustained it as well as he 
did. Between the entanglements with 
South Carolina on the one hand, and 
with the Spaniards of Florida on the 
other, he needed all skill in civil and mil- 
itary afTairs. He died after the Revolu- 
tion, at the age of ninety years. No 



THE MATURING FORCES. 
did not 



243 



colonial governor excelled him in rare 
qualities of mind and heart. 

1743. Codrington College, in Barba- 
does, W. I., was established. 

1743. The first Bible printed in 
America for any European population, 
was a copy of Luther's German Bible 
which was printed at Germantown,Penn., 
by Christopher Sowei", who had estab- 
lished the type foundry located at that 
place. 

1743. David Brainerd, the mission- 
ary, began labor among the Indians at a 
village between Stockbridge, Mass., and 
Albany, N. Y. He worked afterward 
among the Delawares, and among the 
Indians of New Jersey. His labors 
were very effective, and he has been cel- 
ebrated for his untiring devotion to his 
object. He died in 1747. 

1743. The American Philosophical 
Society was founded largely through the 
efforts of Dr. Franklin, who was greatly 
troubled because the means for diffusing 
knowledge were no more highly devel- 
oped in Philadelphia. He was constantly 
devising ways for benefiting the commu- 
nity, and of stirring the people up to a 
sense of their own needs. 




SECTION XII. 

TUB ^^B^A'nATo^r ^isciTziJvu. HAJ^-neo. 



IFFERENCES between the two 
great jealous nations busy coi- 
onizing North America, now began 
to multiply. The strength of each 
in the new settlements was increasing 
steadily. Rival projects for securing the 
territory along the Ohio and its tributa- 
ries, were put into operation. The strife 
for the supremacy in North America was 
at hand. It was speedily decided, and 
England remained the sole power to 
sway the destinies of these great unde- 
veloped regions. She little knew that 
the effort of acquiring the sovereignty 
brought into play new forces which were 
to take the rule from her hands into their 
own. But so it was. The training in 
warfare with the Indians, the constant 
burdens of raising troops and money, 
toughened the muscle of the colonies to 
an endurance which was exhibited in the 
long and trying Revolution. The pres- 
ent difficulties also presented the occasion 
for the agitation of the principles which 
had been insisted upon in minor ways, 
since the settlement of the country. They 
gave the training, and brought the crisis. 

1744. King George's war began be- 
tween England and France, and once 

[iiJ4] 



more set the American colonics into com- 
motion. 

1744. A convention was held at 
Lancaster, Penn., between the English 
and the Iroquois, in order to strengthen 
the existing alliance, and prevent the 
French from gaining influence with the 
latter. Two hundred and fifty Iroquois 
chiefs and warriors were present. The 
result was apparently good. 

CAPTURE OF LOUISBURG. 

1745. June 17. Louisburg, the 
" Gibraltar of iVmerica " in its time, fell 
before the combined English and colo- 
nial forces, after a siege of about two 
months. The fortifications of this place 
were twenty-five years in construction, 
and cost 30,000,000 livres. It was the 
strongest place on the continent. The 
colonial troops were raised entirely by 
New England. Massachusetts furnished 
3,200 men, Rhode Island 300, New 
Hampshire 350, and Connecticut 500. 
New Jersey and Pennsylvania reluct- 
antly sent some supplies, and the assem- 
bly of New York voted £3,000 after 
considerable hesitation. When Gov. 
Clinton of New York, who wished his 
province to furnish men also, found that 



1744-1760.] 

it would not be done, he sent off some 
cannon at his own expense to aid in the 
siege. The plan for the capture of this 
stronghold originated with Gov. Shirley 
of Massachusetts, who naturally did all 
he could to make it a complete success. 
The New England colonies responded 
freely, because they felt that such a forti- 
fication near their eastern border would 
be a constant menace. Col. William 
Pepperell of Kittery, N. H., was appoint- 
ed to command the colonial forces. It 
was arranged for the land troops to be 
aided by the English fleet under Com- 
modore Warren, from the West Indies. 
The best possible preparation was made, 
and the forces were sent during March 
and the first of April to Canso, as a ren- 
dezvous. April 29 the whole fleet sailed 
for Cape Breton. The object of the ex- 
pedition had been kept entirely secret 
from the French, and their first knowl- 
edge of hostile intent against Louisburg, 
was upon seeing the English fleet in the 
ofiing on the morning of the last day of 
April. Everything thus far had served 
to encourage the expedition, though the 
possibility of beating down the strong 
walls seemed to some, very small. A 
landing was almost immediately accom- 
plished by a part of the troops, and store- 
houses were fired near the shore. The 
French abandoned the water battery in 
terror, and possession was taken of it the 
next morning by Col.- Vaughan, with a 
small force. The rest of the troops were 
now landed, and within seventeen days 
three batteries were erected within seven 
hundred yards of the city, and one v\^lthln 
two hundred and fifty. The courage of 
the volunteers of the fleet was strength- 
ened by the capture of the Vigilant, with 
six hundred prisoners, sixty-four guns, 
and numerous military stores. An attack 



THE PREPARATORT DISCIPLINE. 



245 



was now made upon the Island battery, 
which It was very desirable to take. The 
English were repulsed with a loss of 172 
men killed, wounded, and prisoners. 
Nearly half of FepperelFs men were 
now taken sick, and the ammunition was 
getting low. Every measure was taken 
to make the supplies do their best serTlce. 
The New York assembly, when it saw 
that the movement was likely to be suc- 
cessful, voted an additional .£5,000. Gov. 
Shirley did all he could to enlarge the 
effective supplies of the expedition. The 
fleet at last got possession of the harbor, 
and the besieged were becoming worn 
out. Communications were completely 
cut off, and the English forces greatly 
outnumbered the garrison. Gov. Du- 
chambou, foreseeing the inevitable result, 
asked for a capitulation, wdilch was 
granted. The surrender was finally 
made upon the day afterward rendered 
famous by the Battle of Bunker Hill. 
Over four thousand regular troops, mili- 
tiamen and inhabitants, returned to 
France. A large amount of munitions 
of war and provisions, fell into the hands 
of the English. The English had lost 
130 men; the French 300. The result 
"filled Europe with amazement, and 
America with joy." Gov. Shirley was 
transported with delight at the success of 
his scheme. Col. Pepperell was after- 
w^ard knighted for his achievement In 
this enterprise, and was presented with a 
silver table from London. Men fought 
at Louisburg who thirty years afterward 
served in the American army around 
Boston, at the opening of the Revolution. 



1745. A negro conspiracy w\as dis- 
covered in Jamaica, W. I., and the lead- 
ers were sevcrelv punished. 

1746. The Moravians were expelled 



246 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



from New York and made their way to 
1710-1759. Nazareth and Bethlehem, 

cuariesiiLKing ^ cx^n. David Zeisber-er 

of Spain and 

Portugal. began his labor among the 

Indians, and continued it for sixty-two 
years with great devotion. He prepared 
an Onandaga Grammar and Dictionary. 
1743. The College of New Jersey- 
was founded at Elizabethtown by the 
"new side " of the Presbyterian church. 
It was afterward removed to Newark, 
thence to Princeton, and is now known 
as Princeton College. 

1746. An earthquake destroyed the 
city of Lima and its harbor Callao, in 
Peru. The shocks were very violent and 
frequent. 

1747. Silk in Connecticut. The 
first coat and stockings made from silk 
raised in New England, were worn by 
Gov. Law of Connecticut. The culture 
of silk in New England increased for 
many years. 

1747. The first cook-book issued in 
America was published at Boston, and 
was entitled, " Directions how to dress 
any Common Dish." 

1747. November. The Boston Mob. 
Commodore Knowles of the English 
scjuadron in Boston Harbor, impressed 
se\cral men from the town, and caused 
great excitement among the people. A 
mnb of several thousand persons gathered 
and demanded redress from the governor 
and general court. The tide of feeling 
rose so high through two or three days, 
that the men were finally released, for 
fear of the consequences if it were not 
done. The agitation was at once quieted, 
and the town seemed as usual. The 
cause of the people had triumphed in a 
little, and yet a significant afHiir. 

1747. Agricultural questions were 
written upon by Jared Eliot, a Connecti- 



cut minister. His essays were very valu- 
al)le, and were the first contributions 
made to this department in America. 
But no spread of interest took place in 
agricultural pursuits till after the Revo- 
lution. 

1748. October. A conflict which 
had been impending for some time be- 
tween Gov. Clinton of New York and 
the assembly of that province in I'egard 
to the royal revenues, \vas precipitated 
by English influence in order to enfoi'ce 
the royal supremacy. It was intended 
to make this a test case. The struggle 
was continued for a time, and never came 
to any clear result. 

1748. The treaty of Aix la Chapelle 
ended King George's war, and stipulated 
for the return to either party, of prisoners 
and property taken from the other. By 
this arrangement Cape Breton and Louis- 
burs: came into French hands again. 

FIRST TELEGRAPHIC dT TEMPT. 

1748. Dr. Benjamin Franklin trans- 
mitted shocks across the Schuylkill River, 
Penn., by means of electrical currents 
forced through wire. The fact that earth 
and water would complete an electrical 
circuit, had then only been observed for a 
year or two. This is a great point there- 
fore, in the struggle to obtain the modern 
telegraph. 

1748. Seven bags of cotton, the first 
exported from America,- were shipped 
from Charleston, S. C. 

1748. The first muskets made in 
America were manufactured by Hugh 
Orr, the celebrated machinist, at Bridge- 
water, Mass., for the Massachusetts Bay 
colony. When the British evacuated 
Boston in the Revolution, they carried off 
these muskets from Castle William. Mr. 



1744-1760.] 

Orr also made cannon at the foundry in 
Bridgewater. 

1748. Peter Kalm, an eminent Swed- 
ish botanist, arrived at Philadelphia to 
make a tour of North America under 
the auspices of the Swedish government. 
He remanied three years and made large 
collections of plants. After his return he 
published an account of his trip. 

1749. The Ohio Land Company was 
organized and received a grant of five 
hundred thousand acres of land beyond 
the Alleghenies between the Kanawha 
and Monongahela Rivers, south of the 
Ohio. One hundred fimilies were to be 
settled and a fort maintained, as the con- 
ditions of the grant. The company wa s 
originated by Thomas Lee, a Virginia 
councillor, and was formed of himself, 
Mr. Hanbury, a London merchant, and 
twelve persons in Maryland and Virginia. 
Lawrence and Augustine Washington 
were concerned in the movement. 
Before the company could take any 
active steps a French officer visited the 
region and buried plates of lead on the 
banks of the Ohio River, claiining all 
the land from the water-shed of the Alle- 
ghenies to the west indefinitely, on the 
ground of the explorations of Cham- 
plain, Marquette, La Salle and others. 

1749. June. Halifax Founded. The 
first permanent English colony east of 
the Penobscot was formed at Chebucto 
Harbor, Nova Scotia, and was named 
Halifax. This settlement was designed 
for the purpose of breaking up French 
influence, and holding the region for 
England. It was part of the plan for 
filling up Acadia with English families. 
Twenty-five hundred persons came in 
under the special inducements held out 
by the "Lords of Trade and Plantations." 

1749. " A stamp duty on all instru- 



THE PREPARATORT DISCIPLINE. 



247 



ments used in legal affairs," was sug- 
gested by William Douglas of Boston, 
as a source of revenue to the English 
crown. 

1749. First Girl's School. The Mo- 
ravians opened a school for girls at Beth- 
lehem, Penn. This was the first such 
school of higher character on the conti- 
nent. 

1749. The University of Philadel- 
phia was founded as an academy for the 
instruction of youth, through the solicita- 
tion of Dr. Franklin. 

1749. The Queen of the Creeks. An 
attempt was made by a half-breed Indian 
woman, whose original name was Mary 
Musgro\'e, and who had obtained the 
acknowledgement by the Creek Indians 
of her pretended rights as their queen, to 
secure for herself the province of Geor- 
gia. She was at the time the wife of 
Thomas Bosomworth, who had come to 
this country as a minister of the Church 
of England, but had turned his attention 
to trading among the Indians. Mary 
Alusgrove had previously been married 
to a man named Matthews. She and 
her husband, by their machinations, 
caused great fear in the province. At 
one time they advanced with a large 
number of Indian followers, with the 
secret intention of accomijlishing their 
design by force. But the suspicions of 
the whites jDut them upon the alert, and 
the vigorous steps of a few determined 
people warded off the danger. Great 
excitement existed for a while. Mary 
Musgrove was arrested, and finally 
measures were taken to convince the 
Creeks that their pretended queen was a 
fraud. The tribe finally lost their favor 
for her. 

1750. January. A Free Pulpit. John- 
athan Mayhew of Boston, preached 



248 



COLONIAL LIFE, 



against the doctrine of the "divine right 
of kings, and non-resistance." 

1750. April. The peninsula of 
Nova Scotia was occupied by tlie Fi^ench 
in opposition to an English force. 

1750. August. An engagement oc- 
curred in which the English gained pos- 
session of Chiegnecto, Nova Scotia. The 
first blood drawn since the treaty of Aix 
la Chapelle, was shed in this engagement. 

1750. Steam navigation was un- 
successfully attempted by a farmer in 




1750. A theatrical company under 
Thomas Kean and a Mr. Murray, ex- 
hibited stage plays in New York. 

1750. The first theatrical perform- 
ance in Boston took place, the piece 
exhibited being Otway's " Orphan." 

1750. The first anatomical dissection 
in America was made in New York by 
Drs. John Bard and Peter Middleton. 

1750. " The Public Whipper being 
dead, ,£20 a year is oficrcd to a successor 
at the mayor's office." This appeared as 
an advertisement in the New York Ga- 
zette. This illustrates the public nature of 



some of the punishments of that day. In 
some cases through New England and 
elsewhere, certain things were made the 
subject of discipline, which do not now 
come within the range of legal action. 
The gagging of a scold in the cut gives 
a specimen of this. 

1750. Opposition to American Man- 
ufactures. On account of the rapid in- 
crease of iron industries in America, a 
bill was introduced into Parliament for- 
bidding the erection of any rolling mill, 
plating forge, or furnace for making 
steel. After considerable remonstrance 
the bill failed by a slight majority, but it 
■was at last decided that the number already 
in use must never be increased, under a 
penalty of a thousand dollars for each 
offence. Each mill of the kind was de- 
clared a " common nuisance," 

1751. The Pennsylvania Hospital, 
the first general hospital in the English 
colonies, was chartered. No other was 
establisheel until twenty years later, in 
New York. 

1751. April. First Sugar Cane in 
North America. The Jesuit fathers of 
Port au Prince, W. I., sent some slips 
of sugar cane to their brethren at New 
Orleans. They were started in large gar- 
dens above the town near Canal Street, 
but the culture \vas not very successful, 
owing to lack of knowledge concerning it. 
Since then this has slowly risen to be the 
great sugar region of North America. 

1752. Georgia became a royal prov- 
ince through the surrender of their charge 
to the crown by the trustees. The re- 
strictions upon rum and slaves now 
ceased entirely. 

1752. The first English Bible printed 
in America was issued in Boston by 
Kneeland and Green. 

1752. The first city directory in 



1744-1760.] 

America was issued in Baltimore, Mary- 
land. 

1752. During a tliunder storm this 
year, Dr. Franklin successfully established 
the identity of electricity and lightning-. 
He made his experiment with a kite. It 
is claimed that the same discovery was 
made at the same time on the continent 
of Europe. 

1752. King's Chapel, Boston, was 
1752. "JVew erected, and was the first 

Siy/e," or Greg- building known to have 

orian Calendar -x •^ 

introduced into been built of American 
England. stouc. Granite from Brain- 

tree near Boston, was used in its con- 
struction. 

1752. Sept. 5. A theatrical com- 
pany, the first real company in America, 
under the leadership of one Hallam, 
began to exhibit stage plays at Williams- 
burg, Va. The company continued to 
give exhibitions in the larger cities till 
the Revolution. 

1752. Hopedale, in Labrador, was 
settled by Moravian missionaries, who 
afterward obtained a grant of a tract of 
land. Other points were afterward oc- 
cupied, and the missions, though carried 
on under great difficulties, have continued 
till the present time. 

1752. First Fire Insurance Com- 
pany. A company w^as organized 
in Philadelphia with Dr. Franklin as 
president, for the insurance of buildings 
in case of loss by fire. It took the rather 
lengthy name of " The Philadelphia 
Contributionship for the Insurance of 
Houses from Loss by Fire." It is knov^^n 
as the old " Contributionship," or, Hand- 
in-Hand Society. Its symbol was a pair 
of clasped hands. It still does business 
in Philadelphia. No other fire-insurance 
company was organized till thirty-two 
years afterward, in 1 784. 



THE PREPARATORT DISCIPLINE. 



249 



1752. " Liberty Bell" was imported 
from England and became known by the 
above name after it had rung forth 
the joyful news of the declaration of 
independence in 1776. It was cracked 
soon after it reached this country, and 
was recast at Philadelphia. It was at 
this time undoubtedly that the prophetic 
inscription w^as placed upon it: "Pro- 
claim liberty throughout all the land, 
unto all the inhabitants thereof." Lev. 
XXV. 10. The crack which exists in it 
at present was produced by violent ring- 
ing in honor of a visit of Henry Clay 
to Philadelphia. 

1753. The " Society for Promoting 
Industry among the Poor " at its anni- 
versary in Boston set three hundred young 
women at work publicly on Boston Com- 
mon, each at a sjDinning wheel. Other 
industries were represented during the 
day in a public procession, and domestic 
manufactures were much stimulated. 

1753. A lottery was established in 
Baltimore for raising money with which 
to build a public wharf. 

1753. The Post-Office in America. 
Benjamin Franklin had been an assistant 
of Col. Spotswood, the postmaster gen- 
eral of America, since 1737. At the 
death of the latter Franklin 
and Mr. William Hunter 
were appointed to succeed him. Their 
joint salary was to be £600 a year, pro- 
vided they could get it from the business 
of the office. In 1757 Franklin records 
the fixct that the office was j£'90o in debt 
to them. They afterward succeeded in 
it pay them a profit for their 



1153. British 
Museum fou7ided. 



making 
services. 
1753. 
French 



French Aggression. The 
seized English surveyors and 
traders, with one or two storehouses, in 
the Ohio Valley. They erected a chain 



250 

of forts between Lake Erie 

forks of the Ohio, where Pittsburg now 

stands. 

1753. Oct. 31. George Washington, 

twenty-one years okl, under the com- 
mand of Lieut.-Gov. Dinwiddie of Vir- 
ginia, set out on a trip to the Fi'ench 
posts west of the Alleghenies, He 
crossed the mountains with his escort in 
a journey of forty-one days, and found St. 
Pierre, the French commander. He re- 
ceived a sealed letter for Gov. Dinwiddie 
and started upon his return, after having 
carefully scrutinized everything. A part 
of the journey home was accomplished 
on foot through the snow with Christopher 
Gist, the veteran explorer. Once while 
crossing the Allegheny upon a raft, 
Washington was jerked into the stream 
by the ice which he was attempting to 
push away with his pole. With diffi- 
culty he swam to a small island, and es- 
caped the next morning by the freezing 
over of the river. Washington and his 
companion were also shot at by Indians, 
but escaped uninjured, and finally reached 
Williamsburg in safety. The result of 
the mission ^vas entirely unsatisfactory so 
far as the French commander was con- 
cerned. 

1754. Jan. 16. The report of 
Washington concerning his western 
journev was made to the assembly of 
Virginia, and jCio,ooo were voted for an 
expedition into that part of the country. 
The present site of Pittsburg, Penn., 
was chosen as the place for the first Eng- 
lish fort west of the Alleghenies, and a 
small force was sent forward to secure 
the spot. Works of fortification were 
begun. Col. Joshua Frye and Lieut. 
George Washington were sent on with 
reinforcements. 

1754. March. Midway, Ga. The 



COLONIAL LIFE. 
and the 



colony of New England joeople who had 
founded Dorchester, S. C, removed once 
more and settled Midway, Ga. They 
then entered into a mutual compact. The 
civil and religious government of the 
colony was pure and simple, and was 
preserved by safeguards of \arious kinds. 
The influence of the old Midway church 
has been worth a great deal to Georgia. 

1754. April 17. Fort Du Quesne. 
Before Frye and Washington could 
reach their destination the French ap- 
peared, took the fort, finished it for 
themselves, and called it Fort Du Quesne. 
This has been named the " date of the 
beginning of the hostility \vhich was 
finally to decide supremac}^ In America.'* 

1754. May 28. Washington attacked 
a French party under M. de Jumonville, 
and fired the first gun himself. The 
French were defeated, and their com- 
mander was slain. Washington, having 
pushed on, built a stockade at Great 
Meadows, and called it Fort Necessity. 

1754. June 19. An American Con- 
gress. A convention of delegates from 
the colonial assemblies met at Albany,, 
N. Y., to strengthen the ties with the 
Iroquois, and take steps for a closer alli- 
ance of the colonies. Benjamin Franklin 
was a member of the convention, and 
was appointed upon a committee to draw 
up a plan for colonial confederation. A 
plan drawn by Franklin on his way to 
the meeting, was recommended by the 
committee, and adopted by the convention. 
Subsequently the English Lords of Trade 
refused to approve it because it seemed 
to promote colonial liberty, and the pro- 
vincial assemblies rejected it because it 
seemed to promote royal powder. 

1754. July 4. Washington was at- 
tacked in Fort Necessity by a large force 
of French and Indians, and forced to 



1744-17G0.] 

surrender after nine hours of severe 
fighting. 

1754. Columbia CoUege, in New 
York city, was founded under the name 
of King's College. Funds amounting to 
$17,000 had been raised for it by lottery. 

1754. Philadelphia and Boston Mail. 
Benjamin Franklin gave notice that the 
mail for New England which used to 
start from Philadelphia " once a fort- 
night in winter, would start once a week 
all the year, whereby answers might be 
obtained to letters between Philadelphia 
and Boston in three weeks, which used 
to require six." 

1754. September. Edward Brad- 
dock was commissioned " commander- 
in-chief of all English forces in America." 

1755. April 14. The Campaign. Gen. 
Braddock, who had arrived from Eng- 
land with two regiments, conferred with 
the royal governors at Alexandria, Va. 
Four expeditions were planned; one 
against Fort Du Quesne; a second 
against Fort Niagara and Fort Fronte- 
nac; a third against Crown Point, and a 
fourth against Nova Scotia. 

1755. June. Nova Scotia was taken 
possession of by the English American 
force. 

1755. June 7. The expedition 
against Fort Du Quesne started from Fort 
Cumberland on Will's Creek. It con- 
sisted of one thousand regulars under 
Gen. Braddock, and twelve hundred 
provincials under the subordinate com- 
mand of Washington. Thirty sailors 
were in the force. A supply of artillery 
was taken. 

1755. July 9. Braddock's Defeat. 
The army under Gen. Braddock fell into 
a fearful ambush while nearing Fort Du 
Quesne, and the British regulars, luiac- 
customed to the horrors of an Indian 



THE PREPARATORT DISCIPLINE. 



251 



warfare, fled at last for their lives. The 
provincials under Washington did most 
of the fighting, and guarded the retreat. 
Gen. Braddock was killed, together with 
half his force. Washington received 
several bails through his clothing. This 
terrible disaster happened because Gen. 
Braddock persistently and haughtily re- 
fused to take advice concerning the march 
of his troops into the wilderness, being 
vain in the assurance that a British regu- 
lar could anywhere disperse a crowd of 
Indians. Hence he pushed on without 
due precautions, and entered the fatal trap 
without heed. The Indians gained great 
confidence by their success, and the pro- 
vincial troops learned that regulars were 
not invincible. Washington, Gates, Gage, 
Morgan and Mercer were all there, and 
treasured up the experience. 

1755. Aug. 21. The expedition 
against Forts Niagara and Frontenac 
arrived at Oswego, on Lake Ontario. 
Gen. Shirley, who was in command 
here, built a fort and a number of boats, 
but did not undertake to accomplish 
anything further. He heard of Baron 
Dieskau's intended movement against 
Oswego from the north, and having left 
seven hundred men in the fort, returned to 
Albany. 

1755. Sept. 3. The Exiled Aca- 
dians. The Acadians were assembled 
by proclamation of the English authori- 
ties for a purpose kept secret till they 
were gathered together. They were 
then forced to remove from Nova Scotia 
in vessels to other English colonies. 
Their property was confiscated, their 
houses were burned, and in the removal 
families were broken up, and scattered 
abroad. Longfellow's Evangeline pre- 
serves the pathos of this sad event which 
took place, according to Edmund Burke 



9.:v2 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



" upon pretences that in the eye of an 
honest man are not worth a farthing." 
It is claimed now that the transaction 
was perfectly justifiable, but it may be 
doubted whether a true defence can be 
made. 

1755. Sept. 8. Dieskau's Defeat. 
A French force under Baron Dieskau, 
who had come down from Canada, was 
defeated near Lake George by an Eng- 
lish foi'ce under Gen. William Johnson. 
Dieskau was killed. The English lost 
two or three hundred men; the French 
about five hundred. This victory very 
essentially changed the position of affairs 
and prevented the defeat of Braddock 
from having such an adverse influence as 
it would otherwise have had. The cam- 
paign of 1755, however, closed without 
any advantage to English arms. Gen. 
Shirley now stood at the head of the 
forces in America, and planned expe- 
ditions for the next year against Forts 
Du Quesne, Niagara, Frontenac, and 
Crown Point. 

HEKDRICK. 

1755. Hendrick was one of the most 
celebrated of the Mohawk chiefs. His 
father had been a Mohegan chief, but 
his mother belonged to the Mohawks. 
Hendrick was an intimate acquaintance 
of Gen. William Johnson, the superin- 
tendent of Indian affairs, whose residence 
was near the Mohawk tribe. He hap- 
pened to be at Johnson's house when the 
latter received some suits of very fine 
clothing from England. The Indian's 
love of display was aroused, and he went 
back to his wigwam very greatly desir- 
ing one of the suits. In a few days he 
returned and told Johnson that he had 
dreamed that a fine suit had been given 
him as a present. Gen. Johnson knew 



it would not do to violate Indian super- 
stition in regard to dreams, and accord- 
ingly handed over the clothing. Soon 
after he told Hendrick that he also had 
had a dream to the effect that the Indian 
chief had given him a tract of land com- 
prising over five hundred acres in the 
best part of the Mohawk Valley. Hen- 
drick gave the land, but did not wish to 
dream any more with the Englishman. ♦ 
When the French and Indian war broke 
out Hendrick and his warriors, under the 
influence of Johnson, aided the English. 
He fell in the battle of Lake George, 
together with about forty of his followers. 
Hendrick's death caused great sorrow 
among the Alohawks, and it was with 
difliculty that they could be prevented 
from taking their revenge upon the 
French prisoners. This chief was nearly 
seventy years of age at the time of his 
death. The English had regarded him 
with respect, and had often sought his 
advice. 

1755. Nov. 18. A severe earthquake 

was felt in New England, which twisted 
and threw down chimneys, and some 
brick buildings. No severer shock has 
ever been felt in New England, 

1755. Nov. 24. Twelve Moravian 
missionaries were slain at Alahoney, 
Penn., in an attack of the Indians upon 
that place. 

1755. A German printing press was 
set up at Philadelphia by the London 
Society of Religious Knowledge. 

1755. The first permanent settlement 
in Eastern Maine was made on Penob- 
scot Bay by Gov. Pownall, of Massa- 
chusetts. 

1756. May 17. War was formally 
declared by England against France. 

1756. June 9. War was formally de- 



1744-1760.] 

clared by France against England. The 
French now sent Louis Joseph, Marquis 
de Montcahn, to command all their 
forces in Canada. He was a man of 
great " experience and ability." 

1756. June 25. Gen. Abercrombie 
arrived in America to command the 
English forces till the Earl of Loudoun, 
who was to serve as commander-in-chief, 
could come. 

1756. July 3. An engagement oc- 
curred between an English force under 
Col. Bradstreet and a force of French 
and Indians, near Oswego. The advan- 
tage remained with the former. 

1756. July 29. The Earl of Loudoun 
arrived in New York as commander-in- 
chief. He was described by a wit on 
account of his slowness, as being " like 
St. George on the signs, who is always 
on horseback, and yet never rides on." 

1756. Aug. 14. Fort Oswego was 
taken by a French force under Mont- 
calm. Sixteen hundred men, one hun- 
dred and twenty cannon, six vessels, and 
three hundred boats, besides large stores, 
fell into the hands of the French. Eng- 
land had thus carelessly lost its farthest out- 
post, besides valuable supplies. The forces 
under Gen. Webb, which had started for 
Oswego, turned back when they heard 
of the capture. Montcalm destroyed the 
post. The campaign of 1756 closed, 
with little attempted, and less accom- 
plished. Actual loss had befallen the 
English arms. The English expeditions 
against Fort Du Quesne and Ticonder- 
oga were abandoned. 

1756. Oct. 7. The Indian village of 
Kittanning in Western Pennsylvania, was 
destroyed by three hundred whites in re- 
venge for the injuries inflicted upon the 
border settlements by the Delawares. 

1756. The population of New York 



THE PREPARATORT DISCIPLINE. 



253 



city numbered at this time about twelve 
thousand. 

1757. February. Pennsylvania's Dis- 
content. Owing to the constant effort 
of England to reduce popular power in 
America, Benjamin Franklin was chosen 
agent by Pennsylvania, in which prov- 
ince the discontent had been severe, 
" to represent in England the unhappy 
state of that province, that all occasion of 
dispute hereafter might be removed by 
an act of the British legislature." 

1757. The House of Commons 
adopted the resolve " that the claim of 
right in a colonial assembly to raise and 
apply public money by its own act alone, 
is derogatory to the crown, and to the 
rights of the people of Great Britain." 
This was circulated at once throughout 
America. 

1757. June 20. The Earl of Loudoun 
sailed from New York for the capture of 
Louisburg, but went no further than 
Halifiix. Here he delayed with a splen- 
did army of ten thousand men, till he 
heard that the French fleet at Louisburg 
exceeded his own fleet by one or two 
vessels, upon which he sailed back to 
New York. 

1757. Aug. 9. Fort William Henry 
was captured by the French under Mont- 
calm. At the surrender a guard was 
guaranteed to the survivors as far as Fort 
Edward, but the Indian allies of the 
French fell upon and slew large nvun- 
bers of the departing garrison. The 
French officers tried very hard to stop 
the massacre, but the savages \vould not 
stay till they had had their fill of blood. 
Montcalm especially w^as almost frantic, 
and besought the Indians to kill him 
rather than his prisoners. A terrible scene 
was enacted. The fort was destroyed 
and abandoned. Gen. Webb was at Fort 



254 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



Edward, fifteen miles distant, and did not 
offer to reinforce the doomed post. The 
campaign of 1757 was a spectacle of inef- 
ficiency on the part of the English, who 
were now driven from the entire St. 
Lawrence and Mississippi valleys, and 
hemmed in to a narrow range of Atlan- 
tic settlements. The colonies began to 
notice the defects in the management, 
and to claim certain rights, if they were 
to vote taxes and raise men. But Wil- 
liam Pitt now became Prime Minister 
of England, and by his wonderful 
power reconstructed affairs in America. 

1758. February. Destitution of Can- 
ada. The French in Canada suffered 
extremely for lack of supplies. The 
pi'ovince had been in arms so constantly 
that the cultivation of the soil had been 
neglected. One half pound of bread 
was given daily to each soldier, and two 
ounces of bread daily to each citizen of 
Quebec. The people were much weak- 
ened by hunger. Yet Montcalm had a 
wonderful influence in kee^^ing the spirits 
of all cheerful, 

1758. The English Army. Gen. 
Abercrombie, temporarily in command, 
had an army of fifty thousand men, 
composed of twenty-two thousand Brit- 
ish and twenty-eight thousand provincial 
troops. The whole male population of 
New France was less than fifty thousand. 

1758. March. Two hundred Amer- 
icans were destroyed near Fort Ticon- 
deroga by a force of Iroquois Indians. 

JO.Y^TH±Y EDW>IRDS 

1758. March 22. Jonathan Edwards, 
the greatest American metaphysician, 
died at Princeton, N. J., at the age of 
fifty-four years. He had been installed 
President of Princeton College Februarv 
18, only thirty-four days before his death. 



He was inoculated because of the exist- 
ence of small-pox in the vicinity of 
Princeton, and died through the severe 
form which it took in his system. He 
was one of eleven children, himself the 
only boy among them. He exhibited 
signs of mental ability at a very early 
age. He entered Yale College in his 
fourteenth year, and soon fell in with 
philosophical works, particularly with 
Locke's " Essay on the Human Under- 
standing," which revealed in his enthu- 
siasm over it, the metaphysical tendency 
of his thought. When not more than 
fifteen he began to think very steadily 
upon philosophical themes. Before he 
graduated from college he formed a 
theory of the will, and of virtue, in con- 
nection with which subjects he has es- 
pecially been known. At the close of 
his collegiate course he began his studies 
for the ministry, and after serving as tutor 
in Yale for a time, he was settled as col- 
league of his grandfather, Solomon Stod- 
dard in Northampton, Mass., 1737. By 
Mr. Stoddard's death two years later he 
became sole minister of the church. In 
1 734 he began a line of preaching which 
was followed by a great revival, which 
spread before a long time to other places, 
and deeply influenced the whole country. 
His chief topic was justification by faith 
alone. Traditions concerning the preach- 
ing of some of his sermons still linger in 
the region where he was settled. He 
used very little gesture in preaching, but 
gave many signs of his entire surrender 
to the thought in mind. He afterward 
had a conflict with the church over the 
" Half Way Covenant," in which many 
held that upright persons should be ad- 
mitted to the communion, because they 
were thereby more likely to be converted. 
Edwards held that conversion should 



1744-1760.1 



THE PREPARATORT DISCIPLINE. 



255 



precede communion. The former view 
prevailed, and Edwards was forced to 
resign in lyS^* I^^ ^ short time he began 
labor among the Housatonnuck Indians 
at Stockbridge, Mass., where his wife 
and daughter helped increase a small 
salary by their own skill in work. Fi-om 
this time he studied more intensely, and 
thought more profoundly. He wrote a 
*' History of Redemption," and several 
essays, one of which upon the Will, has 
influenced the thought of the world quite 
widely. At the present his conceptions 
have very largely passed by. No Amer- 
ican theologian has ever taken hold of 
his own time and the next few genera- 
tions more powerfully. No greater 
mind has appeared in this country. Such 
a mind marks an epoch. The wonder- 
ful power of human thought seems well 
nigh amazing in the development of 
such a spirit. We may well say this, 
while we also say that his thought was 
one-sided, and therefore injurious. But 
he helped preserve the reverence of New 
Enofland for God. 



1758. The money raised by Massa- 
chusetts for the war was kept under the 
control of its own commissioners, much 
to the annoyance of the royalists. 

1758. July 6. Lord Howe, a young 
Ensrlish officer serving- under Abercrom- 
bie, was killed in a skirmish with the 
French during the advance on Fort Ticon- 
•deroga. Massachusetts erected a monu- 
ment to him in Westminster Abbey. 

1758. July 8. Fort Ticonderoga 
was inisuccessfully attacked by Gen. 
Abercrombie with a force of sixteen 
thousand men, of whom he lost two 
thousand. Gen. Amherst was appointed 
in Abercrombie's place. 

1758. July 27. Louisburg was 



taken from the French by the English 
under Gen, Amherst and Admiral Bos- 
cawen. The entire region of the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence passed into English 
control. James Wolfe and Richard 
Montgomery served in the army against 
Louisburg. The inhabitants of Cape 
Breton were sent to France, but the sol- 
diers and sailors, to the number of nearly 
six thousand men, were sent to England. 
Two hundred and twenty-one cannon, 
eighteen mortars, and a large supply of 
ammunition were taken in this victory. 
This stronghold which had now changed 
hands for the last time, was abandoned, 
and the English centered at Halifax. 

1758. Aug. 27. Fort Frontenac 
was taken by a small force under Brad- 
street. This gave the control of Lake 
Ontario to the English. Military stores, 
thirty cannon, sixteen mortars, and nine 
vessels were taken. The fort, seven ves- 
sels and such stores as could not be car- 
ried off, were destroyed. 

1758. Israel Putnam was captured 
by an Indian force, but his life was saved 
by a French officer, 

1758. Sept. 14. A battle was fought 
near Fort Du Quesne, between a British 
detachment under Major Grant and a 
force of French troops, in which the 
former was wholly defeated, most of the 
number being taken prisoners, or slain. 

1758. Nov. 25, Fort Du Quesne 
was entered by Washington with a de- 
tachment of British troops from the army 
of Gen, Forbes, The French evacuated 
and destroyed the fort during the previous 
night. A new fort was erected, and 
named Fort Pitt, in honor of William 
Pitt. The city which grew up around it 
has become known as Pittsburg, one of 
the most important centers of iron man- 
ufacture on the continent. 



256 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



1758. Peace was concluded -at a 
council held at Easton, Penn,, with the 
Iroquois, Delawares and other Indians 
living between the Ohio and the great 
lakes. The campaign of 1758 had 
changed the condition of affairs in Amer- 
ica very decidedly. 

1758. Taxes on real estate during 
this war were at times two-thirds of per- 
sonal incomes. 

1758. Seventy thousand hogsheads 
of tobacco were exported from Vn^ginia 
this year. 

1758. The first sugar mill within the 
limits of the present United States, was 
set up near New Orleans by M. Debreu- 
ieul, who began to work on a larger 
scale than the Jesuits had done a few 
years before. But sugar was not made 
successfully till 1764, and not even then 
did the culture become thoroughly estab- 
lished. 

1759. May. Guadeloupe, W. I,, was 
taken from the French by an English 
fleet, which thus gained possession of one 
of the best harboi-s in the world. The 
capture was only accomplished after a 
siege of three months. 

1759. July 25. Fort Niagara was 
taken from the French by an English 
force under Gen. Prideaux, who was 
killed in the action. 

1759. July 29. Fort Ticonderoga 
was fevacuated by the French while Gen. 
Amherst was advancing upon it with 
eleven thousand men. 

1759. July 31. Crown Point was 
evacuated by the French, who retired to 
Isle aux Noir. Gen. Amherst did not 
pursue them beyond Crown Point, at 
which place he \vent into winter quarters, 
and occupied himself with building up 
extensive fortifications. 

1759. July 31. An unsuccessful 



attack \vas made by an English army 
which had been lying before Quebec, 
upon the French outside of the city. 
This siege of Quebec \vas the greatest 
attempt the English had yet made \\\ 
French America. 

1759. Sept. 3. The Jesuits were 
expelled from Portugal, and 1684-1759. 
all Portuguese dominions, Haudd. 

by a royal edict. This was on account 
of the great power with which the Jes- 
uits were building up their missions in 
Paraguay and elsewhere. 

CAPTURE OF QUEBEC. 

1759. Sept. 13. A great battle was 
fought on the Plains of Abraham out- 
side of Quebec, between the English 
forces under Gen. James Wolfe, and the 
French forces under Gen. Montcalm. 
The English troops had lain before the 
city for two months, and at last Wolfe 
and a part of his army climbed the cliffs 
of the St. Lawrence which had been 
deemed inaccessible, and at daybreak 
gave battle to the astonished foe. The 
ascent was accomplished in the night, 
and had been planned for with consider- 
able care. It was found impossible to 
take the city, except by a surjorise. Gen. 
Wolfe rose from a sick bed to lead the 
effort. As he neared the place of land- 
ing he repeated to those in the boat with, 
him a verse from Gray's " Elegy: " 

"The boast of heraldry, the'pomp of power, 
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er g'ave, 

Await alike the inevitable hour; 
The paths of f^lory lead but to the jjrave." 

He also remarked : " I would rather 
be the author of that poem than to have 
the glory of beating the French to-mor- 
row." The cliffs were climbed, the 
amazed French strove to drive back the 
now desperate foe. Wolfe fell, and shortly 



1744-1760.] 

died, living just long enough to learn 
that the French were giving way. 
Montcalm w^as also mortally wounded. 
To-day a monument stands in the " Gov- 
ernor's Garden," which slopes toward the 
river in Quebec, and equally commemo- 
rates the bravery of these two represen- 
tative soldiers. 



THE PREPARATORT DISCIPLINE. 



257 



1759. Sept. 28. JoruUo, a volcano 
on the Pacific slope of Mexico, was sud- 
denly created in the night during an 
earthquake agitation in that region, 
which had been entirely free from such 
disturbances previously. Sugar and in- 
digo fields abounded in the vicinity. 
Rumblings were heard and felt for sev- 
eral months before this great outbreak. 
A half dozen eminences were raised at 
the time from the plateau. Jorullo at- 
tained a height of sixteen hundred feet 
above the plain, or four thousand two 
hundred and sixty-five feet above the 
level of the sea. Flames burst forth, 
and lava flowed for months. Vegetation 
was entirely destroyed, and the face of 
the country changed. Within the past 
fifty years cultivation has been begun in 
the vicinity. No agitation of the volcano 
is now apparent. 

1759. Trouble with the Cherokees, 
who had never been involved in feuds 
with the whites, was brought on by Gov. 
Littleton, of South Carolina. 

1759. The first marine insurance oflice 
in America was opened in New York. 
The business was carried on by obtain- 
ing individual underwriters among rich 
men who would become responsible for a 
certain amount of the ship or cargo. 
Another competmg ofiice was opened 
during this year. 

1759. The first horn combs made in 
America were produced in West New- 



bury, Mass. Horn-smiths were soon 
doing a fine business. 

1759. Dominica, one of the Leeward 
Islands, was assumed by Great Britain, 
havmg previously been neutral ground. 
It was confirmed to England at the treatv 
of 1763. 

1760. Cherokee War. A large force 
sent out by Gen. Amherst, invaded the 
country of the Cherokees, burning their 
villages, and killing the natives. The 
troops were driven back from the Ten- 
nessee valley by the enraged Indians. 
Fort Loudoun, on the Tennessee River, 
w^as taken by the Indians, a portion of 
the garrison being killed, and the rest 
kept as captives. 

1760. March 20. A great fire oc- 
curred in Boston, consuming three hun- 
dred and forty-nine buildings, and $500,- 
000 worth of property. 

1760. April 28. The French, with 
a force of seven thousand men under De 
Levi, fought a great battle with the 
English force under Murray at Sillery, 
near Quebec. The contest was desper- 
ate, because the French felt that power 
in America was passing out of their 
hands. The English lost a thousand 
men, but the French were finally re- 
pulsed. The chief agency in defeating 
the French was the sight of an English 
fleet, which arrived unexpectedly, having 
defeated a French fleet in the Bay of 
Chaleur. 

1760. May 17. The siege of Quebec 
was raised by the French, who aban- 
doned their camp with forty cannon. 

1760. May. Fresh royal orders 
were issued by the English government 
for the enforcing of the 1760-1820. 
oppressive navi station acts, J°''^''' ^ ' 
in order to gain a revenue land. 
for the payment of the expenses of the 

17 



258 

war in America. It was declared that 
crown officers would be empowei-ed to 
search anywhere for smuggled goods 
under cover of writs of assistance issued 
by the court. Benjamin Franklin now 
appeared before the Board of Trade to 
defend American liberty, and to show 
that the prosperity of the colonies was 
greatly interfered with. 

1760. The appointment of Thomas 
Hutchinson to the supreme bench as 
chief justice of Massachusetts, occasioned 
a great outburst of patriotic indignation, 
because of his loyalist sympathies. 

1760. Sept. 8. Downfall of Canada. 
Montreal surrendered to the combined 
English forces, and all Canada passed 
under English dominion. 

1760. Nov. 29. A party of rangers 
penetrated into Pontiac's country and 
took possession of Detroit. It was at 
this time that Pontiac began to lay his 



COLONIAL LIFE. 



plans for the extermination of the 
whites. 

1760. A whale fishery which the 
French had never known, was discovered 
at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. 

1760. Castine, Maine, was settled by 
the English. 

1760. The first printing in Texas 
was done by the Spaniards. 

1760, The New York and Philadel- 
jjhia mail was arranged to be sent each 
way every week by a line of coaches. 

1760. The United Brethren in Christ 
were established among the Germans in 
Lancaster Co., Penn., by Philip William 
Otterbein, who had come to this country 
as a missionary of the German Reformed 
church, but came to believe that he 
had experienced a new change in his 
spiritual life. The church is evangelical 
in its characteristics, and has steadily in- 
creased in numbers and strength. 





PART IV. 



^EYOIiHTIOIl^l^Y St^MGLES. 



4761-1824. 




[«9] 



'•''Point to the stimmits tvhere the brave have bled^ 
Where every village claims its glorious dead; 
Say^ zvheii their bosoms met the bayonefs shock^ 
Their only corselet zuas the rustic frock j 
Say, when thev mustered to the gathering horn, 
TJie titled chieftain curled his lip in scorn. 
Yet, when their leader bade his lines advance. 
No musket wavered in the lion''s glance ; 
Say, when they fainted in the forced retreat, 
They tracked the snow-drifts with their bleeding feet, 
Yet still their banners, tossing in the blast. 
Bore EVER kkahy , faithful to the lastT 

-HOLMES. 



[260] 



SECTION XIII. 



2B^B ^A WJV 01" ST^^II^U. /76Un7Z.. 




E it remembered," said Daniel 
Webster, " it was a thinking 
community that achieved our 
Revolution before a battle had 
been fought." When the French and 
Indian war closed, the need of enforcing 
the navigation and other acts was freshly 
considered in England. This caused an 
immediate agitation in America. The 
minds of the people had been trained for 
a long time in thinking about taxation 
and similar questions. The executive 
influence had been weakened by the war, 
and transferred from the colonial gov- 
ernors to the colonial assemblies, which 
had been places of debate over many a 
problem. Caucus, club, and town meet- 
ings began to multiply for political dis- 
cussions. The "tea meetings" in the 
different cities were indications that the 
people intended ever after to freely con- 
sider enactments relating to themselves, 
and to freely condemn those they thought 
unjust. In this way parties began to 
be more distinctly outlined. Opinion as 
to the rights of freemen or the power of 
Parliament, was sharj^er cut and more 
positive. The names " whig " and " tory " 
were first used simply as in England to 
denote those who opposed the adminis- 

[361] 



tration, and those who favored it. They 
came only later to designate those who 
favored separation from the mother coun- 
try, and those who opposed it. 

BIRTH OF IKDEPEKDEKCE. 

1761. February. A burning speech 
was made before the supreme bench of 
Massachusetts against the enforcement of 
the Acts of Trade and Writs of Assist- 
ance, by James Otis, who had resigned 
his office of advocate-general, in order to 
appear in behalf of the people. The 
special question at issue was the legality 
of the Writs of Assistance, which were 
warrants issued by the supreme court, 
authorizing deputy collectors to search 
any place or building for the discovery of 
smuggled goods. It was granted that 
government had the power to issue a 
writ for the searching of a special build- 
ing designated in the writ, but it was 
denied that writs could lawfully be issued 
to enable a deputy to search wherever he 
pleased. Mr. Otis used all his eloquence, 
which was very wonderful, to prevent 
the granting of such writs. Upon the 
large crowd gathered to witness it, the 
speech of Mr. Otis had a most powerful 
effect. " To my dying day," he said, " I 



262 



RE VOL UTIONART S TR UGGLES. 



will oppose with all the powers and Ac- 
uities God has given nie, all such instru- 
ments of slavery on the one hand, and 
villainy on the other." " Then and 
there," said John Adams, " was the first 
scene of the first act of opposition to the 
arbitrary claims of Great Britain. Then 
and there the child Independence was 
born," Writs of assistance were after- 
ward issued by the court, but never used, 
except slightly, if at all. 



1761. A prohibitory duty uj^on im- 
,_, „ , , ported slaves was voted 

1161. Potatoes ^ 

first planted in by the Virginia assembly, 
^''"""- largely through the in- 

fluence of Richard Henry Lee. South 
Carolina took similar steps. 

1761. Dec. 9. Judicial Commis- 
sions. The colonial governors were in- 
structed to issue no judicial commissions 
except at the pleasure of the king, instead 
of as formerly during good behavior. 
This aroused great hostility, as serving 
to make judges subservient to the will of 
the king. 

1762. The island of Martinique in 
the West Indies was captured from the 
French by an English force under 
Monckton and Rodney. 

1762. The yellow fever raged at 
Philadelphia with terrible severity. 

1762. Aug. 11. Havana was cap- 
tured from the Spanish by an English 
fleet under Lord Albemarle. This put 
the most advantageous port in the West 
Indies into English hands. They held 
it till the peace of Paris which occurred 
in 1763. 

1762. Anthony Benezet of Philadel- 
phia, a Quaker, issued a book in oppo- 
sition to the slave trade. 

1762. A fur company was founded 
at New Orleans. The trade of this 



company led to settlements along the 
Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. 

1762. A negro insurrection took 
place lasting but a brief time, in British 
Guiana, S. A. 

1762. Oct. 19. A dark day oc- 
curred at Detroit, Mich. Rain fell, which 
is said to have been " of a dirty sulphu- 
rous smell." 

1762. First Canal Route. A canal 
route was surveyed between the Swatara 
and Tulpchocken Creeks in Pennsylvania, 
by Drs. Rittenhouse and Smith. 

1762. The longest drouth ever 
known in America occurred in the sum- 
mer of this year, \vhen no rain fell for 
123 days in succession. 

1762. Trade was allowed for the 
first time in Cuba by the Spanish gov- 
ernment. The country had previously 
lived by smuggling, which began after 
the English took Jamaica in 1655. 

1762. Yellow fever made its first re- 
corded visitation in Cuba. 

1763. Feb. 10. The Peace of Paris. 
A treaty was made between England 
and Portugal on one side, and France 
and Spain on the other. England re- 
ceived certain West India islands, Flor- 
ida, Louisiana as fiir as the Mississippi 
River, except the island of New Orleans, 
Acadia and Canada. The English were 
to destroy fortifications which they had 
erected in Honduras and Campeachy, 
and be protected by Spain in the cutting 
of logwood. France retained two small 
islands as a resort for fishermen on the 
banks of Newfoundland, and received 
GuadaloujDe and Martinique in the West 
Indies. Spain I'eceived New Orleans, 
all of Louisiana west of the Mississippi 
River, and Havana, Cuba. 

1763. Pontiac's War. A plot was 
formed anions: the western Indians to 



1761-1774.] 

exterminate the English. Pontiac was 
the leading spirit. The plot was discov- 
ered in March by Ensign Holmes, who 
commanded at Miami, but it was deemed 
of no great importance. 

1763. April 27. Pontiac held a 
great council in which he made a long 
speech opposing the supremacy of the 
English. A unanimous agreement was 
reached to begin the war by an attack 
on Detroit. 

1763. May 6. Major Gladwyn, the 
commander at Detroit, received informa- 
tion either from an Ojibwa maiden or 
Canadian settlers, that an Indian attack 
was intended on the morrow. 

1763. May 7. Pontiac, with three 
hundred followers, entered the fort at 
Detroit, but saw the instant he passed 
the gate, that his plan was known to the 
garrison. The soldiers and hunters were 
all in arms, and when Pontiac, in spite 
of this sight, seemed about to give the 
signal, the roll of a drum overawed him, 
and he desisted. 

1763. May 9. Pontiac, thwarted in 
his first purpose of massacring the gar- 
rison, besieged the fort. 

1763. May 16. The fort at San- 
dusky, on Lake Erie, under Ensign 
Paull, was taken by the Indians. 

1763. May 25. The English gar- 
rison at the mouth of the St. Joseph, un- 
der Ensign Schlosser, was desti-oyed. 

1763. May 27. Fort Miami, near 
Fort Wayne, under Ensign Holmes, was 
taken. 

1763. June 2. Michillimackinae was 
taken by a massacre at a given signal 
during an Indian game of ball. 

1763. June 22. Presque Isle, now 
Erie, Penn., vmder Ensign Christie, was 
taken. About the same time Fort Le 
Boeuf and Fort Venansro were taken. 



THE DAWN OF STRIFE. 



263 
1763. July 31. Bloody Bridge. An 

attempted attack on Pontiac's camp near 
Detroit was betrayed, and the party was 
almost entirely destroyed by an ambush. 

1763. Aug. 5. Bushy Bun. An 
English expedition under Bouquet for 
the relief of Fort Pitt, fought a severe 
battle with the Indians. The action 
went against the English until Bouquet 
feigned a retreat and drew the savages 
into a close body, when a renewed 
attack was made, with the utter defeat of 
the Indians. This victory recovered the 
Ohio valley from Indian power, and had 
a great influence in discouraging all the 
western tribes, who now began to learn 
that they could expect no aid fi'om 
France. The French in Illinois were 
active in trying to persuade the Indians 
to lay down their hostility. Gen. Am- 
herst offered a reward of £ioo for 
killing Pontiac. Steps were soon taken 
toward peace. 

1763. Oct. 12. Most of the Indians 
sued for peace, and expressed their sub- 
mission to English authority. 

1763. Oct. 30. The Ottawas, find- 
ing the hopelessness of their cause, also 
sued for peace. The siege of Detroit, 
however, was still continued until the 
summer of the next year. 

1763. The site of St. Louis was 
selected by the two brothers August and 
Pierre Chouteau, as a post for trade with 
the Indians. The present name was 
conferred upon it. 

1763. The first newspaper in Ha- 
vana, Cuba, was established. A j^ostoffice 
department was also founded on the 
island. 

1763. Paper hangings made in Amer- 
ica were presented to the Society of Arts, 
Manufactures and Commerce, at New 
York, and were approved by that body. 



264 



REVOLUTIONART STRUGGLES. 



This was the beginning of the manufac- 
ture and use of wall paper in this 
country. The sheets were thirty inches 
long, and were stamped by means of 
blocks of wood. 

1763. The capital of Brazil was re- 
moved from Bahia to Rio de Janeiro. 

1763. Dec. 14. The Conestoga Mas- 
sacre. A remnant of Indians living at 
Conestoga, Penn., were murdered by a 
party of men from Paxton, near the 
Susquehanna, on account of frontier 
depredations laid to their charge. 

1763. Dec. 27. Some of the Indians 
who had not been at the village at the 
time of the massacre, and who had been 
collected and lodged in the jail for safety, 
were murdered by the Paxton men, who 
broke open the building, and killed them 
all. 

1763. Postmaster General's Trip. 
Dr. Franklin, postmaster general of the 
English colonies in America, rode 
through the country in a chaise to ex- 
amine the office, and joerfect all the ar- 
rangements of the department. His 
daughter Sally went along for company, 
sometimes riding in the chaise with her 
father, and sometimes riding horseback 
upon a steed taken with them for her 
convenience. The trip which they made 
took them five months, and can now be 
made in five days. 

1764. Feb. 4. Paxton Boys at 
Philadelphia. A remnant of the Mora- 
vian converts of Pennsylvania had been 
removed to Philadelphia for safety about 
the time of the Conestoga massacre. 
The Paxton boys undertook an expe- 
dition to Philadelphia in order to seize 
the Indians. The latter were at one 
time sent off for New York, but a mes- 
sage was received upon the way saying 
that they would not be allowed to come 



into that province. The authorities 
ordered them out of New Jersey, and 
the only thing to be done was to return 
to Philadelphia. Finally at this date the 
" Paxton Boys" appeared near Philadel- 
phia. Preparations were made to receive 
them severely, and they, learning the ex- 
tent of the feeling against them, were 
induced to return home without attempt- 
ing violence. 

1764. March. The Right of Taxation. 
The right of Parliament to tax America 
was discussed in the House of Conimons 
with considerable heat. The Sugar Act 
of 1734 was expiring, and Grenville 
wished to repass it in an amended form, 
providing that a revenue be raised in 
America by a tax virtually direct. This 
raised the storm. The decision was in 
favor of taxation, though with great op- 
position. It was made legal for any 
vessel of the English navy to seize and 
examine a merchant ship coming to 
America. England was far from wise 
in all these attempts. The largest part 
of her commerce was with America. 
Property in England had increased one- 
half its value because of American trade, 

1764. The first medical college in 
the English colonics was organized in 
Pennsylvania University 1097-1704. 
through the labors of Drs. Hogarth. 

Shippen and Morgan. It became the 
" Medical School of Philadelphia." Only 
one other was founded before the Revo- 
lution, at New York, in 1 767. 

1764. New Hampshire Grants. The 
English crown decided upon apjoeal that 
the Connecticut River was the line be- 
tween New Hampshire and New York, 
A great dispute had existed over the 
land now embraced by Vermont. New 
Hampshire had made land grants at 
Bennington as early as 1 749. New York 



1761-1774.] THE DA WN 

had undertaken to regrant the land. 
The Green Mountain boys had combined 
to resist the latter. The dispute existed 
down to the Revolution. 

1764. The Connecticut Courant 
was established at Hartford, Conn., by 
Thomas Green. It is the oldest news- 
paper of continuous publication in the 
country. 

1764. Brown University was char- 
tered in Rhode Island under the auspices 
of the Baptist denomination. It. was 
opened at Warren, and afterward removed 
to Providence. 

1764. The first printing press in 
the valley of the St. Lawrence was 
set up at Quebec. No printing jDress or 
village school had been allowed in Can- 
ada or Louisiana during French occu- 
pation. 

1764. The Sandemanians. Rev. 
Robert Sandeman came to Danbury, 
Conn., and established a colony of relig- 
ious people who had previously been 
known as Glassites, from Rev. John 
Glass of Dundee, Scotland. This sect 
originated by a separation from the Scotch 
Presbyterian church. 

1765. March 22. The famous Stamp 
Act which had passed Parliament the 
previous month, was signed by the 
king. It provided that legal documents 
of all kinds must be written on paper 
bearing a stamp costing from three cents 
to six pounds; that every newspaper and 
pamphlet should bear a stamp costing 
from one half penny to four pence ; and 
that each advertisement should pay a 
duty of two shillings. The paper for 
legal documents was to be bought onlv 
of tax collectors. 

1765. May 29. The famous reso- 
lutions of Patrick Henry were offered 
to the Virginia assembly. They op- 



OF STRIFE. 



265 



posed taxation by anybody save a gen- 
eral assembly of the colony. The im- 
mediate cause of the resolutions was the 
announcement by the Speaker of the 
passage of the Stamp Act. Many patri- 
otic souls were roused, and Patrick 
tienry, twenty-nine years old, and full of 
the enthusiasm of liberty, at once wrote 
his five resolutions upon a blank leaf torn 
from a law^ book lying at hand. He 
declared in them that the American 
colonists ought to possess all the charac- 
teristics of English freedom, prominent 
among which v\^as the right to levy taxes, 
a right possessed by no body save one 
which represented the people who were 
to pay the taxes. The offering of these 
resolutions produced great excitement. 
The idea of violently opposing the ob- 
noxious measure was I'epulsive to many. 
Others were not ready for the position 
which they afterward took. The vs^hole 
movement was sudden and surprising, 
Mr. Henry defended his resolutions 
against all odds, and displayed his most 
fiery eloquence. At one point in his 
powerful harangue he exclaimed, "Cassar 
had his Brutus, Charles the First his 
Cromwell, and George the Third — " 
when the Speaker, Mr. Robinson, sprang- 
up and shouted, " Treason ! Treason ! "^ 
In an instant many members were on 
their feet, and the cry of " Treason ! " was- 
heard from all jDarts of the house. Mr. 
Henry maintained his fearless attitude,, 
and in a hush of the disturbance, con- 
tinued, " may profit by their example. 
If that be treason, make the most of it." 
The resolutions were adopted, the last, 
however, by a majority of one only. 
After Mr. Henry's departure on business 
the next day, the last one was reconsid- 
ered and rejected. But they were pub- 
lished in their first form, and in other 



266 



RE VOL UTIONAR T S TR UGGLES. 



equally decisive forms, and their effect 
was tremendous in uniting the colonies 
for the coming struggle. 

1765. A colonial congress was pro- 
posed by Massachusetts in a circular sent 
out this month, suggesting that such a 
body meet at New York in October. 

1765. Aug. 14. Boston Riots. The 
effigy of Andrew 01i\er, who had been 
appointed stamp distriliutor, was hung on 
Liberty Tree, in the edge of Boston. It 
was taken down at evening by the Sons 
of Liberty, and was borne in procession. 
The mob increased in violence, and Oli- 
ver's house and office were assaulted and 
injured very much. 

1765. Aug. 26. The residence of 
Chief Justice Hutchinson of Massachu- 
setts, was torn open and ravaged by 
another mob, because of his sympathy 
with the project of taxation. The records 
of the admiralty court were also burned. 
Mobs took place in other colonies, and 
the stamp distributors, unable to bear the 
public scorn, began to resign. 

1765. Oct. 7. An American con- 
gress of twenty-seven delegates from 
nine of the thirteen colonies, met at New 
York and drew up a Declaration of 
Rights, a Petition to the King, and a 
Memorial to both Houses of Parliament. 
Timothy Ruggles of Massachusetts was 
president, and John Cotton, secretary' , 
The president and Robert Ogden, of 
New Jersey, would not sign the papers. 
Ruggles was reprimanded in the Massa- 
chusetts assembly, and Ogden was de- 
posed from the position of Speaker of 
the New Jersey assembly. 

1765. Oct. 31. Non-importation 
Agreements. New York merchants met 
and agreed that certain articles should 
not be brought into the country from 
England after the next first clay of Jan- 



uary. The merchants of Philadelphia 
and Boston followed with similar action. 

1765. Nov. 1. The Stamp Act be- 
came a law. Business ceased, and a 
general gloom overspread all the colo- 
nies. The day was a day of intense 
feeling. The people soon undertook to 
supply their own needs with articles 
which had hitherto been imported. Do- 
mestic manufactures began everywhere. 
The " Daughters of Liberty " wci'e or- 
ganised in Boston for the purpose of 
spinning, knitting and weaving. The 
mainifacture of maple sugar and molas- 
ses began in New England. A number 
of people in New York formed a society, 
agreeing not to wear foreign cloths, and en- 
gaging to encourage home manufactures. 

1766. The Stamp Act was repealed, 
but was accompanied by the claim on 
the part of Parliament to exercise power 
over the colonies in any way whatsoever. 
For nearly three months the discussion 
had gone on in Parliament. The resolu- 
tion to repeal was introduced by Conway. 
Edmund Burke made his first speech in 
this debate. The Mutiny Act had been 
applied to America, in order to quarter 
troops in American cities. 

1766. Pontiac, after having tried 
with a fearful desperation to rouse the 
western tribes and save his cause, at last 
gave in his formal submission to Sir. 
William Johnson, and ended all his efforts 
to thwart the power of the English. 

1766. The New York Society of 
Arts offered a prize of ten pounds for the 
first three iron stocking looms set up, five 
pounds for the second three, and fifteen 
pounds for the first one which should be 
made in the province. 

1766. The first Methodist preacher 
in America was Philip Embury, who 
had labored in the Irish Methodist con- 



1761-1774.J 

ference before coming to this country. 
He found a company of Irish Methodists 
in New York City, and gathered them 
into a little congregation in his own 
house. A little later they met in a rig- 
ging loft. In this work he was aided by 
a Capt. Webb, who had been oi'dained 
by Wesley as a local preachero A woman 
named Barbara Heck was also prominent 
in the inoveinent. 

1766. Oct. 31. A terrific earth- 
quake destroyed Cumana on the coast of 
Venezuela in a few minutes, and con- 
tinued to disturb the region for fourteen 
months. 

1767. April 2. The Jesuits of Spain 
and all Spanish colonics were arrested at 
the same time by preconcerted action, and 
expelled from the countries. The work 
was not done with entire success in Cali- 
fornia, Mexico, or Western South 
America. 

1767. June 29. Townsend's bill, 
placing a duty on glass, paper, painters' 
colors, and tea imported into America, 
passed both houses of Parliament and 
received the signature of the king. The 
news of this aroused the feelings of the 
colonists, which had been quieted by the 
repeal of the Stamp Act. 

1767. Swamp Law. Numerous 
quarrels were arising between the loggers 
1767. spinning- of Ncw Hampshire and 

jentiv inTented bv ,\ \ • i cxi t 

•V, - „ ^ the kaig s otiicers. In 

fames Har- "^ 

greaves. many cases the summary 

whipping and driving away of the 
officers had resulted. This became known 
as Swamp Law. 

1767. First White Man at Saratoga 
Springs. Sir William Johnson was car- 
ried on a litter to the spring known by 
the Indians to exist, to avail himself of it 
for a remedy. This was the " Round 
Rock," or High Rock Spring. 



THE DAWN OF STRIFE. 



267 



1767. First Visit to Kentucky. 
John Finley and others visited the pres- 
ent State of Kentucky, their trip being 
the earliest recorded exploi-ation of that 
I'egion. 

1768. April. A terrible eruption 
of Cotopaxi, S. A., occurred. Ashes 
were carried one hundred and thirty miles. 

1768. June 8. British troops were 
ordered to Boston. Boston patriots 
began to be filled with a deep spirit of 
antagonism. This was a wild year in 
Boston. The governor had dissolved the 
legislature, and would not call another. 

1768. June 10. The ship-of-war, 
Romney, came to Boston and at the sug- 
gestion of the commissioners 1768. Royal 
of customs seized the sloop ^^«f;'Yf ^'''^ 

'^ establiskcd in 

Liberty for an alleged vio- England. 
lation of the revenue law. The Liberty 
was owned by John Hancock. Great 
excitement followed for several days. 
The patriots claimed that a legal process 
ought first to have been filed. The 
commissioners at last went on board the 
Romney for fear of personal violence. 
A great mass meeting was held at 
Faneuil Hall and then at the Old South 
church, where James Otis and others 
spoke eloquently for liberty. The im- 
pressment of men for sailors, an offence 
which the officers of the Romney had 
committed, and the rumored bringing of 
soldiers to Boston, were added to the 
seizure of the Liberty as causes of agita- 
tion. A committee was sent to Gov. 
Bernard who afterward promised to re- 
dress their grievances in respect to im- 
pressments, but said that he could not 
control the Board of Customs. 

1768. June. The New York as- 
sembly refused to vote supplies for troops 
which were on their way to that city, 
though requested to do so by the governor. 



268 



RE VOL UTIONAR T STR UGGLES . 



1768. September. A mass meeting 

was held in Faneuil Hall to discuss pub- 
lic affairs. James Otis was chosen mod- 
erator. It was resolved that " the inhab- 
itants of the town of Boston will at the 
utmost peril of their lives and fortunes 
maintain and defend their rights, liberties, 
privileges, and immunities." 

1768. Sept. 22. A Massachusetts 
convention met and remained in session 
for six days. Ninety-six towns were 
represented. By this and the Boston 
town meeting the provincial rights were 
drawn out more clearly. Local self- 
government was now the great basic 
principle of the patriot cause. The right 
of Parliament to make any laws what- 
ever for the colonies, began to be denied 
by some. The equality of the provincial 
assembly with Parliament itself was an 
idea fast gaining ground. The sentiment 
of union was also growing up. These 
things only exasperated the English gov- 
ernment. Lord North said, " Whatever 
prudence or policy might hereafter in- 
duce us to repeal the late paper and glass 
act, I hope we shall never think of it till 
we see America prostrate at our feet." 

1768. Oct. 1. Seven hundred British 
soldiers under Licut.-Col. Dalrymple, 
were brought up from Castle William, 
Boston harbor, and marched to the 
common, where they encamped. Within 
a month or two, parts of other regiments 
were also lodged in the city. These 
troops staid till after the Boston massa- 
cre. A long contest ensued in obtaining 
quarters for the troops. The town per- 
sistently refused to furnish them, and the 
officers were obliged to fit them up at the 
expense of the government. The bad 
character of the soldiery and the sight of 
military drills had a demoralizing influ- 
ence upon the life of Boston. The effort 



to obtain the removal of these troops is 
the key to the politics of Boston until the 
blood of her citizens was shed, nearly two 
years later. 

1768. Jonathan Carver returned to 
Boston from an exploration of several 
years in the interior of the North Amer- 
ican continent. He reached the Minne- 
sota River in his travels, and made 
numerous charts and journals, some of 
which were subsequently published. 
Great doubt has been thrown upon his 
publications by some, and it is affirmed 
that Mr. Carver never made the trip, but 
compiled his account from the reports of 
others. He received something from the 
English government, w^hich he soon 
spent. He afterward spent a long time 
in trying to secure further remuneration, 
but was denied it. 

1768, The New York Chamber of 
Commerce was founded, and received a 
charter two years later. 

1768. The manufacture of carriages 
was begun in New York by two Irish- 
men named Elkanahand William Deane, 
wdio came from Dublin, bringing their 
workmen with them at great expense. 
" They were prepared to make coaches, 
chariots, landaus, phaetons, post-chaises, 
curricle-chairs, sedans, and sleighs, five 
per cent, below the importation prices.'* 
Very few carriages of any kind had been 
made or used in the English colonies be- 
fore this time. 

1768. Anthracite coal began to be 
used by two blacksmiths named Gore, in 
Pennsylvania. They made it burn in 
their forges, but it did not come into use 
in other ways, because of the difficulty of 
kindling it. 

1768. The Aleutian Archipelago, and 
a portion of the coast of Russian Amer- 
ica were exjolored and surveyed by a 



1761-1774.] 

Russian expedition under Captain Krc- 
nitzin. 

1768. The celebrated "Farmers' 
Letters to the inhabitants of the British 
colonies " were issued, and had a wide 
circulation in America. They dealt 
clearly with the infringement of colonial 
rights by royal power, and set forth in 
strong terms the need of redress. They 
were published in London, with a pref- 
ace by Benjamin Franklin. These let- 
ters were written by John Dickinson of 
Maryland, whose pen afterward prepared 
some of the most important papers of the 
first Continental Congress, He was, how- 
ever, subjected to great criticism because 
he opposed the adoption of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, which he honestly 
thought to be premature. He was clearly 
a true patriot, and fought at one time as 
a private soldier in the American army. 

1769, Earliest Church Discipline for 
Slave-holding. The Congregational 
chiuxh of Newport, R. I., had members 
involved in slave-trade and slave-holding. 
Dr. Samuel Hopkins, who this year be- 
came their pastor, at once fearlessly took 
stand against it, and as a result the church 
soon voted, " Resolved, that the skive 
trade and the slavery of the Africans as 
it has existed among us is a gross viola- 
tion of the righteousness and benevolence 
which are so much inculcated in the gos- 
pel, and therefore we will not tolerate it 
in this church." This action, and the 
issue of a pamphlet by Dr. Hopkins, had 
a speedy influence in New England. 

1769. First House in Kentucky. 
Daniel Boone and five companions visited 
Kentucky. They explored that beautiful 
"Middle Ground" and hunted .along its 
valleys, till at last Boone was left in 
autumn with one brother, the rest having 
returned to the settlements, save one who 



THE DAWN OF STRIFE. 



269 



was slain by the Indians. The two 
brothers remained for the winter, and 
built a temporary hut, the first house in 
the present State of Kentucky. 

1769. Dartmouth College, Hanover, 
N. H., was chartered and began instruc- 
tion the next year under Eleazar Whee- 
lock, D. D. It grew out of a school 
which had been established by Dr. 
Wheelock at Lebanon, Conn., for the 
education of Indian children. 

1769. The first life insurance com- 
pany in America was chartered in the 
State of Pennsylvania, to insure the lives 
of Episcopal clergymen. It was known 
as the Protestant Episcopal Association 
for the Benefit of Widows and Children 
of Clergymen of the Commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania. Dr. Richard Price and 
Dr. Franklin were highly interested in it, 
and prepared rates and rules for it. 

1769. Samuel Hearne, an English 
explorer under the order of the Hudson 
Bay company, left the Prince of Wales' 
fort in the company's territory on a trip 
of exploration to discover copper mines 
and a Northwest passage. He spent 
nearly four years in the work, and during 
the time passed down the Coppermine 
River to the Arctic Ocean, at the north 
of the British possessions. The journals 
of Mr. Hearne lay for years unappre- 
ciated. They were finally brought to 
light, and published. 

PO.YTMC. 

1769. This chief was a member of 
the Ottawa tribe of Indians which had 
formed a confederacy with the Ojibways 
and Pottawattamies. The authority of 
Pontiac in the confederacy was very 
great. Major Rogers, who led a party 
through the territory of this chief in 1760, 
was much struck with Pontiac's kingly 



270 



RE VOL UTIONART S TR UGGLES. 



air, and with the respect shown him by 
his followers, and could not refrain from 
admiring the strength of mind, good 
judgment, together with the desire for 
knowledge displayed by him. Pontiac 
had for a long time been the firm friend 
of the French. On the accession of the 
English to power he found himself nearly 
unnoticed, and his people oftentimes 
treated with contempt. He saw his peo- 
ple diminishing, and their hunting grounds 
growing small. He therefore began to 
meditate the overthrow of the English. 
His speeches to the Indian councils, and 
his great efforts to achieve success, all 
showed him to be a man of remarkable 
native sfifts and strength of character. 
No other Indian history has so much of 
lengthened unflagging efforts. Many 
tribes had at last become tired of the 
long war, and in spite of all he could do, 
Pontiac saw many of his followers leav- 
ing him. In September, 1765, he held 
a grand council with George Croghan at 
Detroit, at which a treaty of lasting 
peace was made. He afterward lived 
peaceably on the banks of the Maumee, 
and although there was some discontent 
manifested by some of the tribes in the 
region, it is not known that Pontiac had 
anything to do with it. In April, 1769, 
he paid a visit to St. Louis. He was 
dressed in a full French uniform which 
had been presented to him by the Mar- 
quis de Montcalm. He crossed the river 
one day to a place where some Illinois 
Indians were holding a council. Here 
he was killed unawares by an Indian 
who had been bribed with a barrel of 
whiskey to commit the deed. His body 
was buried with the honors of war by 
St. Ange, the commander of St. Louis. 
Immediately upon the announcement of 
his death a war sprung up which resulted 



in almost the total extinction of the 
tribe amona: which he had been killed. 



1770. Jan. 17. Liberty Pole Ex- 
citement. A great gathering of citizens 
took place in New York around the 
liberty pole which had been cut down 
the night before by British soldiers. 
Speeches were made and resolutions 
passed, affirming the rights of the people. 
Quarrels took place on the streets for 
several days. Another liberty pole was 
soon erected in another place. 

1770. Feb. 22. A young man 
named Snider was murdered in a quarrel 
between soldiers and citizens in Boston. 

1770. March 2. A fight occurred 
at Gray's rope-walk in Boston, between 
a soldier and a workman. The former^ 
together with several other soldiers who 
interfered for him, were beaten off. 

1770. March 5. Boston Massacre. 
A quarrel arose gradually in the evening 
on the streets of Boston near the old 
State House, between the soldiei's and 
the citizens. A portion of the main 
guard were called out to quiet the dis- 
turbance, and a fray took place. The 
soldiers fired, killing three and wounding 
eight, two of them mortally. Crispus 
Attucks, a mulatto, was the first to fall, 
Capt. Preston and several soldiers were 
committed to jail, and afterward tried,, 
but all were acquitted save two soldiers- 
who were convicted of manslaughter. 

1770. March 6. Removal of the 
Troops. A mass meeting was held in 
the morning in Faneuil Hall, and later in 
the day in the Old South church, and a 
committee was sent to Gov. Hutchinson 
to demand the removal of the troops 
from Boston to Castle William, in the 
harbor. Gov. Hutchinson at first refused 
to order it, but, convinced finally of the 



1761-1774.] 

stern disposition of the citizens, consented 
to do so. The day was one of great ex- 
citement throughout the city. 

1770. March 8. The funeral of the 
three persons who were killed in the 
Boston massacre, and the one who had 
died of his wounds, was observed with 
great parade. Business was closed, and 
bells were tolled. 

1770. March 10. The troops were 
removed from Boston to Castle William, 
and not again brought to the city till 1774- 

1770. April 12. The Tea Tax. 
The tax on imports to the colonics under 
the " paper and glass acts " was repealed 
by Parliament, except a three per cent. 
tax on tea. 

1770. July 6. Boston harbor was made 
a rendezvous for all British war vessels on 
the American coast. Castle William 
was ordered to be strengthened. These 
measures freshly excited the people. 

1770. August. A leaden statue of 
George III. ordered four years previously 
by New York at the request of the cit- 
izens because of their joy over the repeal 
of the Stamp Act, was set ujd in Bowling 
Green. A marble statue of William 
Pitt was also set up in another part of 
the city. 

1770. The right to hold slaves in the 
State of Massachusetts was denied by 
the superior court in the case of James 
vs. Lechmere, which was brought by a 
negro to recover his freedom. Slaves 
were, however, held afterward, and the 
most decisive conclusion in the matter 
was reached in the constitution of 1780. 

1770. A law defining slavery was 
for the first time passed in Georgia. 

1770. Homespun clothes were 
worn by the graduating class at Harvard 
College, in taking their degrees. 

1770. Rutger's College, formerly 



THE DAWN OF STRIFE. 



271 

called Queen's College, was founded at 
New Brunswick, N. J., by the Reformed 
Dutch church. 

WHITEFIELD. 

YllQ. Sept. 30. George Whitefield, 
the famous preacher, died at Exeter, N. 
H., upon a tour through that State. He 
had preached steadily at Boston and 
Portsmouth for nearly the entire month, 
and was upon his return from the latter 
place. He spoke at length on Saturday 
the 29th, at Exeter, but complained after- 
ward of a compression of the lungs. He 
was stopping with a Rev. Mr. Parsons, 
and when he was ready to retire he spoke 
at length from the top of the stairs to 
people who had gathered in the lower 
hall. The candle in his hand burned 
out, and the great preacher retired to his 
room. He died the next morning in a fit 
of asthma. His remains lie in Newbury- 
port, Mass., beneath the pulpit of White- 
field church. Mr. Whitefield was born 
at Gloucester, England, Dec. 16, 17 14, 
and was therefore not quite fifty-six years 
of age. He had crossed the waters sev- 
eral times, and had labored with gi-eat 
results in many of the American colonies. 
His pi-eaching was of that kind which is 
peculiarly persuasive and effective when 
it falls from human lips. One loses its 
force when transferred to print. He was 
eminently an orator in his jDOwer over a 
vast crowd of human beings. He caused 
men to weep who had hardly ever wept 
before. He played upon the emotions of 
his hearers at his will. In both England 
and America his preaching was attended 
by crowds. His strong, clear voice en- 
abled him to speak in the open air with 
great power. He was instrumental 
in changing the character of many pul- 
pits in both lands where his labors were 



272 REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLES 

known. His work was one of the 
phenomena of the eighteenth century, 



and tradition of his wonderful dramatic 
gifts will long remain. Many a crowd 
has been thrilled by a single tone of his 
voice. His work will always remain. 



1771. North Carolina Regulators. 

In some of the poorer countries of North 
Carolina, a rebellion had been in exist- 
ence for one or two years against the 
extortions and severity of the provincial 
tax collectors. The people had resisted 
all authority, and assumed the name of 
Regulators. 

1771. May 16. A battle was fought 
on Alamance Creek, between the "Reg- 
ulators" and a force of militia under 
Gov. Tryon. Several were killed upon 
both sides, and many of the " Regula- 
tors " were taken prisoners, six of whom 
were soon hung by Tryon. A feeling 
of hatred still existed, although the open 
rebellion had ceased. Many of the 
" R egulators " afterw-ard became patriot 
soldiers, although some of them also be- 
came royalists. 

1771. Boys of Plymouth. Elkanah 
Watson in his " Men and Times of the 
Revolution," describes a school of which 
he was a member till he was fourteen 
years of age. " This school w'as ke])t by 
Alexander Scammel and Peleg Wads- 
worth; both afterward distinguished offi- 
cers of the army. In common with the 
other patriotic spirits of the ^"g^^^ they 
evidently saw the approach of the coin- 
ing tempest. I remember them intently 
studying military tactics; and I have 
often seen them engaged in a garden ad- 
joining my father's, drilling each other. 
Thev formed the boys into a military 
company, and our school soon had the 
air of a ininiature arsenal, w'ith our 



wooden guns and tin bayonets suspended 
rc^nd the walls. At twelve o'clock the 
word was given ' To arms!' and each 
boy seized his gun; then, led by either 
Scammel or Wads worth, we were taught 
military evolutions, and marched over 
hills, through swamps, often in the rain, 
in the performance of these embryo mil- 
itary duties. A sad and impressive com- 
mentary upon the efTect of these early 
intmences is afforded by the fact that half 
this company perished in the conflict of 
the Revolution." 

1772. June 10. Burning of the 
Gaspee. The Gaspee, a British schooner 
of eight guns under Lieut. William Dud- 
ingston, which had been sent into Nar- 
ragansett Bay to prevent smuggling, and 
had caused much angry feeling by its de- 
mands on the shipping of Rhode Island, 
was boarded at night by sixty-four men 
from Providence, and destroyed by fire 
after the crew had been removed. One 
shot was fired, which wounded Lieut. 
Dudingston. Mr. John Brown, a Prov- 
idence merchant, seems to have inspired 
the plan. A reward of Xi,ooo was 
offered by the British government for the 
leader, but, though the actors were 
known to the citizens of Providence, no 
evidence could be obtained against them. 
In 1775 Sir James Wallace, then block- 
ading Narragansett Bay, wrote to Abra- 
ham Whipple, who, it was now known, 
was the leader of the company which 
burned the Gaspee, as follows: 

"You, Abraham Whipple, on the loth 
of June, 1773, burned his majesty's ves- 
sel, the Gaspee, and I will hang you at 
the yard-arm. James Wallace." 

The following reply was received • 

" Sir: Always catch a man before you 
hang him. Abraham Whipple." 

1772. Nov. 2. First Committee of 



1761-1774.] 

Correspondence. A town meeting in 
Boston at Faneuil Hall appointed what 
seems to have been the first committee of 
correspondence in the colonies. Samuel 
1772. Somerset Adams was the originator 
decision deciar- of the movement. It con- 

iiig slavery in . ^ , ^ ^ ^ , 

England uncon- sisted of twenty members, 
siitutionai. one of whom was Dr. To- 

1689-1112. 

Emanuel Szve- seph Warren. Ihe com- 
denborg. mittee met at once, and 

issued a letter to all the towns of the 
State. Other towns soon appointed sim- 
ilar cominittees, and thus the first real 
organization of whig patriotism began 
to take place. This method of commu- 
nication was Subsequently in use between 
the States. 

1772. " The Flying Machine," a 
stage for passengers, was advertised to 
run from New York to Philadelphia, 
making each trip " in the remarkably 
short time of two days." 

1772. Effectual Penalty for Intoxi- 
cation. An intoxicated negro who re- 
ceived the punishment in vogue in New 
York for drunkenness, viz : "Three quarts 
of wann water, and salt enough to 
operate as an emetic, with a portion of 
lamp oil to act as a purge," died from the 
infliction of it. 

1773. March. The Virginia assem- 
bly elected the first inter-state committee 
of correspondence to represent the j^rov- 
ince in cominunication with the other 
provinces. 

1773. A Shrewd Attempt. The 
British government decreed that the East 
India Company which had seventeen 
million pounds of tea shut up in ware- 
houses because the Americans would not 
buy it, could send tea to the colonies with- 
out paying an export duty, and thus be 
able to sell it at a lower price than any 
other nation. It was hoped that this 



THE DAWN OF STRIFE. 



273 



would entice the Americans to pay the 
import duty, and thus surrender the prin- 
ciple they had been pleading for. Dur- 
ing the summer cargoes of tea were 
laded for America. 

1773. Oct. 15. A tea meeting was 
held in New York to consider the ques- 
tion of receiving tea from England. 
Patriotic resolutions were adopted. 

1773. Oct. 16. A tea meeting was 
held in Philadelphia. Resolutions were 
passed declaring the sending of the tea 
to be " an attack on the liberties of 
America." 

1773. Nov. 3. A tea meeting was 
held under the " Liberty Tree" in Bos- 
ton. A committee waited upon the con- 
signees of the tea and requested them 
not to sell the cargo when it should arrive. 
The request was denied. Other meet- 
ings were held repeatedly. Thei-e was 
constant solicitation, private and other- 
wise, brought to bear upon the authorities 
to secure the rejection of the tea. 

1773. Dec. 16. Boston Tea Party. 
A mass meeting was held in the Old 
South church, at which it was voted to 
allow none of the tea to be landed from 
the ships which had now arrived at the 
harbor. The ships were ordered back to 
England, but the authorities refused to 
allow thein to depart. Before the ad- 
journment of the meeting, about fifty men 
disguised as Indians proceeded to the 
three ships and threw the tea, three hun- 
dred and forty-two chests in all, into the 
water. It was done in perfect order, and 
at the close the whole gathering dispersed. 
The persons who committed the deed 
have never been certainly known. They 
seem to have been bound by an oath of 
concealment which was apparently never 
broken. During the breaking up of the 
chests a Capt. O'Connor filled his pockets 



274: 



REVOLUTION ARl STRUGGLES. 



with tea, and attemjDted to jump into a 
boat to go ashore, but a person who had 
noticed his operation grabbed him by the 
skirts of the coat, which were torn off 
in the struggle. The next day the skirts 
were nailed to the whipj^ing-post of 
Charlestown, and attracted a great deal 
of attention. 

1773. Dec. 26. A mass meeting 
was held in Philadelphia, at which it was 
voted that the tea ship now in the river 
should depart as soon as possible. The 
command was obeyed. A meeting was 
held in New York M^ith similar results. 
The tea which had been landed in 
Charleston, S. C, perished in the cellars 
where it had been stored. 

1773. The Mendon Convention. A 
convention which must have been the 
first, or nearly the first of its kind, was 
held in the town of Mendon, Worcester 
County, Mass., for the discussion of the 
situation. It is of interest, as having joro- 
duced a paper which prophesies the Dec- 
laration of Independence, It is quite 
lengthy, but among the resolutions it con- 
tains, are statements " that all men have 
an equal right to life, liberty, and prop- 
erty ; that all just and lawful government 
must originate in the free consent of the 
people; that a right to liberty and prop- 
erty, which are natural means of self- 
preservation, is absolutely inalienable, and 
can never lawfully be given up by our- 
selves, or taken from us by others." 

1773. The first asylum for the insane 
in this country was opened at Williams- 
burg, Va. 

1773. The first hut erected on the 
site of Saratoga Springs was built this 
year by Derick vScowton. 

1773. Earthquake. Guatemala, the 
capital of the province bearing the same 
name in Central America, was destroyed 



completely by an earthquake. It was 
not rebuilt at all till 1799. 

1774. Jan. 29. Benjamin Franklin 
appeared before the Pi^ivy Council of 
England in support of a petition of Mas- 
sachusetts sent the year before for the 
removal of Gov. Hutchinson and Lieut.- 
Gov. Oliver from that province. This 
petition was caused by the publication 
of certain letters written by them to the 
English government, advising the with- 
drawal of colonial liberties from the 
province. These letters had been ob- 
tained by a Dr. Williamson, who gave 
them to Franklin. By him they were 
sent to Boston,where they were published. 
The petition was dismissed by the king 
" as groundless, vexatious, and scan- 
dalous." During the hearing Solicitor 
Wedderburn in a long speech on the col- 
onies, abused Franklin with the coarsest 
invective, to which the philosopher lis- 
tened calmly. It is said that when he 
undressed in his lodgings he vowed he 
would not wear that suit of clothes again 
till he signed the papers for the separa- 
tion of the two countries, and that he 
wore the suit for the first time afterward 
in 17S3, when he served as commissioner 
for the United States in signing a treaty 
of peace with Great Britain. 

1774. Jan. 30. Franklin received a 
notice deposing him from the position of 
deputy postmaster general, which he had 
held with benefit to the colonies by the 
appointment of the English government 

i>"i 1753- 

1774. March 31. The Boston Port 

Bill, having passed Parliament, was 
signed by the king. By this act all 
commerce was to be shut out from Bos- 
ton, and the government oflices were 
ordered to be removed immediately to 
Salem. 



1761-1774.] 



THE DAWN OF STRIFE. 



2To 



1774. May 12. A meeting of dele- 
gates from nine towns around Boston 
mi. Drawing was held at Faneuil Hall, 
frame for cotton to Consider the oppressive 

invented by Rob- r ,^ T-y i • i 

ert Ark^vriffiu. measures of the English 
1728-1714. Oliver government, and to urge 

Goldsmith . ,1,1 1 • 

upon the other colonies a 
stricter adherence to the non-importation 
agreement. Meetings were subsequently 
held in other towns. A circular letter 
was drawn up to be transmitted to other 
colonies. 

1774. May 13. An appeal for aid 
was added to this letter, in view of the 
severity of the effect which must be felt 
by Boston through the operation of the 
Port Bill and other measures. The cir- 
cular letter prepared during these two 
days was carried to the other colonies by 
Paul Revere. 

1774. May 17. Gen. Gage, who had 
been appointed governor of Massachu- 
setts in place of Hutchinson, landed at 
Long Wharf, Boston. Troops were to 
follow him to the city. He was instruct- 
ed to arrest the leaders of the patriots, 
and send them abroad. 

1774. May 20. The Massachusetts 
Government Bill. A bill for the better 
regulating the government of the prov- 
ince of Massachusetts Bay, having been 
passed by Parliament, was signed by the 
king. It provided for the appointment 
of the governor's council and supreme 
court by the crown, forbade the holding 
of town meetings without the consent of 
the governor, and provided for the sum- 
moning of juries by the sheriff, who, 
with other minor officers, were appointees 
of the governor. These changes were all 
in violation of the charter. 

1774. May 20. " The Murder Act." 
Another bill was signed by the king this 
day, which became known as " the mur- 



der act," because it provided for the re- 
moval from the province for trial of all 
such persons as were charged with mur- 
der in upholding the authority of the 
crown. It was entitled "An Act for the 
more impartial administration of justice 
in said province," These two bills, to- 
gether with the Mutiny Act, which had 
already been extended to America, and 
provided for the quartering of troops 
upon rebellious provinces, and the Quebec 
Act which sanctioned the free exercise of 
the Roman Catholic religion in Canada, 
in order to secure its loyalty, were all ap- 
proved, and became laws in spite of the 
protests of Edmund Burke and others. 

1774. May 25. The Virginia Pro- 
vincial Assembly. Gov. Dunmore, be- 
cause of his loyalist sympathies, dissolved 
the House of Burgesses on account of 
their patriotic action. The members 
went to the Raleigh tavern in Williams- 
burg, and originated the Virginia Pro- 
vincial Assembly. They voted to recom- 
mend a general congress according to the 
suggestion of New York. 

1774. June 1. The Boston Port 
Bill went into effect, and the day was 
very generally observed as a day of fast- 
ing and great solemnity. This bill was 
thoroughly executed by Gen. Gage, and 
almost all business was immediately 
suspended. 

1774. June 7. The last colonial as- 
sembly of Massachusetts met at Salem. 
Patriotic resolutions were introduced. 
The time and place for a continental 
congress were decided; delegates were 
elected thereto, and resolutions passed, 
concerning non-importation. Gov. Gage, 
hearing of their action, sent his secretary 
to dissolve them, but members of the as- 
sembly locked the doors, preventing the 
entrance of the official until they had 



276 



RE VOL UTIONA RT STR UGGL ES. 



done their business and adjourned in reg- 
ular order. 

1774. June 14. Troops were brought 
from Castle William into the city of 
Boston in view of the enforcement of the 
Port Bill. At later times other compa- 
nies \vere added to the force. 

1774. June. Aid for Boston. South 
Carolina sent two hundred barrels of rice 
to Boston; Windham, Conn., two hun- 
dred and fifty sheep; Schoharie, N. Y., 
five hundred and fifty bushels of wheat; 
Georgia seven hundred and twenty dol- 
lars in specie, and sixty-three barrels of 
rice. These were sjDccimens of the gifts 
w^hich came pouring in. A " Donation 
Committee " had the distribution of these 
materials in charge. 

1774. July 6. The great " Meeting 
in the Fields," as it was called, was 
held by the citizens of New York to 
consider the situation of affairs. Among 
others Alexander Hainilton, then a voung 
man at Columbia College, addressed the 
people. It was his first speech in public, 
and was made after great persuasion, but 
by its thrilling eloquence in pleading for 
the great principles at stake, it proved that 
an eminent career was before its author. 

1774. July 11. Sir William John- 
son, who had had a powerful influence 
over the Six Nations, and had been 
prominent in previous wars as Indian 
agent, died. He is known for the natural 
alliance with Mary, the sister of the great 
Mohawk sachem, Joseph Brandt. His 
nephew, Guy Johnson, and his son Sir 
John Johnson, succeeded to his power, 
and were both of them hot tories. 

1774. Aug. 6. Shakers. " Mother 
Ann" and nine other prominent Shakers 
arrived in New York from England, and 
the most of them settled at what is now 
Watervliet, near Albany. These emi- 



grants had originally been members of 
the Quakers, but separated through a 
divergence of opinion. The full idea of 
the Shaker family was not entertained 
by Mother Ann Lee till a few years 
after coming to America. Finally, con- 
verts to her doctrines increased in num- 
bers, and in a score of years about a 
dozen Shaker societies had been or- 
ganized. 

1774. Sept. 1. « Powder Alarm." 
Gen. Gage seized some provincial stores 
including two field pieces, at Cambridge, 
and two hundred and fifty half barrels 
of powder at Charlestown powder house. 
He then began to fortify Boston Neck. 
This caused an excitement in Boston, and 
in some way the report spread through 
New England that war had begun. 
Boston was full of great agitation. The 
selectmen remonstrated with Gen. Gage 
against the fortifications, and a long con- 
test of words ensued. The city was for 
a time full of club, caucus and committee 
meetings. From some hasty message 
the word went forth that bloodshed had 
already occurred. Immediately the 
patriots of New England began to pour 
toward Boston, and before the report 
could be contradicted thirty thousand men 
were on their way to take a part in the 
great contest which was thought to have 
been begun. This uprising of the New 
England yeomanry showed the growth 
of the feeling of resistance. Aleantime 
the people were attaining a skill in de- 
liberation, which the more speedy out- 
break of hostilities would have prevented. 
Town meetings multiplied, and people 
evervwhere were thinking deeply. 

1774. Sept. 5. First Continental 
Congress. Delegates from twelve col- 
onies met at Carpenter's Hall, Philadel- 
phia, and organized themselves into a con- 



1701-1774.] 

tinental congress by the choice of Peyton 
Randolph, of Virginia, as president, and 
Charles Thomson, of Philadelphia, as 
secretary. The latter was not a member 
of the body, but because of his fitness for 
the position, continued to be secretary of 
the continental congress till its final disso- 
lution fifteen years afterward. Patrick 
Henry made the first speech at the open- 
ing of the session, when there was a 
slight hesitation in proposing business, 
and gave by his eloquence a patriotic 
inspiration to the whole subsequent delib- 
1774-1793. erations. Mr. Randolph 

Loiiix xy/. presided again at the open- 

Ku,or of France. j^^^^ ^CSsion of May I O, I 775. 

1774. Sept. 22. The merchants of 

the colonies were requested by a vote of 
congress " not to send any order to Great 
Britain, and to delay the execution of any 
order already sent." 

1774. Sept. 26. All the carpenters 
who were at work on soldiers' barracks 
quit, and refused to have anything more 
to do with them. Gov. Gage could find 
none in Boston, and not for a long time, 
in New York. Merchants would not 
sell goods to the soldiers. 

1774. Oct. 5. First Massachusetts 
Provincial Congress. The general court 
of Massachusetts had been called by Gen. 
Gage the first of September, but when 
he learned what they would try to do, he 
issued a proclamation revoking the call. 
They met and waited a day for the gov- 
ernor, and then organized as a provincial 
assembly. 

1774. Oct. 8. Commendation of 
Massachusetts. It was voted at Phila- 
delphia that congress approves " the 
opposition of the inhabitants of Massa- 
chusetts Bay to the execution of the late 
acts of Parliament, and if the same shall 
be attempted to be carried into execution 



THE DAWN OF STRIFE. 



277 



by force, in such a case all Americans 
ought to support them in their oppo- 
sition." 

1774. Oct. 10. A great battle was 
fought on the Ohio River between eleven 
hundred Virginians under Col. Andrew 
Lewis and nearly one thousand Indians. 
Bancroft says it was the most bloody 
and best contested in the annals of forest 
warfare. 

1774. Oct. 14. A declaration of 
colonial rights was drawn up and passed 
by congress. 

1774. Oct. 15. Burning of Tea. 
An attempt was made to import some 
tea in a cargo of goods which came to 
Annapolis, Md., in the ship Peggy 
Stewai't from London. But the anger of 
the people, who resolved that no tea 
should be landed, induced the owner to 
burn the ship and its contents. 

1774. Oct. 20. The American As- 
sociation. A series of articles drawn up 
under the above heading was adopted by 
congress for the sake of maintaining the 
rights of the colonies. The second arti- 
cle was "thnt we will neither import nor 
purchase any slave imported after the 
first day of December next, after which 
time we will wholly discontinue the slave 
trade, and will neither be concerned in it 
ourselves, nor will we hire our vessels 
nor sell our commodities or manufactures 
to those who are engaged in it." Arti- 
cles like this had been adopted at meet- 
ings for the election of delegates in Vir- 
ginia, North Carolina, and other colonies. 
Jefferson said in the exposition of British 
rights which he laid before the Virginia 
convention : " The abolition of domestic 
slavery is the greatest object of desire in 
these colonies, where it was unhappily 
fixed in their infant state." This senti- 
ment was generally difliused through the 



278 I^E VOL UTIONAR T STR UGGLES. 

colonies. The above articles of associa- 
tion were adopted everywhere, in the 



southern colonies as well as in the north- 
ern. The union agreed upon, virtually 
rested on the introductory compact to 
carry out the above and several other 
things. Subsequently most of the States 
took measures to abolish the slave traffic, 
which was not renewed till 1803, by 
South Carolina. Some of the colonies 
had at this time laws for the gradual 
abolition of slaveholding itself. Most 
persons, however, condemned the slave 
trade before there was any strong oppo- 
sition to slaveholding. 

1774. Oct. 22. Henry Middleton 
of South Carolina, was temporarily 
elected president of the continental con- 
gress to succeed Peyton Randolph, of 
Virginia, who was unable to serve longer 
on account of ill-health. 

1774. Oct. 26. The first " commit, 
tee of safety " was created by the Mas- 
sachusetts provincial assembly to take 
charge of the province, to organize the 
militia, to provide stores, and direct all 
subordinate matters. This committee 
was really the leading power in the 
colony. 

1774. Oct. 26. The first congress 
adjourned to meet May 10, 1775. They 
adopted a few days before an " Address 
to the people of Great Britain," and a 
"Petition to the King," besides several 
less important papers. They also had 
voted to discountenance gaming, cock- 
fighting, exhibitions of plays, shows, and 
other expensive diversions and enter- 
tainments. 

1774. November. " Minute Men." 
The Massachusetts provincial assembly 
ordered the enlistment and drilling of 
twelve thousand " minute men." It also 
took steps to provide for military stores 



and the manufacture of ammunition. It 
also elected general officers for governing 
the province. 

1774. Nov. 10. A proclamation 
denouncing these acts, was issued by Gen. 
Gage. 

1774. November. The war with the 
western Indians which had been raging 
through the summer, was closed by a 
treaty of peace. 

1774. December. Seizure of Can- 
non. News came that the king had 
forbidden military stores to be exported 
from the kingdom to America. The 
citizens of Providence, R. I., at once 
seized forty cannon from a fort near 
Newport. 

1774. Dec. 14. Seizure of Powder. 
The citizens of Portsmouth, N. H., 
seized one hundred barrels of powder at 
a fort in the harbor. 

1774. Dec. 15. Another party dis- 
mantled the fort, and carried off small 
arms and a few cannon. 

1774. Dr. Adams, a tory, of Arling- 
ton, N. Y., was tied up and exposed upon 
" Landlord Fay's sign post where was 
fixed a dead catamount," for some offence 
given to the patriotic sentiment of the 
place. 

1774. Removal of Plymouth Rock. 
An attempt was made to remove Ply- 
mouth Rock from its bed to a place in 
town where it would command general 
attention. But while it was being raised 
to the carriage, it broke apart and fell. 
One jDortion only was removed. The 
other was again embedded in its original 
home, and over it a beautiful granite 
canopy has been erected in recent years. 
The piece removed has been in 1S80 re- 
turned to its position with the other. 

1774. Slavery Among Quakers. The 
society of Friends in Philadelphia, at its 



1761-1774.] 



THE DAWN OF STRIFE. 



279 



yearly meeting took action withdrawing 
fellowship from all members who con- 
tinued to buy negroes. The matter was 
brought up in other yearly meetings a 
little later. William Burling, of Long 
Island, Ralph Sandiford of Philadelphia, 
Benjamin Lay, John Woolman and An- 
thony Benezet, were largely instrumental 
in securing the cessation of slavery among 
Quakers. Their testimony was con- 
stantly borne against the inhumanities of 
the custom. Benjamin Lay was especially 
earnest in his testimony everywhere. 
" Calling on a friend in the city, he was 
asked to sit down to breakfast. He first 
inquired, ' Dost thou keep slaves in thy 
house?' On being answered in the 
affirmative, he said, 'Then I will not par- 
take with thee of the fruits of thy unright- 
eousness.' After an ineffectual attempt 
to convince a farmer and his wife in 
Chester county of the iniquity of keeping 
slaves, he seized their only child, a little 



girl of three years of age, under pretense 
of carrying her away, and when the 
cries of the child and his singular expe- 
dient alarmed them, he said, ' You see 
and feel now a little of the distress which 
you occasion by the inhuman practice of 
slave-keeping.' On one occasion he 
seated himself in a meeting of Friends 
among slaveholders with a bladder of 
bullock's blood secreted under his mantle, 
and at length broke the quiet stillness of 
the worship by deliberately rising in full 
view of the whole audience, piercing the 
bladder, spilling the blood on the floor 
and seats, thus sprinkling some of it on 
the raiment of those near him, and ex- 
claiming with all the solemn authority of 
an ancient prophet, ' Thus shall the Lord 
spill the blood of those that traffic in the 
blood of their fellow men.' A scene of 
great confusion followed. Some fainted, 
some shrieked, and the meeting broke 
up in disorder." 




SECTION XIV. 




HE first great conflict of arms for 
self-government in America now 
began. The darkness of the strug- 
gle was made deeper through the 
opinions and efforts of large numbers of 
royalists or tories scattered up and down 
the colonies. At times they furnished 
many recruits to the British army. In 
company with Indians, they often com- 
mitted some of the worst outrages. The 
patriots had to guard against those of 
their own communities. There were 
times also when it seemed as if the 
patriots themselves would be rent asunder 
by differences of opinion. But finally 
victory brought rejoicing. Peace was 
declared. The whole continent had an 
undiscerned interest in the result. Slowly 
were the effects of it to be manifest 
through the entire length of North and 
South America. The example of jDa- 
triotism was powerful in setting a spirit of 
liberty at work everywhere. The first 
developments were slight and feeble, but 
the final achievements will be glorious. 



1775. Jan. 23. Gen. Gage's Policy. 
Gen. Gage sent one hundred men under 
Capt. Balfour, known as the " Queen's 
Guards," to Marshfield, Mass., at the call 

[■2H0] 



of a " Loyal Association," to protect 
them from threatened action of patriots. 
The company remained there till April 
1 8. While at Marshfield Capt. Balfour 
visited Plymouth, having the future oc- 
cupation of that town in mind. But the 
patriotic feeling was so great he saw 
that it would be useless to attempt the 
movement. It was upon a later day that 
a British ofiicer visited Plymouth, and in 
some way aroused the indignation of the 
citizens. He was chased, and disarmed 
in the shop of a tory into which he had 
fled for safety. His sword was cut into 
pieces, which were given away to the 
whigs. Gen. Gage thought that the 
only way of procedure was to disarm 
the colonies by taking possession of their 
munitions of war and supplies. 

1775. Feb. 26. The First Blood. 
A party of British soldiers under Leslie 
went from Boston to Salem and Danvers, 
after provincial supplies. At Salem they 
did not find what they were hunting for. 
As they started off for Danvers they 
found that the draw of the North Bridge, 
Salem, had been raised. The citizens 
would not lower it. The soldiers then 
undertook to seize two large gondolas 
which lay upon the Salem side, and a 



1775-1783.] 

scuffle took place, in which a soldier 
pressed one of the boatmen with his 
bayonet, drawing the first blood of the 
Revolution. A compromise was now 
proposed by Rev, Thomas Barnard, and 
was accepted. By its terms the draw 
was lowered, the British soldiers marched 
across it a distance of thirty rods into 
Danvers, and turning about, started for 
Boston. The spirit of the people was 
ominous. 

1775. February. A remarkable 
charge was delivered by Judge William 
Henry Crawford, of South Carolina, to 
grand jurors in that province enjoining 
the strict maintenance of the constitu- 
tional rights, at the hazard of life and 
fortune. 

1775. April 14. " The Pennsylva- 
nia Society for the Abolition of Slavery " 
was organized in a meeting of gentlemen 
at the Sun Tavern on Second Street, Phil- 
adelphia. The society seems to have held 
four meetings in 1775, and no other till 
1784, because of the war. In 1787 the 
abolition of slavery was taken up as an 
object of steadfost labor. Dr. Fi-anklin 
was president, and Dr. Benjamin Rush 
secretary. 

LEXLYGTO.r ^YD COjYCORD. 

1775. April 19. A force of eight 
hundred British troops under Lieut. -Col. 
Smith was sent out from Boston before 
light to destroy the provincial stores at 
Lexington and Concord. Paul Revere, 
who was warned by a signal light hung 
in the steeple of the North church, Bos- 
ton, mounted his horse and roused the 
inhabitants along the way. Major Pit- 
cairn pushed on hastily with about three 
hundred infantry troops, and arrived at 
Lexington at four o'clock in the morning. 
He was there met on the green by about 



THE DAT OF TRIAL. 



281 



seventy militia men under Capt. Isaac 
Parker. Major Pitcairn rode up to them 
and cried out, "Disperse, ye rebels! "at 
the same time discharging his pistol. 
In some way or other firing began by a 
volley from the British troojDs. Eight 
Americans lay dead, and ten wounded.. 
The Americans scattered in confusion, 
and the British hurried on their way to 
Concord, where they began to destroy 
the militia stores of the town. The 
" minute men " gathered at the bridge, 
and there the British fired upon them,, 
killing Capt. Isaac Davis. The Ameri- 
cans fired in return, killing one and 
wounding several. Then the British 
began their disastrous retreat to Boston,, 
a distance of sixteen miles. Every 
minute the number of patriots increased, 
and from the fields, the stone walls, and 
buildings, a constant fire was kept up on. 
the invaders. At Lexington Lord Percy 
met the exhausted British soldiers with a 
reinforcement of one thousand men, and 
the slaughter ceased for a time. The 
British finally reached Cambridge, and 
succeeded in getting back to their quar- 
ters in Boston. They had lost two hun- 
dred and eighty men; the Americans 
ninety-five. This day is reckoned as the 
real opening of the Revolution. 



1775. April 20. Siege of Boston. 
The patriots who had followed the re- 
treating foe did not scatter again to their 
families, but at once invested the city. 
On this day the lines around Boston were 
really formed by the " minute men " 
who came pouring in. As the news 
swept on through New England like 
wild fire, men left their work at once to 
shoulder their muskets and file along the 
roads on their holy errand. Twenty 
thousand men were soon thronging the 



282 



RE VOL UTIONAR T STR UGGLES . 



entrenchments around the city. Israel 
Putnam of Connecticut, left his plow 
in the field and rode one hundred miles 
in eighteen hours. John Stark of New 
Hampshire, was sawing pine logs, and 
shutting down the gate, started for Bos- 
ton in his shirt-sleeves. 

1775. April 20. Powder Seizure. 
Gov. Dunmore, of Virginia, seized the 
powder at Williamsburg. The people, 
led by Patrick Henrv, appealed to him 
for remuneration. He promised to pay 
for it, and afterward kept his word. 
Gov. Dunmore subsequently wrote letters 
reflecting upon the colonists. These let- 
ters were intercepted, and to escape the 
storm of indignation he was obliged to 
conceal himself on board a royal vessel. 

1775. May 10. Capture of Fort Ti- 
conderoga. A party of eighty-three men 
under Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, 
entered Fort Ticonderoga before light in 
the morning, and rousing the commander 
demanded its surrender, "in the name 
of the Great Jehovah and the Continental 
Congress." No resistance was made. 
Over one hundred cannon were thus 
secured, some of which w^ere afterward 
hauled on sleds by oxen across the 
mountains to Boston, to aid in the siege 
of that place. 

1775. May 10. The second con- 
tinental congress met at Philadelphia 
and voted to raise twenty thousand men. 
A petition to the king was ordered to be 
prepared. The formation of a federal 
union was initiated, and steps were taken 
to organize an army and navy. 

1775. May 10. Peyton Randolph, 
of Virginia, was elected president of the 
continental congress upon the meeting of 
its second session. In a few days he 
went to Virginia to serve in the House of 
Burgesses. 



1775. May 12. Crown Point was 

taken by a small force of men under 
Seth Warner. Skenesborough, now 
Whitehall, was taken about the same 
time. 

1775. May 18. A British sloop-of- 
war at the northern end of Lake Cham- 
plain, \vas captured by a small vessel 
fitted up by Benedict Arnold. 

1775. May. First Victory on the 
Atlantic. A small vessel was fitted out 
at New Bedford and Dartmouth, JMass., 
in which a bold company sailed and 
retook a vessel which had been taken by 
the British sloop Falcon, on the coast. 
Fifteen prisoners were taken. 

1775. May 23. Seventeen settlers 
met in convention at Boonesborough, 
Ky., to take measures for their own pro- 
tection. They organized an infant state. 

1775. May 24. John Hancock, of 
Massachusetts, was elected president of 
the continental congress, to succeed Pey- 
ton Randolph, of Virginia. 

1775. May 27. The Island Raid. 
The Americans carried off sheep and 
other supplies from Hog and Noddle 
Islands in Boston harbor. A fight was 
kept up all day, in which about seventy 
British soldiers were killed and wounded. 
The Americans had only four slightly 
wounded. Among the supplies captured 
by the patriots were twelve swivels, and 
four four-pound cannon. 

1775. May 31. The Mecklenburg 
Declaration. The inhabitants of Meck- 
lenburg county, N. C, chiefly Presby- 
terians of Scotch-Irish descent, met in a 
convention at Charlotte, and issued their 
famous " declaration of independence," 
asserting that their loyalty to the king 
was ended. 

1775. June 6. An exchange of 
prisoners, the first one in the Revolution, 



1775-1783.] 

took place at Charlestown Ferry, near 
Boston. Major MoncriefF, a British 
officer, brought the patriots who had 
been captured on the 19th of April, He 
and others dined with Gen. Putnam in 
Cambridge before returning to their 
vessel with their released fellow-soldiers. 

1775. June 11. Capture of the 
Margaretta. Some young loggers and 
sawyers of Mechisses, now Machias, 
Maine, led by Jeremiah O'Brien, captured 
the " Margaretta," an English armed 
schooner, and another vessel which was 
loaded with lumber at that point. There 
was a total loss of twenty, killed and 
wounded. 

1775. June 12. The well-known 
proclamation of Gen. Gage was issued, 
offering in insolent terms pardon to all 
rebels who would lay down their arms 
except Samuel Adams and John Han- 
cock, " whose offences," he said, " are of 
too flagitious a nature to admit of any 
other consideration than that of condign 
punishment." 

1775. June 15. George Washing- 
ton, of Virginia, was elected by the con- 
tinental congress to be commander-in- 
chief of the American forces. 

BATTLE OF BU.YKER HILL. 

Yllh. June 17. One of the best 
contested struggles of the whole Revo- 
lution came thus early, to teach each 
party that there was grave determination 
on the other side. An expedition of one 
thousand men was committed to the 
charge of Col. William Prescott, of 
Pepperell, for the work of throwing up 
entrenchments upon one of the Charles- 
town heights during the night of June 
1 6th. After prayer had been offered on 
Cambridge common at the head of the 
troops by Pres. Langdon of Harvard 



THE DAT OF TRIAL. 



283 



College, the patriots set out upon their 
silent and dangerous march. They fixed 
upon Breed's Hill as the proper point for 
fortification, because it commanded the 
city and shipping more extensively. By 
hard -work a strong redoubt eight rods 
square was thrown up before daylight, 
together with an earthwork running to a 
swamp at the north; The guns of the 
English fleet were soon raining their shot 
upon it. About two thousand regulars 
were landed at the foot of Breed's Hill 
at one o'clock. Here they remained for 
an hour and a half for refreshments, and 
for the completion of the arrangements 
for the assault. At half past two o'clock 
the advance was made simultaneously 
against the redoubt, and a double line 
of rail fence filled with new-mown hay, 
which had been thrown together at the 
left of the American position. Thous- 
ands of spectators filled every available 
spot in Boston for witnessing the contest. 
There was the utmost silence in the 
redoubt for a long time, although the 
British fired during their advance. But 
when the regulars had reached a distance 
of about eight rods from the redoubt, a 
living line of flame shot forth and almost 
the whole foremost rank of officers and 
men fell dead. The British forces were 
soon rushing pi'ecipitately to the foot of 
the hill. The force led by Gen. Howe 
against the rail fence, met with the same 
reception and defeat. The British guns 
now threw shells into Charlestown village 
and soon added the terrors of a confla- 
gration to those of a battle. It was 
hoped that the volumes of smoke would 
roll across the redoubt and force its evac- 
uation. But a breeze bore it in another 
direction, A second advance was now 
made, and no shot was fired till the enemy 
had come to a distance of six rods from 



284 



RE VOL UTIONAR T S TR UGGLES. 



the redoubt, when the same horrible exe- 
cution took place, and the same disas- 
trous retreat followed. The officers 
almost beat their men forward. The 
Americans now found that their ammu- 
nition was nearly gone, some having 
only one round left. The British made 
their third assault, and the front rank fell 
as before. But the fire could not be con- 
tinued for laclv of ammunition, and the 
British pressed on into the redoubt, with 
fixed bayonets. The patriots did not 
retreat till almost entirely surrounded, 
and then fought their way out with 
clubbed muskets, and even with stones. 
They retreated slowly to Bunker Hill, 
where Gen. Putnam attempted to stay 
them, but they marched to Prospect Hill 
instead, and encamped for the night. 
The British did not pursue very far, but 
rested upon their very doubtful victory. 
The result amazed every one, and con- 
vinced the world that the work of sub- 
duing the young and vigorous nation 
was no easy task. Vergennes said, 
" Two more such victories, and England 
will have no army left in America." 
The British lost over one thousand men, 
among whom were eighty-three commis- 
sioned officers, killed and wounded. The 
Americans lost less than five hundred in 
killed and wounded. 

DR. JOSEPH Jf'^RRE.y. 

1775. June 17. Dr. Joseph Warren 
was shot through the head during the 
retreat from the redoubt on Breed's Hill, 
and when only a few steps from it. He 
came into the entrenchments, but refused 
to take command, and fought through 
the battle as a private. He had been 
elected one of the major-generals of the 
American army only a few days before. 
He was born at Roxbury, Mass., June 



II, 1 741, and became known as a pure, 
fearless, and generous boy. The same 
traits were visible through his brief but 
influential life. He wrote for the press 
at times, and his patriotic utterances gave 
strength and clearness to the viev/s of 
his inferioi-s. His letters contain some 
striking announcements of political prin- 
ciples. He graduated at Harvard Col- 
lege in 1759, iit the age of eighteen years,, 
and decided to enter the medical profes- 
sion. He established himself soon after 
in practice in Boston. Politics, however, 
took a strong hold upon his mind. Sam- 
uel Adams became his intimate friend, 
and together they meditated upon the 
situation, and endeavored to forecast com- 
ing events. The political struggle in- 
creased in violence, and the faith and 
zeal of these men increased in intensity. 
Orations were several times pronounced 
by Dr. Warren, which gave the keynote 
to the coming struggle. He was presi- 
dent of the Massachusetts provincial con- 
gress, and was cliairman of the " com- 
mittee of safety " in 1774. He was be- 
coming the most prominent man in New 
England. His death was for several 
days uncertain, but his body was after- 
ward identified. The blow was felt 
everywhere. At the age of thirty-four 
one of the country's most valuable lives 
was closed. Everett says, "The friends 
of liberty from all countries and through- 
out all time, as they kneel upon the spot 
that was moistened by the blood of War- 
ren, will find their better feelings strength- 
ened by the influence of the place, and 
will gather from it a virtue in some 
degree allied to his own." Daniel Web- 
ster, in his great oration at the laying of 
the corner-stone of Bunker Hill monu- 
ment in 1835, exclaimed, with great 
power, "But, ah! Him! the first great 



1775 -1783. J THE DAT OF TRIAL 

martyr in this great cause. Him! the 
premature victim of his own self-devoting 



285 



heart. Him! the head of our civil coun- 
cils, and the destined leader of our mili- 
tary bands, whom nothing brought hither 
"but the luiquenchable fire of his own 
spirit! Him! cut off by Providence in 
the hour of overwhelming anxiety and 
thick gloom ; falling ere he saw the star 
of his country rise; pouring out his gen- 



beats to the transports of patriotism 
and liberty, its aspirations shall be to 
claim kindred with thy spirit!" Mrs. 
Adams said in a letter, " Not all the 
havoc and devastation they have made, 
has moved me like the death of Warren. 
We want him in the senate; we want 
him in the profession; we want him in 
the field. We mourn for the citizen, the 
physician, the senator, the warrior." 




REMOVING CANNON FROM THE BATTERY. 



crous blood like water, before he knew 
whether it would fertilize a land of free- 
dom, or of bondage ! How shall I strug- 
gle with the emotions that stifle the utter- 
ance of thy name! Our poor work 
may perish, but thine shall endure! 
This monument may moulder away, 
the solid ground it rests upon may sink 
down to a level with the sea; but thy 
memory shall not fliil. Wheresoever 
amonof men a heart shall be found that 



1775. June 17. The first army 
hospital in America was established at 
Cambridge after the battle of Bunker 
Hill, under the charge of Dr. John War- 
ren, a brother of Joseph Warren. 

1775. The cannon at the battery in 
New York, being desired for the defence 
of the Hudson, were successfully removed 
by a military companv under Capt. 
Lamb and a crowd of individuals led on 
by Isaac Sears. A band of sailors came 



286 

ashore from the English line-of-battle 
ship, Asia, which was lying near by, 
and offered some resistance, but they 
were quickly disposed of by the deter- 
mined citizens. The battery was fired 
upon by the Asia, and in the skirmish 
one sailor was killed, and others wounded. 

1775. The office of " Rivington's 
New York Gazetteer," a tory paper of 
New York city, was completely de- 
stroyed by a band of patriots under Isaac 
Sears, who came from New Haven with 
a hundred men to do it. 

1775. June 21. Washington left 
Philadelphia for Cambridge to take com- 
mand of the army, without visiting his 
home at Mount Vernon. 

1775. June 22. First Continental 
Currency. Congress voted to issue 
jDaper money not to exceed two nlillions 
of dollars, in bills of credit. Paul 
Revere, of Boston, afterward engraved 
the first continental notes on copper. 

1775. July 3. Washington assumed 
command of the army underneath a 
large elm still standing on Cambridge 
common at the north end, and known as 
the " Washington Elm." The entire 
American force at this time numbered a 
little less than fourteen thousand men. 
There was a great lack of military sup- 
plies, notably of powder. Within a 
month from this time less than ten thou- 
sand pounds were in camp. Some of the 
powder houses were filled with barrels of 
sand in order to deceive any spying roy- 
alist who might come around. The 
condition of the army was one of entire 
lack of discipline. Elkanah Watson, 
Esq., who made a visit to the camp, nar- 
rates a dialogue which he overheard be- 
tween a soldier and his captain: " Bill," 
said the captain, " go and bring a pail of 
water for the mess." " I shan't," was 



RE VOL UTIONAR T S TR UGGLES . 



Bill's reply, " it is your turn now, cap- 
tain. I got the last." Washington at 
once began to introduce military order. 

1775. July 20. A public fast was 
held throughout New England in refer- 
ence to the impending struggle with 
Great Britain. 

1775. July 26. A postoffice de- 
partment was established by the conti- 
nental congress. Benjamin Franklin 
was chosen postmaster general at a salary 
of one thousand dollars per year. Two 
treasurers were also appointed over the 
pul)lic finances. 

1775. Sept. 2. The first naval 
commission given by Washington was 
in the form of a captain's commission in 
" the army of the united colonies," to 
Nicholas Broughton, of Marblehead, 
Mass., ordering him to take his men on 
board the schooner Hannah at Beverly, 
and cruise upon the high seas. 

1775. Sept. 13. March to Canada. 
Benedict Arnold was detached by Wash- 
ington to lead an expedition across the 
wilderness of Maine, against Canada. 
The expedition consisted of eleven hun- 
dred men. When they reached the 
Maine forests they began to experience 
great toil, jDrivation and suffering. They 
were forced to struggle through deep 
snows, tangled woods, and flooded rivers. 

1775. Oct. 3. Arnold's force left 
the last white family at Norridgewock, 
and plunged into the uninhabited wilder- 
ness. They were nearly six ^veeks in 
reaching the St, Lawrence, and were 
several times in danger of starvation. 
The fierce persistency of Arnold was 
the great power in the expedition. 

1775. Oct. 10. Gen. Gage was re- 
called to England. Gen. Howe was 
appointed commander-in-chief of the 
British army in the colonies. 



1775-1783.] 



THE DAT OF TRIAL. 



287 



1775. Oct. 13, Origin of United 
States Navy. The continental congress 
voted to fit out two vessels, one of them 
to carry ten guns, and the other, as was 
afterward voted, fourteen guns, for the 
purpose of taking British supply vessels. 
Before the month closed it authorized 
two more vessels, and appointed a " ma- 
rine committee " to take charge of the ex- 
ecvition of the order. 

1775. Oct. 16. Falmouth, Maine, 
now Portland, was burned by an English 
force under Capt. Mowatt. The trouble 
began in the importation of some sails 
and rigging by a man named Thomas 
Coulson, who was a tory. This was 
contrary to a law of the " merchants' as- 
sociation " of Portland, and the whigs 
accordingly decreed that the above ma- 
terials must be sent back. Coulson re- 
fused to have this done, and for a few 
weeks there was great contention. At 
last Capt. Mowatt came to the rescue of 
Coulson, and burned the town. 

1775. Oct. 27. First Traitor. Dr. 
Benjamin Church, who had been thought 
to be a genuine patriot, having been 
found to have held communications with 
the enemy, was tried at this date and ex- 
pelled from the provincial congress, as 
well as sentenced to imprisonment. He 
was released from confinement upon 
parole in the following Maj^, and sailed 
for the West Indies in a vessel which 
was never afterward heard from. 

1775. October. Ethan Allen and a 
small American force were captured near 
Montreal. Allen was sent to England 
in chains, and kept in close confinement 
for nearly three years. He was finally 
exchanged. 

1775. Nov. 2. St. Johns, Canada, 
was captured by a force of one thousand 
men under Gen. Richard Montgomery. 



This jDlace lay at the northern end of 
Lake Champlain, and was held by a 
force under Major Preston. Valuable 
stores, weapons and ammunition, besides 
five hundred regular soldiers, and one 
hundred Canadian volunteers, were svu*- 
rendered. 

1775. Nov. 13. Montreal was taken 
by Gen. Richard Montgomery, who had 
captured Col. Robert Prescott and the 
garrison in an attempt to escape from the 
city down the river to Quebec. A large 
amount of supplies was captured at this 
time. 

1775. Nov. 13. Benedict Arnold 
and his followers at last, after great desti- 
tution and suffering, reached the St. Law- 
rence, crossed the river, and climbed to 
the Plains of Abraham, In vain, how- 
ever, did Arnold summon Quebec to sur- 
render. 

1775. November. An Encouraging 
Capture. One of the vessels commis- 
sioned by Washington, under Capt. Man- 
ley, carrying four guns, took a British 
vessel loaded with supplies of all kinds. 
All the horses and carts near the coast 
were set at work drawing the supplies to 
the camp around Boston. There were 
"two thousand muskets, one hundred 
thousand flints, thirty thousand round 
shot, over thirty tons of musket shot, 
eleven mortar beds, and a thirteen inch 
brass mortar weighing 2,700 pounds," 
besides other stores. 

1775. Dec. 3. Montgomery joined 
Arnold near Quebec, with the few men 
who would follow him. There were 
now less than a thousand men in all, be- 
fore Quebec. 

1775. Dec. 9. A fight took place at 
Great Bridge near Norfolk, Va., be- 
tween a tory force under Gov. Dunmore, 
and a body of patriots. The former fled 



RE VOL UTIONART STRUGGLES. 
The Americans met 



288 

■\vith some loss 
with no loss. 

1775. Dec. 22. Esek Hopkins of 
Rhode Island,was appointed commander- 
in-chief of the continental navy. 

1775. Dec. 31. Assault vipon Que- 
bec, An assault having been decided 
upon, Montgomery and Arnold moved 
upon Quebec at two o'clock in the morn- 
ing, in a blinding snow-storm. The 
troops were divided into two portions, 
which were to approach Prescott Gate 
through the lower town from opposite 
directions, and there make a combined at- 
tack upon the upper town. The force 
under Montgomery was pressing for- 
ward over blocks of ice and barricades of 
timber, when they were fired upon from 
a guard house. The brave leader and 
twelve others Instantly fell dead. The 
rest disheartened, retreated, and did not 
again join the attack. Arnold was 
wounded while approaching from the 
other direction, and ]Morgan took com- 
mand. After fighting bravely for several 
hours, he was forced to surrender with 
four hundred men. The active siege of 
Quebec was over, and the conquest of 
Canada was now reversed. The rem- 
nant of troops lingered near for some 
months, but with no result. 

RICHARD MONTGOMERY. 

1775. Dec. 31. This American gen- 
eral who bade fair to be very useful to 
his adopted country, was born near 
Raphoe, Ireland, Dec. 2, 1736, and was 
but a few days more than thirty-nine 
years of age. He was in the army before 
Loulsburg, and fought at Martinique and 
Havana in the West Indies. He subse- 
quently married a daughter of Judge 
Robert R. Livingston, of New York, 
and settled at Rhinebeck. He received 



an appointment as brigadier-general from 
congress, and took charge of the force 
which went into Canada by way of Lake 
Champlain. He was rapidly successful 
in capturing the points that lay in his 
path. His death at Quebec was the 
cause of the disaster that followed. His 
men could do nothing without him. His 
remains rest beneath a monument in front 
of St. Paul's church in New York, which 
was erected by order of congress. Mont- 
gomery was of striking personal appear- 
ance, and possessed a character of equal 
eminence. He was a brave, pure, gen- 
erous spirit. 



1775. The first canto of Trumbull's 
" McFIngall " was issued in the English 
colonies, and was widely sold all over 
the land. It greatly helped the patriot 
cause. The whole poem was issued 
seven years later. 

1775. The first joint stock manu- 
facturing company in the world was 
organized at Philadelphia for the pro- 
duction of " woolens, linens, and cottons." 
A building was hired, and the work was 
begun. It was the first cotton fiictory in 
America. 

1775. The first piano forte made in 
America was produced by John Belmont 
of Philadelphia, who advertised that he 
" had just finished an extraordinary in- 
strument by the name of the Piano 
Forte, of mahogany, in the manner of a 
harpsichord, with hammers and several 
changes." 

1775. The "Phi Beta Kappa," the 
great college society of the United States 
for the recognition of scholarship, was 
founded at William and Mary College, 
Virginia. 

1775. '* Yankee Doodle " is supposed 
to have been introduced into America, or 



1775-1783.] 

composed in America about this time. 
Its origin is very obscure. Some say 
that a British sergeant in Boston com- 
posed the words. The tune is an old one 
used in England as early as the time of 
Charles I., and was often played by 
British bands in the colonies. The 
verses sung to it in the Revolution origi- 
nated probably in derision of the Ameri- 
can troops. 

1776. Jan. 1. The position of af- 
fairs at the opening of this year was 
much the same as it had been for some 
months. The entrenchments and bat- 
teries around Boston had been gradually 
strengthened, and furnished with forts, 
barracks, and breastworks. Fuel had 
been extremely scarce at times. The 
camp had been on the whole well-pro- 
visioned. At times it had been visited 
by a throng of people from the surround- 
ing country. The colonies were waiting 
to hear of an attack on Boston. The 
great difficulty which Washington had 
to contend with was in respect to enlist- 
ments from the different provinces. 
Terms of service expired, and it was dif- 
ficult to arrange them again upon a satis- 
factory basis. Still, the army kept the 
British completely shut up in the town 
which they had chosen to subjugate. On 
the seas numerous privateers began to 
make captures. 

1776. Jan. 1. Norfolk, the richest 
town in Virginia, was burned by troops 
sent ashore for the purpose by Gov. Dun- 
more, who soon sailed for the West 
Indies. 

1776. Jan. 2. First Union Flag. 
A flag was hoisted over the American 
camp at Boston, composed of thirteen 
stripes with the British " union " in the 
corner. This was the first true union 
flag. The new continental army came 



THE DAT OF TRIAL. 



289 



into existence this day under the votes of 
congress and the arrangements of Gen. 
Washington. 

1776. Jan. 8. The British Theater 
in Boston. During their occupation of 
Boston the British officers and soldiers 
supported a theater. The piece entitled 
" The Blockade of Boston " was being 
performed on the evening of this date. 
The point was just reached at which an 
actor entered in the character of Wash- 
ington, « with a large wig, and a long 
rusty sw^ord, attended by a country ser- 
vant with a rusty gun." An interruption 
suddenly occurred by the entrance of a 
sergeant who cried out, " The Yankees 
are attacking our works on Bunker Hill." 
The spectators supposed that this was 
included in the scene, until Gen. Howe 
ordered the officers to their duty, when 
the people began to shriek and faint. 
The alarm was caused by the burning of 
some houses at Charlestown by a com- 
pany of Americans. 

1776. Jan. 9. Thomas Paine's 
pamphlet entitled " Common Sense," 
advocating the founding of a republic in 
America, reached congress, and made a 
profound impression, greatly strengthen- 
ing the patriot cause. Pennsylvania 
gave Paine £500 for this production. 

1776. Feb. 27. North Carolina 
Royalists. A force of fifteen hundred 
royalists who had been gathered by Don- 
ald McDonald, a Scotch tory under com- 
mission from Gov. Martin, of North 
Carolina, was totally routed at Moore's 
Creek by a patriot force of one thousand 
men. The tory loss was seventy, killed 
and wounded. The American loss was 
two wounded. This broke up the Eng- 
lish authority in the province. 

1776. March 4. Dorchester Heights, 

near Boston, were taken possession of by 

19 



290 



RE VOL UTIONAR7~ STR UGGLES. 



Washington. The occupation was made 
ini-ine. ^^ the dead of night. Two 

David Hume, small foits Were partially 
constructed by morning. Gen. Howe at 
once jjlanned to attack the new position 
and embarked his troops, but a severe 
storm broke up the attempt. 

1776. March 17. Evacuation of 
Boston. Gen. Howe evacuated Boston 
with the whole British army, and sailed 
for Hahfax, accompanied by eleven hun- 
dred loyalists. Much property was de- 
stroyed by the British before their depart- 
ure, but sujDplieswere left,worth X30,ooo. 
Several vessels and stores were captured 
by American privateers. The " Old 
South " church had been used by the 
British soldiers as a riding school. Gen^ 
Washington entered the city in triumph 
on the day of the evacuation. A vote of 
thanks and a gold medal were given him 
by congress. This medal was the first 
one in the history of America. Many 
of the troops were at once ordered to 
New York, because it was not known at 
what point the British would now make 
their effort. 

1776. April. The first Hessian 
troops sailed from England to Quebec. 
England had applied for aid to Holland, 
Russia and Prussia, but had been refused 
by each. The small provinces of Ger- 
many agreed to sell some ti'oops for 
American service, and these were the 
ones known as Hessians through the 
Revolution. Seventeen thousand were 
obtained at $36 per head. The Hessians 
became greatly feared in America, be- 
cause of their cruelty. 

1776. April 13. Washington arrived 
at New York. The British had already 
determined to make it the base of their 
operations for the summer of this year. 

1776. April 11. A Long March. 



Col. St. Clair having marched with six 
companies from Pennsylvania to Can- 
ada, joined the remnant of the American 
force which still lay near Quebec. 

1776. May 1. The siege of Que- 
bec was raised because of the approach 
of a British fleet, and the little army of 
Americans departed. Upon their way 
they attempted to take Three Rivers, but 
lost two hundred men as prisoners, and 
twenty-five killed and wounded. They 
then made a very hasty retreat with a 
British force at their heels, till they arrived 
at Crown Point, which took jolace in 
June. 

1776. May 4. Provincial Declara- 
tion of Independence. The assembly 
of Rhode Island passed an act declaring 
the province free from all dependence on 
the crown of Great Britain. 

1776. May. The provincial assem- 
bly of Virginia unanimously voted that 
their delegates to the continental congress 
present to that body a proposition affirm- 
ing the Independence of the colonies 
from Great Britain. 

1776. May. A vessel loaded with 
gunjDOwder was captured off Boston 
harbor by Capt. Samuel Mugford, of 
Marblehead. This was a great boon to 
the colonial forces. 

1776. June. Silas Deane, of Con- 
necticut, who had been sent as a commis- 
sioner to negotiate for aid with the French 
government, arrived in Paris. His mis- 
sion w^as of no benefit, and he afterward 
could give no satisfactory account to 
congress of his doings while abroad. 

LEE'S FAMOUS RESOLUTIONS. 

1776. June 7. Richard Henry Lee, 
of Virginia, proposed his famous resolu- 
tions in congress. They were as follows: 
" That these united colonies are, and of 



1775-1783.] 

right ought to be, free and independent 
states; that they are absolved from all 
allegiance to the British crown; and that 
all political connection between them and 
the State of Great Britain is, and ought 
to be, totally dissolved. That it is expe- 
dient forthwith to take the most effectual 
measures for forming foreign alliances. 
That a plan of confederation be prepared 
and transmitted to the respective colonies 
for their consideration and approbation." 
John Adams, of Massachusetts, seconded 
these resolutions, and they were the sub- 
ject of earnest discussion. 

1776. June 8. A committee was 
appointed by congress, consisting of 
Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John 
Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin 
Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sher- 
man of Connecticut, and Robert R. Liv- 
ingston of New York, to draw up a 
declaration of independence which should 
embody the sense of Lee's resolutions. 
In close connection with the appointment 
of this committee a " Board of War " 
was created for the management of mil- 
itary affairs. This board seems to have 
been composed wholly of congressmen. 
A committee was appointed upon rela- 
tions with foreign powers. 



THE DAT OF TRIAL. 



291 



1776. June 28. Battle in Charles- 
ton Harbor. Two British fleets under 
Sir Henry Clinton and Admiral Sir 
Peter Parker, attacked the fort on Sulli- 
van's Island in Charleston harbor, S. C. 
Col. Moultrie defended it gallantly with 
four hundred men, and shattered the 
British fleet so that it sailed away with 
the loss of more than two hundred killed 
and wounded. The American loss was 
ten killed, and twenty-nine wounded. It 
was during the hottest part of the action 
that the flagstaff of the fort was broken 



by a ball, and the flag fell over the ram- 
part. Sergeant William Jasper leaped 
over the wall in the midst of the falling 
shot, seized the flag, and fastening it to a 
sponge staff, stuck it up in its place again. 
The next day a sword and lieutenant's 
commission were offered Jasper, but he 
would not take the commission, saying, 
" I am not fit for the company of ofiicers. 
I am content to be a sergeant." This 
fort has since been known as Fort 
Moultrie. 

1776. July 1. Gen. Howe arrived 
from Halifax at Sandy Hook, off the 
harbor of New York, and was soon 
joined by Admiral Howe from England. 
The total British force amounted to thirty- 
two thousand men, in over four hundred 
vessels of all kinds. 

1776. July 2. The resolutions of- 
fered in congress by Richard Henry Lee. 
June 7? were passed by the vote of twelve 
colonies. New York delegates had no 
instructions from their province, and 
therefore refrained from voting. The 
stand was now taken, and nothing re- 
mained but to issue a public declaration. 

DECLARATION OF IXDEPEKDEKCE. 

\11Q. July 4. The Declaration of 
Independence which had been presented 
by the committee appointed to draft it, 
was adopted by congress. It was w^ritten 
by Thomas Jefferson, and chiefly de- 
fended at its presentation by John Adams. 
The old bell-ringer in the belfry of the 
State House waited anxiously to hear the 
announcement of the passage of the dec- 
laration. At last his little boy standing 
below shouted up to him, " Ring! Ring !" 
Then he rang with all his might, and 
soon the whole city was alive with joy, 
which continued to overflow during the 
whole nigfht which followed. 



292 



RE VOL UT I ON ART S TR UGGLES . 



A Declaration by the Representatives of tlie 
United States of America, in Congress assem- 
bled : 

When, in the course of human events, it be- 
comes necessary for one people to dissolve the 
political bands which have connected them with 
another, and to assume among the powers of the 
earth the separate and equal station to which the 
laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, 
a decent respect to the opinions of mankind re- 
quires that they should declare the causes which 
impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident: That 
all men are created equal ; that they are endowed 
by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; 
tiiat among these are life, liberty, and the pur- 
suit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, 
governments are instituted among men, deriving 
their just powers from the consent of the gov- 
erned; that, whenever any form of government 
becomes destructive of these ends, it is the 
right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to 
institute a new government, laying its foundation 
on such principles, and organizing its powers in 
such form, as to them shall seem most likely to 
effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, in- 
deed, will dictate that govermnents long estab- 
lished should not be changed for light and tran- 
sient causes, and, accordingly, all experience 
hath shown that mankind arc more disposed to 
suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right 
themselves by abolishing the forms to which 
they are accustomed. But when a long train 
of abuses and usurpations, pursuing inva- 
riably the same object, evinces a design to re- 
duce them under absolute despotism, it is their 
right, it is their duty, to throw off such govern- 
ment, and to provide new guards for their future 
security. Such has been the patient sufferance of 
the colonies ; and such is now the necessity which 
constrains them to alter their former systems of 
government. The history of the present King 
of Great Britain is a history of repeated 
injuries and usurpations, all having in direct 
object the establishment of an absolute tyranny 
over these States. To prove this, letfacts be sub- 
mitted to a candid world: — 

He has refused his assent to laws the most 
wholesome and necessary for the public good. 
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of 
immediate and pressing importance, unless sus- 
pended in their operation till his assent should 
be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has 
utterly neglected to attend to them. 

He has refused to pass other laws for the ac- 
commodation of large districts of people, unless 
those people would relinquish the riglit of rep- 
resentation in the legislature; a right inestima- 
ble to them, and formidable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at 
places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from 
the repository of their public records, for the 
sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance 
with his measures. 

He has dissolved representative houses repeat- 
edly for opposing, with manly firmness, his 
invasions on the rights of the people. 



He has refused, for a long time after such dis- 
solutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby 
the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, 
have returned to the people at large, for their 
exercise; the State remaining, in the meantime, 
exposed to all the danger of invasions from with- 
out, and convulsions within. 

He has endeavored to prevent the population 
of these States; for that purpose, obstructing 
the laws for naturalization of foreigners ; refus- 
ing to pass otliers to encourage their migration 
hither, and raising the conditions of new appro- 
priations of lands. 

He has obstructed the administration of jus- 
tice by refusing his assent to laws for establish- 
ing judiciary powers. 

He has made judges dependent on his will 
alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the 
amount and pavment of their salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of new ofHces, and 
sent hither swarms of officers, to harass our peo- 
ple, and eat out their substance. 

He has kept among us, in times of peace, 
standing armies, without the consent of our 
legislature. 

He has affected to render the military inde- 
pendent of, and superior to, the civil power. 

He has combined with others to subject us to 
a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and un- 
acknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to 
their acts of pretended legislation : — 

For quartering large bodies of armed troops 
airiong us ; 

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from 
punishment for any murders which they should 
commit on the inhabitants of these States; 

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the 
world ; 

For imposing taxes on us without our con- 
sent; 

For depriving us, in many cases, of the bene- 
fits of trial by jury ; 

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for 
pretended offences; 

For abolishing the free system of English 
laws in a neighboring province, establishing 
therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging 
its boundaries, so as to render it at once an ex- 
ample and fit instrument for introducing the 
sairie absolute rule into the colonies; 

For taking away our charters, abolishing our 
most valuable laws, and altering, fundamentally, 
the powers of our governments; 

For suspending our own legislatures, and de- 
claring themselves invested with power to legis- 
late for us in all cases whatsoever; 

He has abdicated government here, by declar- 
ing us out of his protection, and waging war 
against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our 
coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the 
lives of our people. 

He is at this time transporting large armies of 
foreign mercenaries to complete the works of 
death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun 
with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy 
scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages. 



1775-1783.] 



THE DAT OF TRIAL. 



293 



and totally unworthy the head of a civilized 
nation. 

He has constrained our fellow-citizens taken 
captive on the high seas, to bear arms against 
their country, to become the executioners of 
their friends and brethren, or to iall themselves 
by their hands. 

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst 
us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhab- 
itants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian sav- 
ages, whose known rule of warfare is an undis- 
tinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and 
conditions. 

In every stage of these oppressions, we have 
petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; 
our repeated petitions have been answered onlv 
by repeated injury. A prince whose character 
is thus marked by every act which may define a 
tyrant, is vuifit to be the ruler of a free people. 

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our 
British brethren. We have warned them, from 
time to tiine, of attempts made by their legisla- 
ture to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction 
over us. We have reminded them of the cir- 
cumstances of our emigration and settlement 
here. W^e have appealed to their native justice 
and magnanimity, and we have conjured them, 
by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow 
these usurpations, which would inevitablv inter- 
rupt our connections and correspondence. Thev, 
too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and 
consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce 
in the necessity which denounces oiu- separation, 
and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, 
enemies in war; in peace, friends. 

We, therefore, the representatives of the 
United States of America, in general congress 
assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of 
the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, 
in the name and by the authority of the good 
people of these colonies, solemnly publish and 
declare: That these United Colonies are. and 
of right ought to be. Free and Indepnident 
States; that they are absolved from all allegi- 
ance to the British crown, and that all political 
connection between them and the State of Great 
Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; 
and that, as Free and Independent States, they 
have full power to levy war, conclude peace, 
contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do 
all other acts and things which Independent 
States may of right do. And for the support of 
this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the pro- 
tection of Divine Providence, we mutually 
pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and 
our sacred honor. John Hancock. 

New Hampshire. — Josiah Bartlett, William 
Whipple, Matthew Thornton. 

Massachusetts Bay. — Samuel Adams, John 
Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry. 

Rhode Island, etc. — Stephen Hopkins, Will- 
iam Ellery. 

Connecticut. — Roger Sherman, Samuel 
Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott. 

New York. — William Floyd, Philip Living- 
ston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris. 

New Jersey. — Richard Stockton, John With- 



erspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abra- 
ham Clark. 

Pennsylvania. — Robert Morris, Benjamin 
Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George 
Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James 
Wilson, George Ross. 

Delaware. — Caesar Rodney, George Read, 
Thomas M'Kean. 

Maryland. — Samuel Chase, William Paca, 
Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of CarroUton. 

Virginia. — George Wythe, Richard Henry 
Lee, Thomas Jefierson, Benjamin Harrison, 
Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, 
Carter Braxton. 

North Carolina. — William Hooper, Joseph 
Hewes, John Penn. 

South Carolina. — Edward Rutledge, Thom- 
as Hayward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur 
Middleton. 

Georgia. — Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, 
George Walton. 



1776. July 4. The United States Na- 
tional Seal Projected. Congress adopted 
a resolution on the afternoon of indepen- 
dence day, " That Dr. Franklin, Mr. John 
Adams and Mr. Jefferson be a commit- 
tee to prepare a device for a seal for the 
United States of America." This com- 
mittee made a report in August, without 
any device. Nothing w^as done for sev- 
eral years, on account of the heat of 
the struggle. In 1779 and 1782 new 
committees were appointed, but their 
reports gave nothing satisfactory. The 
final design was adopted June 20, 1782. 

1776. July 9. The statue of George 
III., set up in New York in 1770 be- 
cause of the repeal of the Stamp Act, 
was pulled down by the excited citizens. 
The statue, which was of lead, was sent 
to Litchfield, Conn., to the family of 
Gen. Wolcott, for safe keeping, on ac- 
count of the great value of lead. The 
lead was run into forty-two thousand 
bullets, by the daughters and friends of 
Gen. Wolcott. It is said that there were 
many jokes over the transmutation of a 
king into solid appeals for liberty, 

1776. July 14. George Washington, 
Esq. Lord Howe sent a letter up New 



294 



RE VOL UTIONAR T STR UGGLES. 



York harbor directed to George Wash- 
ington, Esq., but Joseph Reed and Sam- 
uel B. Webb, who went out to meet the 
messenger, refused to receive it. Wash- 
ington could not of coui'se enter into 
correspondence with the enemy as a pri- 
vate person. 

1776. Aug. 2. The Declaration of 
Independence, having been engrossed 
on parchment, was signed by the fifty- 
four delegates present. President John 
Hancock affixed his name first, and turn- 
ing, said to the rest, " We must be unani- 
mous; there must be no pulling different 
ways; we must all hang together." At 
which Franklin jocoselv replied : " Yes, 
we must all hang together, or we shall 
all hang separately." 

1776. Aug. 26. The first pension 
act was passed by the continental con- 
gi-ess. Since this date there have been 
several hvnidred acts of congress relat- 
ing to pensions for military and naval 
service. 

1776. Aug. 27. Battle of Long 
Island. The British forces having landed 
on Long Island, at last began an advance 
before daylight upon the American posi- 
tion. Gen. Clinton was in command. 
The fifrhting, which began as soon as 
the American lines were reached, was 
long and severe. The patriot army was 
driven at every point. They lost many 
men by the merciless Hessians under De 
Heister. The British loss was about 
four hundred, and the American two 
thousand, half of whom were prisoners. 
Generals Sullivan and Stirling were both 
among the last. Many of the captives 
Avere confined in the prison ships. 

1776. Aug. 29. Evacuation of Long 
Island. Gen. Washington having de- 
cided with the advice of his officers to 
evacuate Long Island, made the attempt 



a little before midnight in a heavy fog. 
While the Americans were making their 
passage across East River, a negro ser- 
vant was sent by a tory woman who 
learned what was being done, to inform 
the British of it. The black fellow was 
taken by the Hessians, who could not 
understand a word he said, and the in- 
tended warning amounted to nothing. 

1776. Sept. 11. A conference ar- 
ranged by Gen. Sullivan, who had been 
paroled for that purpose, was held on 
Staten Island at the Billop House, be- 
tween Lord Howe with his brother. Gen. 
Howe, and a committee appointed by 
congress consisting of Dr. Franklin, John 
Adams and Edward Rutledge. Lord 
Howe received them courteouslv, but told 
them that he could not recognize them 
in an official capacity. He would, how- 
ever, confer with them as private citizens. 
The members of the committee said that 
they were nothing except the represen- 
tatives of a great and independent people, 
and that they must be recognized as such 
before any arrangement could be reached. 
It was further learned that Lord Howe's 
discretionary powers did not extend so 
far as to enable him to promise any i^e- 
dress for unjust laws. This ended the 
conference. 

1776. Sept. 15. A portion of the 
British army crossed to New York at 
Kip's Bay, and the Americans evacuated 
the citv, retiring to Harlem Heights. 
When the enemy were landing. Gen. 
Putnam was hurrying out of New York 
along the North River, and succeeded in 
escaping with all his force. Gen. Howe 
stopped to lunch with Mrs. Murray, on 
Murray Hill, and so delightfully did this 
lady and her daughters sei*ve their guests 
that the British force was not pushed on 
to the discovery it must have made had 



1775-1783.] 

not the shrewd methods of these Ameri- 
can women covered the retreat of their 
countrymen, who were marching hastily 
by at that very moment, within a very 
short distance. When tlie officers were 
allowed to depart, the city was empty of 
American soldiers. 

1776. Sept. 16. Battle of Harlem 
Plains. A battle took place on Harlem 
Plains between the advance guard of the 
British under Gen. Leslie, and an Amer- 
ican force composed of a company of 
Virginians under Major Leitch, and a 
company of Connecticut rangers under 
Col. Knowlton. The Americans being 
reinforced, drove the British back after a 
severe contest. The American loss was 
about sixt\-, killed and wounded. Knowl- 
ton and Leitch were both slain. 

1776. Sept. 16. Homestead Act. 
Grants of land were promised by the 
United States congress to those who en- 
tered the army and continued in it till the 
close of the war. 

1776. Sept. 21. A great &re occurred 
in New York city, burning Trinity 
church and five hundred dwellings on 
and near Broadway. Some lives were 
lost in the fire. It was charged by the 
British upon patriot sympathizers. 

1776. Sept. 22. Execution of Hale. 
Capt. Nathan Hale, who had gone into 
the British camp in the disguise of a 
young farmer, to obtain information, was 
discovered and executed by Gen. Howe. 
He was successful in the object of his 
mission, and was about leaving the camp 
when a tory recognized him and betrayed 
him. The circumstances of his death 
caused great sorrow among those who 
knew of it. He met death bravely, ex- 
claiming, " I only regret that I have but 
one life to give for my country," 

1776. September. An Indian bor- 



THE DAT OF TRIAL. 



295 



der warfare raged in the Carolinas by 
the instigation of British agents, who 
convinced tlie natives that it was a good 
time for them to take possession of their 
old hunting grounds. But within a short 
time the activity of the patriots was so 
great that terror was spread among the 
tribes. 

1776. Oct. 11. A severe naval battle 
took place on Lake Champlain between 
Benedict Arnold and Gen. Carlcton, of 
Canada. Arnold stationed his vessels at 
first where they could be easily surround- 
ed by the British fleet. The fight was 
desperate for the afternoon, and Arnold's 
force was greatly injured. In the night 
he silently ran his vessels through the line 
of the enemy's ships and sailed up the 
lake. In the morning the pursuit began, 
and Arnold was finally overtaken. His 
vessels were destroyed, and some of his 
crews captured. Arnold and his own 
crew fought as long as they could fight, 
then ran their vessel ashore, and escaping 
to land, marched off in triumph. 

1776. Oct. 14. Crown Point was 
occupied by Gen. Carleton, who after- 
ward returned to Canada. 

1776. Oct. 28. Battle of White 
Plains. The British, in an attempt to 
surround the American camp near New 
York city, fought the battle of White 
Plains with some slight advantage. The 
American loss was one hundred, killed 
and wounded; the British two hundred 
and twenty-nine. 

1776. Nov. 16. Capture of Fort 
Washington. The British captured Fort 
Washington, on Harlem Heights, after 
a battle of several hours, and a loss of 
one thousand men. The American loss 
was one hundred, killed and wounded^ 
and twenty-five hundred prisoners, who 
were put, many of them, into the loath- 



296 



REVOLUTION ARl' STRUGGLES. 



some prison ships. The British were 
aided in taking Fort Washington by a 
letter from William Demont of the 
American army, who thus proved traitor 
to the patriot cause. It was during this 
battle that ISIargaret Corbin was aiding 
her husband serve a gun against the Hes- 
sians, when he was shot dead at her feet. 
She instantly took his place without a 
word, and redoubled her exertions. She 
received for this example of heroism, 
half-pav, and the value of a suit of clothes 
annually, thereafter. 

1776. Nov, 20. Tort Lee was hastily 
evacuated by Gen. Greene, because the 
British began to cross to the west shore 
of the Hudson. The garrison were 
nearly all saved, but the baggage was 
abandoned. Now began that famous re- 
treat through New Jersey, during which 
the British were constantly upon the heels 
of the Americans. It caused the general 
opinion that the war was nearly at an 
end. Washington, however, said that 
"the darkest part of the night is just be- 
fore the dawn of day." 

1776. Nov. 30. A proclamation of 
pardon was issued by Gen. Howe to all 
who would lay down their arms. Many 
came into his camp, especially from New 
Jersey, and took the oath of allegiance to 
Great Britain. 

1776. Dec. 8. Rhode Island was 
held at the British control by the forces 
of Gen. Clinton and Sir Peter Parker, 
which had been landed at Newport. 

1776. Dec. 12. Congress adjourned 
to Baltimore in view of the approach of 
the two armies across New Jersey. 

1776. Dec. 13. Gen. Charles Lee 
was captured at Baskingridge by a small 
British party. Lee had followed dilato- 
rily in the rear of Washington in spite of 
the latter's repeated commands to bring 



up his troops. Lee's motives are obscure. 
At any rate, he ceased to be an aid to the 
patriots. 

1776. Dec. 26. Battle of Trenton. 
Washington crossed the Delaware, re- 
moving as he did so all the boats he 
could find along the river to the other 
side. He now determined to strike a 
blow which should be felt. He therefore 
on a cold stormy night rccrossed the Del- 
aware in boats and on rafts, and fell upon 
the enemy's cam]^. The surprise was 
complete. The foe had surrendered him- 
self to rest more unguardedly than usual, 
and some were spending the night in 
revelry. A little short, sharp fighting 
took place, and a thousand Hessians sur- 
rendered themselves to the American 
army. Twelve hundred small arms, six 
cannon, and all the standards, were cap- 
tured. Howe had returned to New 
York before this attack, leaving Trenton 
to be held by his German mei'cenaries 
under Donop and Rail. The Americans 
had two slightly injured in this great at- 
tack, one of whom was James ISIonroe, 
afterward president of the United States. 

1776. Dee. 27. The reorganization 
of the army was committed by congress 
to Washington with great discretionary 
power. There was almost no money 
for the pay of the soldiers or pui'chase of 
supplies. Robert Morris, of Philadel- 
phia, sent Washington a bag of specie 
containing four hundred and ten Spanish 
dollars. 

1776. A lottery was authorized by 
congress for the raising of money for the 
campaign of 1777- The scheme worked 
slowly, and was finallv abandoned. 

1776. A tory parson of old York, 
Penn., was ducked in the river by his in- 
dignant townspeople, because he per- 
sisted in praying for George III. He 



1775-1783.] 

was summarily ejected from his charge 
by the angry patriots. 

1776. Dr. Franklin and Arthur Lee 
were sent this year to join Silas Deane 
in negotiating with France for aid. A 
treaty was drawn up by congress as a 
proposal to France. 

1776. The first decided action 
against slavery by the Society of Friends 
was taken. No slaveholdei"s could longer 



THE DA r OF TRIAL. 



297 



Argentine Republic. These were called 
the provinces of the La Plata. 

1776. Guatemala la nueva or the 
new city of Guatemala, was founded at a 
distance from the site of the old city 
which had been destroyed three years 
before. This city is said to be "the 
finest in Central America." 

1777. Jan. 1. The situation of af- 
fairs at the close of 1776, was, on the 




THE STOLEN MARCH. 



remain members of the body. This ac- 
tion was only reached after almost a cen- 
tury of agitation. 

1776. First Stocking Factory. Mr. 
Coxenfinder, of Maryland, received an 
appropriation of .£300 from the " com- 
mittee of safety," for the establishment of 
a stocking factory. 

1776. The viceroyalty of Buenos 
Ayres was erected out of what is now 
Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and the 



whole, dark for the patriots. The money 
which had been available at the begin- 
ning of the year for the American army 
was now exhausted, and it was difficult 
to see from what quarter more could be 
obtained. Robert Morris, without whose 
aid the Revolution could not have been 
continued, spent this New Year's morning 
in going from neighbor to neighbor 
among his Quaker friends to solicit funds 
upon his own credit. He raised and 



298 



RE VOL UTIONAR T STRUGGLES. 



forwarded $50,000, and thus gave cheer 
to Washington's heart. 

1777. Jan. 2. Esek Hopkins was 
dismissed from the command of the navy 
of the United States on account of 
charges of inefficiency made by his ene- 
mies. He was an elderly and not vei'y 
forcible man. No other commander-in- 
chief of the navy has ever been ap- 
pointed. 

1777. Jan. 3. The Stolen March. 
Cornwallis had advanced with fresh 
troops in order to hem in and destroy the 
American army near Trenton. He now 
felt sure of punishing Washington for 
the severe stroke he had inflicted at the 
battle of Trenton a few days befoi'e. 
Accordingly the British general drew up 
his fine army of seven thousand men 
before the patriot army, w^ith the Assan- 
pink Creek between. Washington's 
force \vas now in a most critical position, 
as behind it was the Delaware, and in 
front of it a strong army. It was almost 
impossible to think of escaping by flight, 
for the ground was deep with mud. 
But before the night was far gone a wind 
sprang up which dried and froze it to a 
solid pavement. Washington, therefore, 
leaving his pickets at work building flres 
and raising breastworks along the Assan- 
pink, silently mustered his army and 
marched along the deserted Quaker road 
toward Princeton. The British pickets 
did not suspect that the little army they 
were pretending to watch were not in 
deep repose. Two or three British reg- 
iments which had been delayed in the 
adxance were just leaving Princeton in 
their march toward the main body, when 
they were met bv the Americans, who 
fell upon them with great power. The 
British had a loss of more than three 
hundred killed, wounded, and captured. 



The American loss was quite small. 
Cornwallis gained the knowledge of tlie 
escape of his supposed victim by the 
sound of cannon at Princeton. At first 
he thought it thunder, but one of his 
officers assured him that he had been 
outgeneraled. Cornwallis therefore hast- 
ened 1iack to Princeton, but Washington 
had done his work and pushed on to 
Alorristown Heights. The exploits of 
the American army in New Jersey 
caused the fame of Washington to go 
far and near. Frederick the Great of 
Prussia, declared that these strategies had 
never been excelled. The eflfect on the 
spirits of the American people was very 
great. Patriots began to multiply. 
Armed bands were organized for the pur- 
pose of harassing the enemy. The 
British forces were now constantly as- 
sailed and worn by these little companies, 
who would dash upon them, seize a few 
prisoners, and be off; 

1777. Jan. 6. Winter Quarters. 
Washington went into winter quarters at 
Morristown, N. J. Cornwallis went 
into quarters at Brunswick. 

1777. Jan. 15. Independence of 
Vermont. The inhabitants of Vermont, 
who had steadily refused to be under the 
authority of New York, met in conven- 
tion and solemnly declared their inde- 
pendence of any other power or govern- 
ment. They also excluded slavery by 
the bill of rights they adopted. This 
was the very first State declaration abol- 
ishing slaverv. 

1777. Jan. 20. A foraging party of 
British was totally routed near Somerset 
Court House by a body of militia under 
Gen. Dickinson, of Trenton. 

1777. January. French Aid. The 
French government refused to acknowl- 
edge the independence of the United 



1775-1783.] 

States, but assured the commissioners 
that it had "ordered two millions of livres 
to be paid to America in quarterly in- 
stallments, which should be augmented 
as the state of the finances would per- 
mit." Permission to buy stores and mer- 
chandise was also given. 

1777. January. Spain paid Amer- 
ica one million livres secretly. 

1777. February. Bounty Jumpers. 
An order was issued by Gen. Washing- 
ton against such as " having enlisted in 
one regiment and received the bounty 
allowed by congress, had deserted, en- 
listed in others, and received new 
bounties." They were warned that 
" whoever are convicted thereof and 
sentenced to die, may consider their exe- 
cution certain and inevitable." 

1777. The continental congress re- 
turned from Baltimore to Philadelphia. 

1777. April 25. Tryon's Connecti- 
cut Raid. A force of two thousand 
British and tories under Ex-Gov. Tryon 
of New York, proceeded to Danbury, 
Conn., where they destroyed a large 
quantity of stores, including sixteen 
hundred tents. They did not depart 
without difficulty, for the patriots at- 
tacked them at many points. Sullivan, 
Arnold and Wooster all displayed great 
daring. Wooster was killed, and was a 
great loss. Arnold was wounded. The 
Americans lost in all about one hundred 
men, and the British thi'ee hundred. 

1777. April. Exchange of Prisoners. 
An interesting correspondence took place 
between Gen. Howe, who had released 
early in this year nearly three thousand 
prisoners from confinement in New York 
and sent them to the American lines, and 
Gen. Washington, who now refused to 
deliver up according to the terms of the 
exchange an equal number of British 



THE DAT OF TRIAL. 



299 



prisoners, claiming that the Americans 
were so injured and disabled by their 
treatment in the prison ships and crowded 
buildings where they had been maltreated, 
as to infringe all laws of exchange, there- 
by making the return of an equal num- 
ber of able-bodied men unjust. The 
Americans who were released, in many 
cases died of their troubles upon their 
way home. Washington wrote at length 
upon the matter, and finally refused to 
make any change in his position. The 
equity of the question has been consid- 
ered to have been correctly maintained 
by him. The "Jersey," which served 
as a prison-ship in New York harbor, 
became an object of horror through the 
slow death which befell those who en- 
tered it. 

1777. May 23. Sagg Harbor Raid. 
Col. R. J. Meigs, with a force of one 
hundred and seventy men, crossed from 
Guilford, Conn., to Sagg Harbor, Long 
Island, burned the shipping, destroyed 
the British supplies, and captured ninety 
persons, mostly tories, without the loss of 
a man. They had been gone twenty- 
five hours, and traveled about ninety 
miles. They had lugged their boats 
across a sandy point in order to come 
upon the town secretly. 

1777. May 27. Button Gwinnett 
of Georgia, a signer of the Declaration 
of Independence, was killed in a duel by 
Gen. Lackland Mcintosh, a Revolution- 
ary officer. The duel was fought with 
pistols at a distance of twelve feet, and 
both were wounded, Gwinnett fatally. 
The challenge arose in personal enmity 
and rivalry for the office of brigadier- 
general. 

1777. June 1. Capture of the Han- 
cock. The Hancock, of thirty-two guns 
under Capt. Manley, was chased and cap- 



300 



REVOLUTION ART STRUGGLES. 



turcd by the British frigate Rainbow, of 
forty-four guns. The Hancock was ac- 
companied before the action by the Bos- 
ton, of twenty-four guns under Capt. 
Hector McNeil, but while the action was 
preparing, McNeil sailed off. Capt. 
Manley then tried to escape, but in vain. 
He was imprisoned at Halifax, afterward 
exchanged, and given the command of 
the Hague. He was court-martialed 
for the loss of the Hancock, but honora- 
bly acquitted, while McNeil was dis- 
missed from the service. 

1777. June 14. The Stars and Stripes. 
Congress resolved " that the flag of the 
thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, 
alternate red and white; that the union 
be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, 
representing a new constellation." The 
design was taken by a committee to Mrs. 
Ross, who lived on Arch Street, Phila- 
delphia, in a house still standing, and 
followed the business of upholstering. 
The committee asked her to make a flag 
with thirteen alternate red and white 
stripes, and thirteen six-pointed stars. She 
immediately took the scissors and cut out 
a five-pointed star, suggesting that it was 
more pleasing and symmetrical. The 
change was accepted. She began the 
manufacture of flags, and her descend- 
ants have followed it since her day. 
Paul Jones first unfurled this flag upon 
the Ranger. The stars formed a circle, 
an arrangement which has had to be 
dropped in the great increase of states 
in later years. 

1777. June 20. Burgoyne's Inva- 
sion. Gen. Burgoyne, w^ho had been 
appointed to the command of the north- 
ern British army in place of Gen. Carle- 
ton, set out from Canada on an invasion 
of New York by way of Lake Cham- 
plain, intending to unite with Gen. Howe 



along the Hudson River. Burgoyne had 
a splendid army of eight thousand men, 
with forty pieces of artillery. Upon his 
way up the lake he held a council with 
the Indians to stir them up to war. 

1777. June 30. Evacuation of New 
Jersey. Gen. Howe, after having in 
vain tried to entrap Washington by strat- 
egy, evacuated New Jersey, and crossed 
to Stateu Island. 

1777. July 4. The first anniversary 
of the Declaration of Independence was 
celebrated at Philadelphia, with great 
joy. It is said by Bancroft, that during 
a part of the day " the landgrave of 
Hesse's band, captured at Trenton, played 
excellent music." 

1777. July 6. Fort Tieonderoga, 
on Lake Champlain, was evacuated by 
Gen. St. Clair. 

1777. July 7. Battle of Hubbardton. 
Gen. Fraser, with a detachment of Bur- 
goyne's armv, pushed on and fought the 
retreating Americans at Hubbardton, Vt. 
The Americans gave way with a loss 
of three hundred killed, wounded and 
captured. 

1777. July 12. Gen. St. Clair, with 
the rest of his force, amounting to two 
thousand men, reached Fort Edward. 

1777. July 20. Gen. Prescott, in 
command of the British forces in Rhode 
Island, was taken prisoner one night at 
his headquarters, by Lieut.-Col. William 
Barton of Providence, who silently en- 
tered the house with a few men, and 
carried off the general from his bedroom 
after the door had been broken through 
suddenly by the head of a strong negro. 
Gen. Prescott was sent to Washington 
and exchanged afterward for Gen. 
Charles Lee. Barton received a sword 
and a colonel's commission, together with 
a grant of land in Vermont. It w^as 



1775-1783.] 

while Gen. Prescott was being conveyed 
from Rhode Island that the American 
dish of succotash, a compound of boiled 
green corn and beans, was presented 
to him by Mrs. Alden at her hus- 
band's tavern at Lebanon, Conn. Gen. 
Prescott threw it upon the floor, saying, 
" What! do you treat me to the food of 
hogs?" Capt. Alden afterward came in 
and horsewhipped Gen. Prescott for his 
insolence to Mrs. Alden. 

1777. July 22. Fort Edward was 
abandoned by Gen. Schuyler upon the 
approach of Burgoyne. 

1777. July 23. Cornwallis sailed 
from New York for the south, with 
eighteen thousand men. His point of 
attack was unknown to the Americans. 
It afterward proved to be the beginning 
of the approach on Philadelphia by way 
of the Delaware River. 

1777. July 27. Jane McCrea, a 
beautiful young woman who was being 
conducted by two Indians to the British 
camp where her lover was an officer, was 
murdered on the way. Her death made 
a great excitement at the time, as exhib- 
iting savage treachery, but it is claimed by 
some that she was shot by a party who 
fired upon the Indians. 

1777. July 31. Lafayette, a young 
French officer, having arrived in the col- 
onies and off'ered his services to the 
American cause without pay, was com- 
missioned a major-general by congress. 
He had found great difficulty in getting 
away from France, but finally eluded all 
efforts to detain him, and reached the 
shores of the United States in a vessel of 
his own purchase. He had been aroused 
on the subject of American liberty by 
hearing the Declaration of Independence 
read. His acquaintance with Washing- 
ton was formed immediately upon re- 



THE DAT OF TRIAL. 



301 



ceiving his commission, and became very 
intimate in later years. Baron John de 
Kalb and other officers came with La- 
fayette and entered the American army. 

1777. Aug. 3. Fort Stanwix, or 
Fort Schuyler in Central New York, 
was besieged by a force of British and 
Indians. 

1777. Aug. 6. Battle of Oriskany. 
Gen. Herkimer, marching to the relief of 
Fort Stanwix, was surprised and defeated 
by a part of St. Leger's army. Gen. 
Herkimer continued to direct the battle 
after he was mortally wounded. The 
tories and Indians fled at a sortie from 
the fort. 

1777. Aug. 13. The siege of Fort 
Stanwix was raised by St. Leger, because 
of the approach of Gen. Benedict Ar- 
nold with a force of eight hundred men. 
This reverse disappointed Burgoyne. 

1777. Aug. 16. Battle of Benning- 
ton. A large force of Germans and 
British regulars under Lieut.-Col. Baume 
had been sent into Vermont by Burgoyne 
to secure tory support, and capture Amer- 
ican supplies. But Gen. John Stark met 
and conquered them at Bennington, 
taking seven hundred prisoners. The 
Americans lost less than one hundred. 
As Gen. Stark caught sight of the British 
line of battle he exclaimed, " There are 
the red coats. We beat them to-day, or 
Molly Stark is a widow." One old man 
had five sons in the American force. He 
was told after the battle that one of them 
had been unfortunate. " Has he proved 
a coward or a traitor?" eagerly inquired 
the man. "O, no! he fought bravely, 
but he has fallen," was the answer. "Ah, 
then I am satisfied," was the father's 
response. 

1777. Aug. 19. Gen. Horatio Gates 
was appointed to the command of the 



302 



REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLES. 



northern army of the Americans, in phice 
of Gen. Schuyler. 

1777. Sept. 11. Battle of Brandy- 
wine. Lord Howe, in his march toward 
Philadelphia along the Delaware with a 
large force, was met by Gen. Washing- 
ton, who attempted to stay the progress 
of the British. The result was a total 
defeat of the Americans, who lost nearly 
a thousand men. The British lost about 
five hundred. 

1777. Sept. 19. Battle of Bemis' 
Heights, sometimes called the first battle 
of Saratoga. Burgoyne attacked the 
American army at Bemis' Heights, near 
Stillwater. But for the nervelessness 
of Gates, the British army could have 
been destroyed. The day was only 
saved by a few brave officers like Arnold 
and Morgan. The American loss w^as 
about three hundred, and the British six 
hundred. 

1777. Sept. 20. Paoli Massacre. 
Gen. Wayne, in attempting to surprise 
Gen. Howe, was himself surprised by a 
British force. He lost three hundred 
men, killed, wounded and captured. The 
enemy lost only seven. The disaster was 
brought upon Wayne by information 
which tories conveyed to Gen. Howe. 

1777. Sept. 26. Gen. Howe entered 
Philadelphia at the head of his troops. 
Many of the citizens left the city in great 
terror. 

1777. Sept. 30. Congress met at 
York, Penn., after the entrance of Howe 
into Philadelphia. It had first met at 
Lancaster, to which place it had adjourned 
from Philadelphia. It continued to meet 
at York while Howe held the city. 

1777. Oct. 4. Battle of German- 
town. Washington attacked the enemy's 
camp at Germantown, the result of 
which, though not a complete victory. 



served to strengthen the American cause. 
The loss was one of several hundred on 
each side. 

1777. Oct. 6. Gen. Clinton, with a 
British force, captured Fort Clinton and 
Fort Montgomery, on the Hudson. 
Kingston, Rhinebeck and other places 
were destroyed. 

1777. Oct. 7. Battle of StiUwater, 
sometimes called the second battle of 
Saratoga. The situation of the British 
was now critical. They fought with 
desperation, but were driven at all points. 
Gen. Arnold fought in this battle in diso- 
bedience to Gen. Gates, who sent an 
officer to recall him as he entered the 
field. Gen. Arnold dashed from point to 
point so rapidly that the messenger could 
not reach him till the battle was over. 
Major John D. Acland, one of Burgoyne's 
officers, was wounded and taken prisoner. 
His wife, who had accompanied him to 
America, sought him out in the American 
cainp and was graciously accorded the 
privilege of caring for her disabled hus- 
band. In a short time Major Acland re- 
gained his strength, and finally returned 
with his wife to Great Britain. They 
had both gained a great respect for 
American motives and character. At a 
dinner in England a Lieut. Lloyd, during 
a discussion of the character of the Amer- 
ican cause and of those engaged in it, 
made some remarks which reflected upon 
the colonists. Major Acland gave him 
the lie, stoutly defending the Americans. 
Lieut. Lloyd challenged hin*i, and in the 
duel which followed, Major Acland was 
shot through the head. His wife was 
insane for two years. 

BUROOYXE'S SURRENDER. 

1777. Oct. 17. Finding that the 
hope of breaking through the American 



1775-1783.] 

army to join Howe, and of safely re- 
treating by the way he came, had now 
disappeared, Burgoyhe at last surren- 
dered to Gen. Gates. He gave up five 
thousand seven hundred and ninety-one 
men, besides one thousand eight hundred 
and fifty-six prisoners of war. The 
Americans also obtained forty -two brass 
cannon, and forty-six hundred muskets, 
with other supplies. At the surrender 
Burgoyne, in an ele- 
gant uniform, met 
Gates in a " plain 
blue frock coat," and 
handed his sword to 
the latter, who re- 
turned it at once. 
The British troops 
were to be allowed 
to leave the country 
on condition of not 
again entering the 
army against the 
Americans. Bur- 
goyne now realized 
what Jonathan Ma- 
son of New Hamp- 
shire said to him 
when taken prison- 
er, and brought be- 
fore the general. 
"Well, my fine fel- 
low," said Burgoyne, " what do you think 
of yourself now ?" " Same as I always 
did," was the reply. "But what do you 
think of being a prisoner of w^ar?" 
"Why, that it'll be your turn next." 
"Bah!" w^as Burgoyne's exclamation, 
" all the Yankees in America can't do 
it." Gen. Bui'goyne was humorously 
known during the Revolution as " Elbow- 
room," a designation which arose from a 
remark he made when entering Boston 
harbor in 1775, with Howe and Clinton. 



THE DAT OF TRIAL. 



303 



The saying was published in the news- 
papers as follows: "When the three 
generals lately arrived, were going into 
Boston, they met a packet coming out, 
bound to this place (Newport), when, we 
hear. Gen. Burgoyne asked the skijDper of 
the packet, ' What news there was.' And 
being told that Boston was surrounded by 
10,000 country people, asked, ' How 
many regulars there were in Boston ? ' 
and being answered 
about 5,000, cried 
out, with astonish- 
ment, 'What, ten 
thousand peasants 
keep five thousand 
king's troops shut 
up! Well, let ?/^ get 
in, and we'll soon 
find elbow room ! ' 
After his surrender 
the general was con- 
veyed to Boston, 
where quite a crowd 
was gathered to see 
Y(l J him as he stepped 
^ , P on shore. Just as he 
was making his way 
off the Charlestown 
ferry-boat, an old 
lady perched on a 
GEN. BURGOYNE. shcd abovc the 

crowd, cried out at the top of her shrill 
voice, ' Make ivay ! make way I the gen- 
eral's coming! Give \\\m elbow roomP'''' 

1777. October. A board of war 

was created by congress with Gen. Gates 
as president. He had obtained a great 
popularity by Burgoyne's surrender. 
Still the hopes of the more thoughtful 
clung to Washington, who wrote to Pat- 
rick Henry, " If the cause be advanced, it 
is indifferent to me when or in what 




304 



RE VOL UTIONAR T S TR UGGLES. 



quarter it happens." Military affairs had 
formerly been under the charge of a com- 
mittee of congress. 

1777. Oct. 22. Attack on Fort 
Mercer. Count Donop, with twelve 
hundred Hessians and artillery, attacked 
Fort Mercer on the Delaware River, in 
which Col. Greene, of Rhode Island, 
held command of four hundred men. 
Col. Greene refused to surrender, and 
the foe were met with such energy that 
at last they were glad to give up the at- 
tempt with the loss of four hundred men, 
including Count Donop. 

1777. Oct. 23. An unsuccessful 
attack was made on Fort Mifflin, nea^ 
Fort Mercer, by British vessels. 

1777. Nov. 1. Henry Laurens, of 
South Carolina, was elected president of 
the continental congress, to succeed John 
Hancock. 

1777. Nov. 15. Articles of Con- 
federation. Congress agreed on " Arti- 
cles of Confederation " for a closer union 
between the colonies. This matter had 
been discussed a year before, and since 
the spring of this year, very considerably. 
The conflicts between different colonial 
interests came out in this discussion. A 
national union of some kind was seen to 
be necessary, but the separate states wei"e 
very cautious in entrusting any power to 
a central government. These " articles " 
established a mere league of states, with- 
out power of any essential kind. No 
taxes could be raised by congress. The 
national credit at once began to decline. 
The provincial assemblies ratified the 
" articles," though some of them were 
slow to do so. 

1777. Nov. 16. Fort Mifflin was 
evacuated. The garrison escaped to 
Fort Mercer. 

1777. Nov. 20. Fort Mercer was 



evacuated. Its fall left the Delaware 
River open to the British. 

1777. Dec. 4. Howe's Strategy. 
Gen. Howe left Philadelphia in order to 
draw Washington into a battle. The 
American general was warned by Lydia 
Darrah, who had overheard the plan as 
it had been arranged by the British offi- 
cers in council at her house. She at once 
prepared to go to mill, and thus passed 
the British lines in safety. 

1777. Dec. 7. Battle of Edge Hill. 
A fight took jDlace at Edge Hill, between 
a small number of troops on each side. 
The British loss was eighty-nine, and 
the American twenty-seven. Howe re- 
turned to Philadelphia with an entire 
failure to accomplish his purpose. 

1777. Dec. 11. Valley Forge. 
Washington marched for Valley Forge, 
whei"e he put his army into winter quar- 
ters. Many of the soldiers were almost 
or wholly barefoot, and there was little 
straw which could be obtained to put 
upon the ground inside their huts. Howe 
remained in Philadelphia, and the saying 
of Franklin became true of the pleasure- 
loving general. " Howe did not take 
Philadelphia, so much as Philadelphia 
took Plowe." 

1777. Wool-card Teeth. Oliver 
Evans invented a machine for making 
the teeth for wool-cards at the rate of 
thi-ee hundred a minute. They had 
previously been made by hand, 

1778. January. " Battle of the 
Kegs." An attempt was made to de- 
stroy the British fleet at Philadelphia by 
floating kegs of powder down stream 
upon a raft, with attachments for explod- 
ing them when they struck any object. 
The design was invented by David 
Bushnell, of Saybrook, Conn. The ves- 
sels had been moved just before, and so 



1775-1783.] 

escaped injury, but the device caused 
great alarm in the city, through an explo- 
sion which occurred in hitting a block of 
ice or some other floating object. There 
was a great deal of firing at strange ob- 
jects floating on the water during the 
next few days. A comic ballad was 
written upon the affliir by Judge Francis 
Hopkinson. 

1778. Jan. 16. A great fire raged 
in Charleston, S. C, with great rapidity, 
for twenty-four hours. The inhabitants 
fled without being able to protect their 
property. The shipping and boats in the 
harbor were filled with distressed families. 

1778. Jan. 20. " Light Horse Har- 
ry." A party of two hundred British 
cavalrymen made an unsuccessful at- 
tempt to capture Capt. Henry Lee at his 
post six miles from Valley Forge. Capt. 
Lee with seven men barricaded the house 
and drove off the enemy, preventing 
them also from taking away the horses 
out of the barn near by. The British 
fled with a loss of four killed, and three 
wounded. Lee's loss was two wounded, 
besides the capture of his patrols. Capt. 
Lee was made a major and authorized to 
raise a corps of his own, which became 
known as "Lee's Legion," while their 
leader was commonly called " Light 
Horse Harry." He was the father of 
Gen. Robert E. Lee, commander-in-chief 
of the Confederate army, in the late civil 
war. 

1778. Feb. 6. A treaty of alliance 
and commerce was concluded between 
France and the United States, and was 
the first one which the latter had ar- 
ranged with any nation. France thereby 
acknowledged the independence of the 
United States. 

1778. February. Baron Steuben, a 
Prussian who had served seven years 



THE DAT OF TRIAL. 



305 



under Frederick the Great, arrived at 
Valley Forge to enter the American 
army. He was soon apjDointed inspector- 
general, and began to drill the troops 
with great good results. The effects of 
his discipline were visible throughout the 
rest of the war. 

1778. March 7. A naval action 
took place between the Randolph, an 
American vessel, and the Yarmouth, an 
English vessel. All of the Randoljoh's 
crew of three hundred and fifteen men, 
except four, perished by the explosion of 
the ship's magazine. 

1778. March. Lord North's Plan. 
Lord North oflTered certain conciliatory 
bills to Parliament, which ^^^^.^^^ 
were passed by that body. Voltaire. 

The capture of Burgoyne "^l'^"*- „. 
and the position of France nn-ins. 
led to these measures. But Rousseau. 

there was a total misconception in Eng- 
land of the spirit of the American leaders, 
and all the bills were based upon the 
former relations between the two coun- 
tries. It was now impossible to come to 
an agreement upon old terms. 

1778. May 18. The Meschianza. 
Just before Gen. Howe's departure for 
England a great pageant was held in his 
honor in Philadelphia. It was under 
the management of Major Andre, and 
consisted of a regatta, a tournament, and 
a ball at which a rich banquet was 
spread. This untimely display and rev- 
elry in the midst of war caused much 
ridicule and criticism to be heaped upon 
those who participated in the affliir. 

1778. May 21. An attempt to cap- 
ture Lafayette, whom Washington had 
stationed at an outpost between Valley 
Forge and Philadelphia, was made by 
Gen. Howe. But Lafayette out-generaled 
him, and escaped from the net. 

20 



306 



RE VOL UTIONAR T STR UGGLES . 



1778. May 24. Gen. Sir Henry 
Clinton arrived in Philadelphia to as- 
sume command of the British army in 
America, upon the recall of Gen. Howe. 

1778. June 4. Three comniissicn- 
ers who had been appointed by the Eng- 
lish government in accordance with Lord 
North's plan of conciliation, arrived in 
Philadelphia to treat for peace. Their 
mission was a failure, because they had 
no authority to stip'ulate for the removal 
of the British army from America, or to 
acknowledge the independence of the 
United States, both of which things were 
claimed by the United States as a pre- 
liminary to all conference. Congress 
refused abruptly to hold any intercourse 
till these things were agreed upon. It 
was one of these commissioners who 
sent an offer of =£10,000 to Gen. Joseph 
Reed if he would exert himself for a 
reconciliation, eliciting the famous rejoly, 
" I am not worth purchasing, but such as 
I am, the King of Great Britain is not 
rich enough to buy me." Of a similar 
sort . was the reply of Nathan Coffin 
upon another occasion, wdien asked to 
enter the royal naval service. " Hang 
me if you will to the yard-arm of your 
ship, but do not ask me to become a 
traitor to my country." 

1778. June 18. The British evac- 
uated PhiladeljDhia under orders from 
England. The whole force to the num- 
ber of fourteen thousand troops, set out 
across New Jersey. Washington at once 
made preparations to follow in pursuit. 

1778. June 28. Battle of Mon- 
mouth. A severe battle was fought at 
Monmouth, N. J., one hot Sunday when 
the mercury stood ninety-six degrees 
above zero in the shade. At the first 
attack the American van under Gen. 
Charles Lee, gave way. Washington 



came up, and by almost superhuman 
efforts, stopped the flight. The battle 
continued till dark, when the patrols 
were left on the field, and the weary 
soldiers lay down to sleep. The Ameri- 
cans lost three hundred and sixty-two 
killed, wounded, and missing. The Brit- 
ish lost in the battle three hundred and 
fifty-five. Gen. Charles Lee was court- 
martialed for his lack of bravery, and 
for his insolent replies to Washington. 
He was suspended for one year, and at 
a later date upon additional proof of 
treachery to his country, was dismissed 
from service. It was in this battle that 
the brave Mollie Pitcher assisted in load- 
ing the cannon at which her husband had 
been stationed till he was shot down. 
On the following day she received from 
Washington a sergeant's commission, 
with half-pay for life. The British con- 
tinued their march toward New York, 
and lost nearly one thousand men upon 
the way, by desertion. 

1778. Jiily 3. A great massacre 
of the inhabitants of Wyoming Valley, 
Penn., took place at the hands of more 
than a thousand tories and Indians, 
headed by Col. John Butler. The ab- 
sence of able bodied men to Serve in the 
continental army left the Valley almost 
defenceless. 

1778. July 4. Forty Fort, in Wyo- 
ming Valley was taken, and more cruel- 
ties committed. The whole region was 
burned and desolated in the most scathing 
manner. 

1778. July 4. A duel was fougnt 
between Generals Cadwallader and Con- 
way, because of the latter's opposition to 
Washington. Conway ^vas wounded, 
and thinking death near at hand, he wrote 
Washington a letter full of repentance 
for all his dishonorable efforts. 







VALE OF WYOMING. 



[307] 



308 



REVOLUTION ART STRUGGLES. 



1778. Another duel was fought this 
year between Maj.-Gen. Charles Lee 
and Col. John Laurens, an aide ofWash- 
jngton, who challenged Lee because of 
slighting remarks made by the latter con- 
cerninof Washinsfton in defending his own 
conduct at Monmouth. Gen. Lee was 
wounded, but the affair terminated with- 
out any very decisive character. 

1778. July 8. The French fleet 
under Count D'Estaing, arrived off the 
mouth of the Delaware a few days after 
the British fleet had sailed out of that 
river, on its way from Philadelphia to 
New York. The first minister from 
France to the United States, a Mr. 
Gerard, came in this fleet. 

1778. July 29. The French fleet 
arrived at Narragansett Bay in obedi- 
ence to an order to luiite with a land 
force under Gen. Sullivan, in driving the 
British from Rhode Island. 

1778. Aug. 6. M. Gerard, flrst min- 
ister from France to the United States, 
was received by congress with imposing 
ceremonies. 

1778. Aug. 10. A severe storm pre- 
vented an impending battle between the 
French fleet and Lord Howe's fleet off 
Newport, and did great damage to the 
American camp. After a short time 
D'Estaing sailed to Boston to refit his 
ships. 

1778. Aug. 18. Capt. Cook, the 
great English navigator, having ex- 
plored Behring's Strait and determined 
its width, reached and named Icy Cape, 
on the northwest coast of Alaska. From 
there he sailed to the Sandwich Islands, 
where he was killed. He had hoped on 
this northern trip to settle the question of 
a northwest passage, but the ice-fields 
prevented. The chief value of Cook's 
voyages was in making the world ac- 



quainted with the Tahitian sugar cane, 
which contains a larger proportion of 
sugar, and ripens more quickly. It is 
now cultivated in a large part of the 
sugar-growing districts of the world. 

1778. Aug. 29. A battle took place 
between the American land forces which 
had begun to retreat from their position 
near Newport, R. L, and the British, who 
were in pursuit. Gen. Greene, who com- 
manded the right of Gen. Sullivan's 
force, drove back the British with a loss 
of two hundred and sixty men. The 
American loss was two hundred. At 
other points the Americans were driven 
back. 

1778. Aug. 30. Gen. Sullivan's army 
withdrew from Rhode Island. Within 
a" few days the British ravaged the coast 
to the east, including New Bedford, Fair- 
haven and Martha's Vineyard. 

1778. Sept. 28. Baylor's American 
" Light-horse " were surprised and mas- 
sacred one night while sleeping in barns 
in New Jersey, by a small British force 
under Gen. Grey. They were bayoneted 
while begging for quarter. 

1778. Oct. 15. Pulaski's infantry 
were surprised and massacred where they 
were quartered for the night, by Capt. 
Patrick Ferguson and a British force. 

1778. Nov. 10. Cherry Valley Mas- 
sacre. A band of tories and Indians 
under Walter N. Butler, a tory, and 
Brant, an Indian, fell upon the inhabi- 
tants of Cherry Valley, N, Y., in a storm 
of rain, and desolated the region with the 
scalping knife, and with fire. 

1778. Dec. 10. John Jay, LL. D., 
was elected president of the continental 
congress to succeed Henry Laurens, who 
had resigned. 

1778. Dec. 29. Savannah, Ga., was 
seized by a British force under Lieut.-CoL 



1775-1783. 



THE DAT OF TRIAL. 



309 



Campbell, who lost twenty-four men in 
the attack. The American loss was quite 
heavy, comprising nearly one-half the 
troops, baggage, and guns which they 
possessed. 

1778. "Nancy's Rock." A young 
girl, working in a family in Jefferson, N. 
H., was engaged to be married to a young 
man in the same family. The young 
man left the region on a trip to Ports- 
mouth with the inan he worked for, while 
his affianced was away for a few days. 
He left her no word. Having returned 
and found that he had gone, she packed 
up a bundle and started to follow him on 
foot. A snow-storm was driving, and 
night was setting in. It was at least 
thirty miles to Crawford Notch, in the 
White Mountains, where any one lived. 
There was only a path to be followed by 
blazed trees. In the midst of the storm 
she pushed on. Finally she reached a 
camp where her lover had been, shortly 
before. She tried to kindle a fire in the 
warm ashes again. She pushed on into 
the Notch, and climbed along her rough 
way, fording the Saco River. At last 
she gave out, and was found by a party 
■who had set out in pursuit of her. But 
she was cold and dead. Her lover is said 
to have gone insane and died a madman, 
after he had learned of this devotion of a 
loving heart. 

1779. Jan. 1. Federal money had 
depreciated to such an extent that one 
dollar in gold would buy seven or eight 
dollars in the bills of credit, 

1779. Jan. 9. The fort at Sunbury, 
Ga., was taken by the British under Gen. 
Prevost. Augusta was taken a few days 
later. 

1779. Feb. 14. Battle of Kettle 
Creek. A tory force which was plun- 
dering the region, was defeated at Kettle 



Creek, Ga., by Col. Andrew Pickens, 
with a company of citizens from Ninety- 
Six. 

CLARK 8 FAMOUS EXPEDITIOKS. 
VllQ. Feb. 25. The British post at 
Vincennes, Ind., was taken by Col. 
George Rogers Clark, after a difficult 
march across the country from Kaskaskia. 
In order to understand the situation it is 
necessary to look at his previous efforts. 
Col. Clark had in 1775 undertaken to 
bring the settlements scattered through 
Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky, imder the 
rule of Virginia. Difficulties hindered 
the accomplishment of this step, but he 
persevered, and finally in 1778 raised 
an expedition with which he marched 
against the French settlements of Illinois. 
He first secured possession of Kaskaskia 
without bloodshed, and by his treatment 
of the inhabitants won their good will to 
such an extent that the French priest en- 
gaged to secure the allegiance of the 
inhabitants at Vincennes to the United 
States. The British governor of that 
post had gone to Detroit, and the citizens, 
attracted by the new show of freedom, 
readily consented to the change. Capt. 
Helm was sent from Kaskaskia by Col. 
Clark, to take charge of Vincennes. 
This was in August, 1778. By an act of 
the Virginia assembly, that whole re- 
gion was raised to the name of Illinois 
County. Near the end of this year, 
however, the British governor of Detroit 
raised an army of about five hundred, 
including Indians, and descended upon 
Vincennes. The English had reached 
the vicinity of the fort and were in full 
march toward the gate, when a sturdy 
voice shouted, "Halt!" It was the 
voice of Capt. Helm, who stood at a 
cannon in the open gate, ready to dis- 
charsfe it in an instant. Gov. Hamilton 



310 



REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLES. 



stopped his force and demanded the sur- 
render of the garrison. " No man shall 
enter here until I know the terms," was 
the reply of Capt. Helm. Hamilton in 
a few moments agreed to grant the hon- 
ors of war, and drew up his force to re- 
ceive the garrison as they should march 
out. What was the amazement of Indi- 
ans and regulars to see Cajjt. Helm, with 
a solitary private named Henry, march 
out of the gate, and down the lines. 
These two Americans were the only gar- 
rison in the place. This recapture, tak- 
ing place in December, 1778, separated 
Col. Clark from the east. He therefore 
began the raising of a force to march 
against Vincennes and attempt its seizure. 
It must be done at once, for the British 
would be reinforced in the spring. On 
Feb. 5 he set out across the country, 
having sent a vessel around by the rivers. 
The whole region was flooded, and the 
men were obliged to march through 
water a great part of the way. At times 
a large part of the force were in danger 
of drowning through exhaustion. After 
many difticultles the distance was accom- 
plished, and the siege began. It continued 
several days with the usual incidents, and 
at last, after considerable parley, the post 
surrendered. Col. Clark had saved the 
■western territory to the United States. 
His expeditions were very important in 
gaining these posts and impressing the 
western Indians with a sense of the power 
of the United States. Col. Clark's energy 
was of a remarkable sort. His efforts rank 
very high in the list of Revolutionary 
adventures. 

1779. March 3. Battle of Brier 
Creek, Ga. A large detachment of Gen. 
Lincoln's army under Ashe was defeated 
at Brier Creek, Ga., with great loss, by 



the British who were commanded by 
Gen. Prevost. 

1779. April 26. Putnam's Escape. 

A company of patriots under Gen. Put- 
nam tried to resist a raid made by Ex- 
Gov. Tryon of North Carolina, with 
fifteen hundred British and Hessians, into 
the territory of Connecticut, near Green- 
wich. The American force was so small 
that it fled at once. Gen. Putnam rode 
swiftly toward Stamford meeting-house, 
pursued by dragoons. On reaching the 
brow of the hill on which the meeting- 
house stood. Gen. Putnam dashed down 
at headlong speed, crossing in his course 
some stone steps which led down the de- 
clivity. The British did not dare to fol- 
low, and the general escaped. After 
having destroyed some property, Tryon 
marched back to Kingbridge followed by 
Gen. Putnam, who gathered his men to- 
gether and took thirty-eight of the enemy 
prisoners, besides recovering some of the 
stolen property. Putnam lost twenty 
men. 

1779. May 9. A British expedition 
of twenty-five hundred men overran 
Suffolk Co., Va., burning property, and 
wasting the whole region. Three thous- 
and hogsheads of tobacco were car- 
ried back to New York. The damage 
to the property of the region was esti- 
mated at $3,000,000. Over one hundred 
vessels were destroyed. 

1779. May 11. Gen. Prevost ap- 
peared before Charleston, S. C, and 
demanded its surrender. His request was 
refused, and upon the rumored approach 
of Gen. Lincoln, Prevost abandoned the 
attempt. 

1779. May 31. Stony Point, N. Y., 
was captured by the British under Clin- 
ton. The entire garrison escaped by 
flio-ht. 



1775-1783.] 



THE DAT OF TRIAL. 



311 



1779. June 1, Verplanck's Point, 

opposite Stony Point, was also captured 
by Clinton, together with its garrison. 

1779. June 20. A severe battle 
occurred at Stono Ferry, S. C, between 
a part of Gen. Lincoln's force and a 
British garrison left to guard the ferry. 
Each side lost about three hundred men. 

1779. July 5. Another raid upon 
Connecticut was made by Tryon. For 
a week his force pursued their work, de- 
stroying New Haven, East Haven, Fair- 
field, and Norwalk. Tryon was delighted 
with the task, and sat in a rocking chair 
upon a hill during the burning of 
Norwalk. 

1779. July 16. Stony Point was 
stormed a little past midnight in the 
morning by an American detachment 
under Gen. Anthony Wayne, commonly 
called " Mad Anthony." The surprise 
was complete, and the contest very sharp 
for a few moments. But the garrison 
soon surrendered, having lost sixty -three 
men, killed. Five hundred forty-three 
prisoners were taken. The American 
loss was fifteen killed, and eighty-three 
wounded. The cannon and stores were 
removed from Stony Point, and the post 
was abandoned. But it was soon re- 
occupied by the British. 

1779. Aug. 19. Major Henry Lee 
with an American force, got inside the 
fort at Paulus Hook, N. J., now Jersey 
City, being mistaken by the sentinel for 
a returning foraging party, and captured 
one hundred and fifty-nine of the British 
garrison, whom he carried off prisoners. 
1779. Aug. 29. Expedition against 
the Indians. Generals Sullivan and 
Clinton having organized an expedition 
against the Indians of Western New 
York in retaliation for Wyoming and 
Cherry Valley outrages, fought them at 



Chemung, now Elmira, N. Y. Eight 
hundred Indians and tories were routed. 
Within the next five weeks many Indian 
villages and stores were burned, and the 
inhabitants scattered abroad. It was a 
terrible lesson to them. The Indians 
gave Washington the name of " The 
Town Destroyer." 

1779. Sept. 23. Paul Jones' Vic- 
tory. A great naval victory was gained 
by John Paul Jones off the coast of Eng- 
land over the Serapis and Scarborough, 
two English vessels-of-war in charge of 
a fleet of merchantmen. Com. Jones 
had five vessels, and commanded the 
Bon Homme Richard himself, with which 
he fought at close quarters, the Serapis, 
the most powerful of the enemy's ships. 
The Richard had forty-two guns, and 
the Serapis fifty. After the fight opened 
the two vessels were lashed together, side 
to side. When everything seemed going 
to ruin. Com. Pearson cried out to Jones 
through the smoke, " Has your ship 
struck ? " to which the reply at once 
flashed back, " I haven't begun to fight 
yet." For most of the night did the fearful 
conflict rage, until at last Com. Pearson 
surrendered. During the battle, the Al- 
liance, one of Jones' vessels under Capt. 
Landais, came up and fired a broadside 
into the stern of the Bon Homme Rich- 
ard, thereby intending, it is thought, to 
kill Jones, and take the Serapis in her 
disabled condition, in order to gain the 
glory. The Scarborough was captured 
after an hour's battle by the Pallas under 
Capt. Cottineau. Com. Pearson, of the 
Serapis, was knighted by the queen for 
his bravery. Com. Jones, when he heard 
of it said, " Well, he deserved it, and if I 
meet him again, I will make a lord of 
him." The news of this wonderful vic- 
toi-y excited the world, and respect for 



312 



RE VOL UTIONAR T S TR UGGLES. 



American bravery increased. Reuben 
Chase, of Nantucket, midshipman of the 
Bon Homme Richard in this battle, be- 
came the Long Tom Coffin of Cooper's 
" Pilot." Paul Jones himself was the 
unknown pilot of the story. 

1779. Sept. 28. Samuel Hunting- 
ton of Connecticut, was elected president 
of the continental congress, to succeed 
John Jay, who had been appointed to the 
Spanish mission. 

1779. Oct. 1. Col. White's Strata- 
gem. During the siege of Savannah 
five British vessels lay about twenty-five 
miles below the city on the Ogeechee, 
under the charge of Capt. French and 
some regulars. Col. White of Georgia, 
with a captain and three soldiers, five of 
them in all, kindled a great number of 
fires in the woods aroimd, and rode back 
and forth, giving orders to imaginary sol- 
diers. He then demanded the surrender 
of the British, which Capt. French hast- 
ened to comply with, in the conviction 
that he was surrounded by a large force. 
White sent the prisoners off under three 
men, saying that he must keep his army 
in camp for fear of a slaughter. He 
then raised a foixe of militia and over- 
took the captives before they had gone 
far. This was one of the most successful 
stratagems of the war. 

1779. Oct. 9. The siege of Savan- 
nah, Ga., by an American force in con- 
junction with the French fleet under 
Count D'Estaing, which had been going 
on for some weeks, closed with a bloody 
assault which was entirely unsuccessful. 
The Americans lost four hundred, the 
French six hundred. Count Pulaski was 
killed during the attack. Gen. Lincoln 
retired to Charleston. 

1779. October. Board of Admiralty. 
The committee of congress upon the 



navy was erected into a " Board of Ad- 
miralty " with three members added, 
who were not members of congress. 

1779. Morristown Winter Quarters. 
Washington made his new winter cj^uartcrs 
for this season at Morristown, N. J., and 
the army endured greater misery than at 
Valley Forge. It was one of the sever- 
est winters of the eighteenth century. 
Before the close of the year the British 
had withdrawn from the Hudson and 
from Rhode Island, and held no place in 
New England west of the Penobscot. 
Early in the year Lafayette had returned 
to France, where he was received with 
great honor, and obtained from the king 
at the close of the year, the promise of 
an army for American service. 

1779. December. The Federal cur- 
rency had depreciated so rapidly during 
this 3^ear that at its close one dollar in 
gold or silver would buy thirty dollars in 
paper money. 

1779. Antonio de UUoa, a Spanish 
scientist and naval commander, was put 
in charge of a fleet, which, after some 
attacks upon English commerce, was to 
sail against the English settlements in 
Florida. But Ulloa, the commander, 
became engaged in some peculiar astro- 
nomical investigations, and forgot to 
open his sealed orders. At a subsequent 
date he was court-martialed, but was ac- 
quitted, and retired from naval service. 

1780. Feb. 5. State Quotas. Con- 
gress called upon the states to fill up 
their quotas so far as to make an army 
of thirty-five thousand men. The whole 
number at that time did not exceed ten 
thousand. 

1780. March 1. The first bank in 
the United States, and probably in Amer- 
ica, " The Bank of Pennsylvania," was 
chartered. 



1775-1783.] 

1780. March 1. The gradual eman- 
cipation of slaves in Pennsylvania was 
provided for by an act of the assembly. 
All persons born after this date were to 
be free at the age of twenty-eight. 

1780. April 14. Defeat of Huger. 
Two regiments of Americans under Gen. 
Huger were destroyed at Monk's Cor- 
ner, about thirty miles from Charleston, 
by Tarleton, the British cavalryman, who 
acquired such a reputation for fierceness 
iind cruelty. 

1780. May 4. The American Acad- 
emy of Arts and Sciences was founded. 

1780. May 6. Tarleton routed a 
remnant of American horse troops under 
Lieut. -Col. White, on the Santee River. 

1780. May 11. Lafayette rejoined 
the American army from France, bring- 
ing the promise of material aid, together 
with a commission for Washington as 
lieutenant-general of the French army, 
and vice-admiral of its navy. 

1780. May 19. A dark day occurred 
in New England, and to some extent in 
other parts of the country. The phe- 
nomenon began about ten o'clock in the 
forenoon, and the dai^kness increased rap- 
idly until it was impossible in many places 
to read ordinary print. Great fear was 
•caused to man and beast. The whole 
scene was an extremely unnatural one. 
During the first of the night following 
the darkness was utter, although the full 
moon rose at about nine o'clock. It is 
supposed that the vapors of the atmos- 
phere settled in a heavy load upon the 
earth, an explanation which has some 
reason in view of the testimony to the 
smoky smell and vaporous feeling of the 
air. The legislature of Connecticut was 
in session at Hartford. Dr. Dwight 
relates that some of the members wdshed 
to adjourn, thinking that the " Day of 



THE DAT OF TRIAL. 



313 



Judgment " was at hand. Col. Abra- 
ham Davenport was asked his opinion, 
and replied, " I am against adjournment. 
The day of judgment is approaching, or 
it is not. If it is not, there is no cause 
for adjournment; if it is, I choose to be 
found doing my duty. I wish, therefore, 
that candles be brought." A lady who 
lived near Dr. Matthew Byles, of Boston, 
sent her little son to him to seek an ex- 
planation of the phenomenon. " My 
dear," said he, "you will give my com- 
pliments to your mamma and tell her that 
I am as much in the dark as she is." 

1780. May 12. Capture of Charles- 
ton. Charleston, S. C, was surrendered 
by Gen. Lincoln after a siege of forty 
days, to a combined British land and 
naval force under Generals Clinton and 
Cornwallis. The place was given up to 
plunder. Plate and other valuables were 
seized, and slaves were sent to the West 
Indies to be sold. Patriot citizens were 
persecuted. The share of the spoil for a 
major-general amounted to five thousand 
guineas. The prisoners of war num- 
bered five thousand. 

1780. May 29. " Tarleton's Quar- 
ter." Tarleton's British cavalry de- 
stroyed a regiment of Virginians under 
Col. Buford, on Waxhaw Creek, S. C. 
Andrew Jackson, then thirteen years old, 
was taken prisoner. Little mercy was 
shown, and "Tarleton's quarter " became 
a war cry of the American army ever 
afterward. 

1780. June. Destitution of Amer- 
ican Army. The American army be- 
came very destitute of supplies, and were 
almost starving. It nearly broke up the 
whole force in the field. . Three million 
rations were sent to camp by Robert 
Morris, of Philadelphia. Soldiers " reliet 
associations " were formed. 



314 



RE I ^OL UTIONAR T S TR UGGLES. 



1780. June 23. British Repulse in 
New Jersey. A British force of five 
thousaiitl men which had started out 
from Staten Ishxnd into New Jersey on a 
tour of conquest under Gen. Knyphausen, 
was repulsed at the Rahway River near 
Springfield, by Gen. Greene, It was 
here that Rev. James Caldwell, whose 
wife had been brutally shot a fortnight 
before by British soldiers, brought hymn 
books out of the Presbyterian church for 
wadding when everything else had failed, 
and exclaimed, "Now, boys, put Watts 
into them." The British retired to 
Staten Island, harassed along their march 
by the i^atriot force in a severe manner. 

1780. July 10. A rrench fleet 
arrived at Newport, R. I., with an army 
of six thousand men under Count de 
Rochambcau. 

1780. July 25. Gen. Gates having 
been appointed commander-in-chief of 
the army of the south, a position made 
vacant by the capture of Lincoln, joined 
the armv at Deep River. 

1780. July 30. Battle of Rocky 
Mount. Gen. Sumter was repulsed by 
a British force at Rocky Mount on the 
Catawba River, S. C. 

1780. Aug. 6. Battle of Hanging 
Rock. A battle was fought at Hanging 
Rock, S. C, a place where a huge rock 
thirty feet in diameter overhangs the side 
of the hill. A precipice one hundred 
feet high makes one side of the hill. 
Gen, Sumter charged the Prince of 
Wales' regiment of American loyalists 
on the summit of this hill. The British 
force was nearly destroyed. 

1780. Aug. 16. Battle of Camden. 
Gen. Gates was totally defeated at San- 
der's Creek, near Camden, S. C, by 
Cornwallls. Gates had about three 
thousnnd raw men, many of whom were 



sick from marching through a region of 
scanty supplies. Gen. Gates retired from 
this battle, almost alone, two hundred 
miles in three and a half days. Baron 
John De Kalb, who fell mortally wounded 
in this battle, was one of the brave for- 
eign officers who gave up their lives in 
the service of American liberty. He 
was born in Alsace, June 29, 172 i, and 
died three days after the battle of Cam- 
den. He fell while fighting with great 
valor to resist the charge of the British 
troops. He had been for years connected 
with the French army, and received upon, 
his arrival in America, a major-general's 
commission. 

1780. Aug. 18. Defeat of Sumter. 
Gen. Sumter, who had captured some 
British stores a few da3's before, was sur- 
prised and defeated at Fishing Creek, S. 
C, by Tarleton's cavalry. 

1780. Aug. 18. The British gar- 
rison of five hundred men, at Musgrove's 
Mills, was routed by Col. Williams, of 
Ninety Six. 

1780. Aug. 20. Gen. Marion re- 
captured one hundred and fifty prisoners- 
taken in the fight at Camden, by sur- 
prising and defeating their guard at Nel- 
son's Ferr}' on the Santee River. 

1780. Sept. 23. The treason of 
Benedict Arnold to his country, one of 
the darkest features of the Revolutionary 
war, was discovered by the capture of 
Major Andre, the British ofiicer who had 
been ^vithin the American lines to confer 
with Arnold about the surrender of 
West Point to the English. Major 
Andre had a pass as John Anderson. 
But he was stopped by three militia men 
named John Paulding, David Williams, 
and Isaac Van Wart, on his way back 
along the Hudson, he having decided to 
go back by land rather than by water. 



1775-1783.] 

Suspicions were aroused by his replies to 
their questions, and he was searched. 
The fatal proofs were found in his boots 
in the shape of papers detailing the con- 
dition of West Point, and other import- 
ant matters for the English. Gen. Arnold 
learned of the capture in time to escape 
from West Point before the arrival of 
Washington, who was to breakfast with 
him. He fled to the British ship-of-war. 
Vulture, in the Hudson. His plot failed, 
and his future cai'eer was not one of hajD- 
piness or honor, even from those whom 
he intended to benefit. He was regarded 
with contempt by the higher-ininded 
British ofiiccrs. His life proved a tre- 
mendous failure at this point. 

1780. Oct. 2. Execution of Andre. 
Major Andre, having been tried as a spy, 
was sentenced to death. Great efforts 
were made for the release of this brilliant 
young officer, and Washington was at 
this time severely condemned in England 
for the execution of the sentence, but the 
decree was unchangeable, and the event 
ordered took place by hanging. His 
character drew forth the regard of the 
American officers with whom he came 
into contact after his capture. The senti- 
ment regarding his execution changed 
after the first excitement swept away. 

1780. Oct. 7. Battle of King's 
Mountain. A British and tory force 
under Gen. Ferguson, was defeated and 
captured at King's Mountain, S. C, by a 
patriot force of about nine hundred farm- 
ers and backwoodsmen. The British 
lost one thousand one hundred and eight, 
killed and jDrisoners, besides one thousand 
five hundred stands of arms. Gen. Fer- 
guson was slain. The American loss 
was eighty-eight, killed and wounded. 
Ten tories were hung by the exasperated 
mountaineers. This victory revived the 



THE DAT OF TRIAL. 



315 



hopes of the colonists. Cornwallis was 
now making a great attempt to subdue 
the Carolinas. This great battle was a 
crisis, and Cornwallis had to retreat be- 
fore the rising patriots. 

1780. Oct. 10. An awful hurricane 
devastated Barbadoes for forty-eight 
hours, and destroyed almost every build- 
ing on the island. About four thousand 
persons lost their lives. 

1780. Oct. 25. A new constitution 
which had been adopted a few months 
before, went into effect in Massachusetts. 
It declared all men " free and equal." A 
case soon arose before the supreme coui't 
which decided that this declaration pre- 
cluded slavery. 

1780. October. Henry Laurens, ex- 
president of congress, was captured at 
sea by a British cruiser, and shown to 
have been negotiating with Holland. He 
was imprisoned in the tower at London, 
till peace was secured. 

1780. Nov. 20. Battle of Blackstock. 
Tarleton attacked Sumter at Blackstock, 
S. C, but was repulsed with severe loss. 
Sumter was wounded during this en- 
gagement. 

1780. November. Marion's Patriot- 
ism. Marion was at this time gaining 
many victories over small British and 
tory forces, retiring when pursued, to 
Snow's Island, in the Pedee River. 
There a British officer who had come to 
treat for an exchange of prisoners, was 
asked by Marion to dine with him. At 
dinner nothing was served up except 
roasted sweet potatoes. " Surely this 
cannot be your ordinaiy flire," was the 
officer's exclamation. " Indeed it is,'* 
said Marion, " and it is fortunate that v/e 
have more than usual to-day." It is re- 
ported that the officer at his return re- 
fused to serve in the army longer, saying 



316 



RE VOL UTIONAR T S TR UGGLES. 



that " such a people cannot, and ought 
not to, be subdued." 

1780. December. Gen. Greene took 
command of the southern army in place 
of Gen. Gates, who was removed on ac- 
count of the defeat at Camden, 

1780. Dec. 20. England declared 
war against Holland, because the latter 
had begun negotiations with the United 
States. 

1780. Nancy Hart, of Georgia, be- 
came widely known for her aid to the 
patriot cause. Six tories ordered her to 
set them a dinner, and she obeyed, but 
when they drew up to it, she seized one 
of the guns which they had stacked, and 
told them she would shoot the first one 
that moved. Her little boy ran for help, 
and the six were taken prisoners. 

1780. Sewing Women. Over twenty- 
two hundred sewing women were em- 
ployed by Mrs. Sara Bache, daughter of 
Dr. Franklin, to work for the American 
troops. She was veiy efficient in organ- 
izing this kind of aid, and acted nobly in 
devoting herself to it. Women who 
could give no money, gave their work. 

1780. The first Universalist church 
in America was organized at Gloucester, 
Mass., by Rev. John Murray, who had 
adopted Universalism in England some 
years before. 

1780. The first Free Baptist church 
in the world was organized at New Dur- 
ham, N. H., by Rev. Benjamin Randall, 
who had been in the Baptist ministry. 
This branch of the church is evangelical, 
and maintains " free salvation " and open 
communion. 

1780. A great" revolution broke out 
in Peru among the native inhabitants, 
led by Tupac Amaru, who was of royal 
Peruvian blood. He was proclaimed 
Inca of Peru, and so strong did the re- 



volt become that it was three years before 
it could be suppressed, and then only 
with great bloodshed. Amaru and others 
were put to death. 

LOGolX. 

1780. Logan, the Mingo chief, was a 
member of a branch of the Iroquois 
nation. His father, Shikallimus, was a 
Cayuga chief, and was very much at- 
tached to a man named James Logan, 
for whom he is supposed to have named 
his son. On arriving at manhood Logan 
made his way to the tribes in Ohio, and 
his natural abilities soon caused him to 
rise into power among them. He was 
especially noted for his kindness of heart 
and peaceable disposition. During the 
long French and Indian war Logan re- 
mained quietly in his home, and after- 
ward, in spite of the fact that some of 
his relations were murdered in the horri- 
ble massacre of the Conestoga Indians in 
1763, at Lancaster, he still retained a 
friendly feeling for the whites. In 1774 
Capt. Michael Cressap at the head of a 
party of whites, undertook to avenge the 
loss of some horses which had been 
stolen, by an attack upon a band of inno- 
cent Indians encamped a few miles below 
Wheeling, Va. In this attack several 
members of Logan's family were killed. 
Soon after this quite a number of Indians 
were killed, and among them were a 
brother and sister of Logan, almost the 
last of his relations. No wonder that a 
spirit of revenge was enkindled in his 
breast against a people who could com- 
mit such wrongs. Logan, although intent 
upon revenging the blood of his relatives 
upon the whites, manifested the humanity 
of his disposition by often saving cap- 
tives from torture and death, and having 
them adopted into the tribe. A hard 



1775-1783.] 

fought battle took j^lace at the mouth of 
the Great Kanawha River, between the 
Indians and a force of two thousand 
men. The former were forced to retreat. 
They were followed to their settlements 
on the Scioto River, where a conference 
was held, and a treaty of peace made. 
Logan was not present at this conference, 
and a messenger was sent to see if he 
was in favor of making the treaty. To 
the messenger he expressed himself as 
in favor of peace, and with great emotion 
delivered himself of the eloquent and 
impressive language which so fully re- 
vealed the spirit of this son of the forest. 
" I appeal to any white man to say if 
ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, 
and he gave him not meat; if ever he 
came cold and naked, and he clothed him 
not. During the course of the last long 
and bloody war Logan remained idle in 
his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such 
was my love for the whites that my 
countrymen pointed as they passed, and 
said, ' Logan is the friend of the white 
men.' I had even thought to have lived 
with you, but for the injuries of one man. 
Col. Cressap the last spring, in cold blood 
and unprovoked, murdered all the rela- 
tions of Logan, not even sparing my 
women and children. There rvuis not a 
drop of my blood in any living creature. 
This called on me for revenge. I have 
sought it; I have killed many. I have 
fully glutted my vengeance. For my 
country I rejoice at the beams of peace. 
But do not harbor a thought that mine is 
the joy of fear; Logan never felt fear. 
He will not turn on his heel to save his 
life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? 
Not one." Habits of intemperance had 
grown on Logan for several years. He 
is said to have nearly lost his reason. In 
a fit of drunkenness he assailed his wife 



THE DAT OF TRIAL. 



317 



and fled, and was soon killed near De- 
troit by Indians, who were obliged to 
take his life in self defence, because he 
attacked them through fear that they 
were his enemies. 



1781. Jan. 1. The situation of af- 
fairs at the beginning of this year, when 
looked at in all its aspects, was very crit- 
ical. It was seen by many that the 
union of States must have some more 
fully recognized central authority, instead 
of remaining a mere league as it had 
been. The separate states would not 
submit to the authority of congress in 
any essential point. The prevalence of 
a patriotic spirit concealed for a time the 
inherent weakness of the colonial posi- 
tion, a weakness which appeared as soon 
as the pressure of the war was withdrawn. 
During the year 1780, one dollar in 
specie became worth forty dollars in 
paper money. The following bill for 
merchandise was rendered this month, 
and shows vividly this depreciation, viz : 
" I pr. boots, $600; 6 yds. chintz, at 
$150 a yd., $900; I skein thread, $10.'* 

1781. Jan. 1. Pennsylvania Ke- 
volt. Thirteen hundred Pennsylvania 
troops revolted at Morristown, N. J., and 
because of suffering and lack of pay, 
proceeded to Princeton, accomjDanied by 
Gen. Wayne, after he had attempted to 
prevent the step. There they laid their 
demands before congress, and jDart of the 
troojjs disbanded for the winter. New 
Jersey troops were influenced by this 
action, but were afterward won over. 

1781. Jan. 2. Raid in Virginia. 
Benedict Arnold, with a force of British 
troops, made a raid into Virginia, and 
destroyed property, in conjunction with 
Cornwallis, to the amount of fifteen mil- 
lion dollars. Thirty thousand slaves were 



318 



RE VOL UTIONAR T STR UGGLES . 



carried off. Large rewards were offered 
for the arrest of Arnold. 

1781. Jan. 17. Battle of Cowpens. 
Geu. Morgan defeated Tarleton, who 
was pressing him with a superior force, 
at Cowpens, S. C, taking more than five 
hundred prisoners, eight hunch'ed mus- 
kets, two standards, besides cannon and 
iiorses. The British were totally routed, 
and the American loss was only sevent}- 
two, killed and wounded. After this bat- 
tle Gen. Greene joined IMorgan, and 
Cornwallis set out in pursuit of them. 
They were followed rapidly into Vir- 
ginia for two hundred miles. At last 
Cornwallis gave up the pursuit, when 
the patriot forces at once turned upon him 
and began to annoy his army. 

1781. January. The " Pine-log Can- 
non." Lieut. -Col. Washington, with a 
few light-horse and a pine-log on wheels, 
made to imitate a cannon, captured one 
hundred and twelve tories under Col. 
Rudgeley, in a barn where they had sta- 
tioned themselves. 

1781. Feb. 3. The Dutch West In- 
dia island vSt. Eustatius, was seized by 
the British West India fleet, with a great 
amount of property. The Dutch settle- 
ments in South America were all taken 
this year. 

1781. March 1. Maryland ratified 
the Articles of Confederation, and com- 
pleted the number required, so that the 
Federal Union became a fact. Up to 
this time the government had been ad- 
ministered by committees of congress. 

1781. March 2. A tory force of 
three hundred men was defeated at AUa- 
mance Creek by Col. Henry Lee. 

1781. March 15. Battle of Guilford 
Court House. A severe battle took 
place at Guilford Court House between 
Cornwallis and Greene. The Americans 



retreated, but the contest was about 
equally disastrous to both sides. Greene 
had three thousand six hundred men, a 
portion of them being raw militia. 
Cornwallis did not have as many. The 
American loss was four hundred and 
nineteen; the British five hundred and 
seventy. Cornwallis marched into Vir- 
ginia. British influence in North Caro- 
lina was greatly broken by this battle. 

1781. April 26. Fort Watson, at 
Wright's Bluff, S. C, was taken from 
the British by Generals Marion and Lee. 
This led to the evacuation of Camden. 

1781. April 28. Gen. Greene was 
defeated at Hobkirk Hill near Camden, 
S. C, by a British force under Lord 
Rawdon. 

1781. May 9. Pensacola, Florida, 
was taken from the British by a Spanish 
force from Havana and ]Mobile. 

1781. May 10. Camden was evacu- 
ated by the British. Within a few days 
Nelson's Ferry, Fort Motte, Orangeburg 
and other small places, were taken by 
American troops. 

1781. May 21. Fort Galphin, Ga., 
was taken by the Americans. 

1781. June 5. Augusta, Ga., was 
surrendered to the Americans under Lee 
and Pickens. 

1781. July 4. A fight took place at 
Jamestown Ford, between Cornwallis 
and Wajaie. The latter was entrapped 
by a stratagem, but escaped by a bold 
charge, with -the assistance of a force 
under Lafayette. 

1781. Robert Morris gave his own 
notes for one million four hundred thou- 
sand dollars for the aid of the army, 
and thus helped it through the summer 
campaign. 

1781. July 10. JohnMcKean, LL.D., 
of Delaware, was elected president of the 



1775-1783.] 

continental congress, to succeed Samuel 
Huntington. 

1781. French Loan. Col. John Lau- 
rens was sent by congress to negotiate a 
loan with France. A subsidy of one 
million two hundred thousand dollars was 
obtained, and a loan in addition. 

1781. July 19. Greene fled from 
before Ninety-Six, which he had been 
besieging, and retreated before Lord 
Rawdon, but afterward turned upon 
Rawdon, and offered battle. The British 
general declined it. Greene captured 
forty-eight dragoons. Emily Geiger was 
sent as a messenger from Greene to 
Marion, but upon being arrested by tories, 
she swallowed her letter and was allowed 
to proceed upon her way, since nothing 
was found concealed about her person. 

1781. Aug. 4. Execution of Hayne. 
Col. Isaac Hayne of South Carolina, a 
patriot, was hung without trial, for an 
alleged breaking of his patrol. Col. 
Hayne had taken the oath of allegiance 
to England with the assurance that he 
\vould never be required to fight against 
his country. He was afterward sum- 
moned to do so, and considered his pledge 
annulled by the breaking of the contract 
on the part of Lord Rawdon. He then 
raised a patriot force, was captured, and 
hung without mercy. Lord Rawdon 
has been universally condemned for this 
act of violence. It excited perfect hatred 
of hiiu throughout the province, 

1781. Sept. 5. Count de Grasse, 
having arrived in Chesapeake Bay with 
a French fleet of twenty-five vessels, had 
a contest with the English fleet, and drove 
it off. 

1781. Sept, 6. Burning of New 
London. Benedict Arnold, with a British 
force, burned New London, Conn. Fort 
Griswold was taken, and the garrison 



THE DAT OF TRIAL. 



319 



was massacred in the most cold-blooded 
manner. Arnold does not appear again 
in history. 

1781. Sept. 8. Greene defeated the 
British under Col. Stewart, at Eutaw 
Springs, S. C, and then was driven back, 
but on the next day the British retreated 
to Charleston. It was in this battle that 
a soldier in the command of " Light 
Horse Harry " Lee, nained Manning, of 
great repute for courage and strength, 
dashed off" in pursuit of the vanishing 
Bi-itish, and in his haste found that he 
had broken into a crowd of the enemy, 
and was left to contend with them single- 
handed. He speedily took in the situa- 
tion, and at once made his decision. 
Grabbing an officer near him by the 
collar and snatching away his sword, he 
began to retreat, at the same time hold- 
ing the officer between himself and the 
enemy. The frightened British officer, 
when thus summarily captured, began 
immediately to enumerate his titles, " I 
am Sir Henry Barry, deputy adjutant- 
general, captain in the 53d regiment, etc, 
etc," "Enough," said Manning, "you 
are just the man I was looking for." 

1781. Sept. 30. The siege of York- 
town, Va., began by the combined 
French and American forces. Washing- 
ton had collected the bulk of the Ameri- 
can army to aid in this siege. 

1781. Oct. 19. Cornwallis surren- 
dered Yorktown, with twelve thousand 
prisoners, including sailors, tories, and 
negroes. There were eight thousand 
muskets, two hundred and thirty-five 
cannon, twenty-eight standards, besides 
munitions and stores. The news was 
received at Philadelphia at two o'clock 
the next morning. People wept with 
delight, and the old door-keeper of 
congress died with joy. Religious ser- 



320 



RE VOL UTIONAR T STR UGGL ES. 



vice was held by congress in the Luth- 
eran church, and the next day at the 
head of the regiments. This defeat vir- 
tually closed the war. The House of 
Commons voted that whosoever advised a 
continuance of the war, was a public en- 
emy. The news was received by Lord 
North with great agitation. He opened 
his arms as if " he had received a ball in 
his breast, exclaiming wildly as he paced 
up and down the apartment, ' O, God, it 
is all over.' " The city of London now 
remonstrated against the war as unnatural 
and unfortunate. 

1781; Nov. 5. John Hanson, of 
Maryland, was elected president of the 
continental congress, to succeed Thomas 
McKean. 

1781. Dec. 31. The Bank of North 
America was chartered, with a capital of 
four hundred thousand dollars. The bills 
of this bank were the first ones on this side 
of the water payable at presentation, and 
were made legal tender for all taxes and 
dues of the United States. Robert Mor- 
ris, who was at the time superintendent 
of finance of the United States, had 
drawn ujd a scheme for the business of 
the bank, which had been approved by 
congress in the previous May. Other 
eminent men had heartily encouraged it 
by subscribing to its stock. It was the 
intention of its supporters that this bank 
should aid the government in its arrange- 
ments for the pay of the army. It began 
business Jan. 7, 17S3, and was a very 
great assistance until the end of the war. 
Its first president was Thomas Willing. 
This bank is now in existence as a na- 
tional bank. 

1781. A secretary of the marine was 
appointed in the United States. Gen. 
Alexander McDougall was the first in- 
cumbent of the office. 



1781. Horrors of Slave Trade. Capt. 
Collingwood, of the slave ship Zong, 
from Africa to Jamaica, threw a large 
number of sick slaves overboard, tliat if 
possible the loss might fall upon the in- 
surers. The case was afterward tried in 
English courts, and the loss was placed 
on the owners. 

1781. A Nicaragua canal route was 
explored for the Spanish government by 
Don Manuel Galisteo. 

1781. An uprising in New Grenada 
took place, in opposition to the tax regu- 
lations of the province. Terms were ar- 
ranged with the rebels, and severe meas- 
ures were taken by the Spanish crown 
in the government of the province. This 
was the beginning of revolutionary com- 
motion in the province. 

1781. Felix de Azara, an eminent 
Spanish naturalist, came to South Amer- 
ica to assist in settling the boundary be- 
tween the Portuguese and Spanish prov- 
inces. He made diligent investigations 
into the natural and political history of 
the whole La Plata region. He pursued 
his work here until 1801, and the pub- 
lished results of his labors are among the 
chief authorities upon that country. 

1782. April 12. A great naval battle 
took place in the West Indies near Guad- 
aloupe, between a French fleet under 
Count de Grasse, and an English fleet 
under Rodney. The latter was victori- 
ous, with a loss of one thousand men. 
The French loss was three thousand. 

1782. April 19. Holland acknowl- 
edged the independence of the United 
States, and was the second power in the 
world to do so. 

1782. May. Col. Louis Nicola, a 
foreigner who had served in the Penn- 
sylvania troops, wrote a letter to Wash- 
ington suggesting that he, with the assist- 



1775-1783.] 



THE DA r OF TRIAL. 



321 



ance of the army, establish a monarchy 
in the United States, and become its head. 
The idea originated in the conviction that 
the weakness of the country was due to 
its republican government. Many offi- 
cers were led to favor the plan, through 
the doubt which hung over the question 
of their pay for military services. The 
whole project was at once effectually 
crushed by a strong and clear refusal from 
Washington. 

1782. June 20. The great seal of 
the United States was adopted. After it 
had been found that a satisfactory result 
was not likely to be reached through con- 
gressional committees, the whole matter 
had been put into the hands of Mr. 
Thomson, the secretary of congress, with 
powei". He requested William Barton 
of Philadelphia, to make a design, but a 
device was sent to Mr. Thomson about 
this time by Mr. John Adams, who was 
in London, and had received it from Sir 
John Prestwitch, a well-known English 
antiquary. This was the design adopted. 
The dies were cut in Paris under the 
1182. Pont,ne charge of Dr. Franklin. 

marshes in Italy The design COUsistS of " a 
drained. , i i • 

m2.Punishment spread eagle bearmg on its 
of deaik in Ger- breast our national shield ; 

many abolished. • • , ^ ^ 1 1 • , i , i 

ni its beak a scroll, with the 
words E Pluribus Unum ; in its right 
talon an olive branch, a symbol of peace, 
and in its left a bundle of thirteen arrows, 
a symbol of the United States, and of 
War; the crest, a glory breaking through 
a cloud, and surrounding a cluster of stars, 
forming a constellation." A design for 
the reverse side was included, but has 
never been used. 

1782. July. The British Parliament 
passed a bill to enable the king to ac- 
knowledge the independence of the 
United States. 



1782. July 11. Savannah, Ga., was 

evacuated by the British. 

1782. August. A fight at Combahee 
Ferry, S. C, took place, in which an 
American force drove off a foraging 
party of British from Charleston. Col- 
John Laurens was killed. 

1782. September. The Last Blood- 
shed. Capt. Wilmot was killed in a fight 
at Somes Ferry, and is supposed to have 
shed the last blood in the Revolution. 

1782. September. Congress appointed 
John Adams, John Jay, Dr. Franklin, and 
Henry Laurens who was now freed from 
the Tower, as commissioners of peace. 
The British government gave Mr. Os- 
wald full power to treat with them. 

CHARLES LEE. 

1782. Oct. 2. Charles Lee, who had 
served as a major-general in the Ameri- 
can army, died at Philadelphia at the age 
of fifty-one years. He was the son of 
Gen. John Lee, of the British army, and 
was born in England in 1731. He was 
educated partly in England, and partly in 
Switzerland. He mastered several of the 
continental languages while yet very 
young ; and being with his father a great 
deal, he developed a taste for military 
science. In this he became so proficient 
that he was commissioned an officer in 
the army of Great Britain when only 
eleven years of age. As he grew older 
he exhibited more and more the fiery, 
changeable qualities which afterward dis- 
abled his life. His first experience was 
in the French and Indian war. In Cen- 
tral New York he came into contact with 
the Mohawks, whose wild customs just 
suited his romantic and adventurous spirit. 
They adopted him into their tribe, and 
made him a chief, by the name of Oune- 
waterika, or Boiling Water. He was 



'622 



RE VOL UTIONAR 2' STRUGGLES. 



wounded in an attack upon Ticonderoga, 
and was placed at Albany with other 
officers for recovery. Here he met and 
flogged soundly a surgeon who had writ- 
ten a libel on him. The surgeon unsuc- 
cessfully attempted to shoot Lee in a re- 
tired spot, as they met uj^on horseback. 
After the war was over, Lee returned to 
England and received the commission of 
lieutenant-colonel. He was under Bur- 
goyne ^vhile assisting Portugal to resist 
the invasions of Spain. Afterward re- 
turning to England, he entered into pol- 
itics ^vith as much violence as he had 
shown in war. His military character 
and skill made him a great favoi'ite at 
courts. After resigning his commission 
and roving over all Europe about three 
years on difficult tours, his love of ad- 
venture brought him back to America in 
1773. He was induced by Col. Gates to 
buy a homestead in Virginia, and settle 
upon it. His dash and energy were ap- 
parently just what were needed by a 
people who had thrown off the bonds of 
allegiance, and when the continental 
army was organized in 1775, he was ap- 
pointed major-general. It is thought by 
some that he wished to be commander- 
in-chief. He accepted the commission 
given him, thereby forfeiting his estates 
in England, the income of which was 
about seven thousand dollars a year. He 
received a pledge from congress that he 
should be remunerated for all losses' in 
entering the American service. He was 
placed at Cambridge and worked ener- 
getically in bringing the army into good 
condition, until he was sent to Newport 
and then to New York, at the beginning 
of 1776. It was threatened that British 
ships in the harbor would fire upon the 
latter city if Lee and his troops entered 
it. " The first house set in flames by their 



guns," said he, "shall be the funeral pile of 
some of tbeir best friends." Lee was af- 
terward sent to the Soutb, where he was 
present at the repulse of the British from 
Sullivan's Island, in Charleston harbor. 
He subsequently went to Philadelphia, 
and thence joined Washington, during 
the latter's occupancy of New York. 
His capture during the retreat across 
New Jersey, and his conduct at the battle 
of Monmouth, have already been de- 
tailed. A paper has been brought to 
light which seems to show that wbile a 
captive he held some communication 
with English authorities, with traitorous 
intent. It detailed a plan for the successful 
re-conquest of America. Lee w^as a good 
scholar, an eminent and able writer, an 
enemy to oppression, and a shrewd poli- 
tician. His last years were spent on his 
farm in Virginia where he grew poorer 
and poorer, and lived in his house with 
only chalk-marks for partitions. He 
went to Philadelphia in the attempt to 
sell his place, was taken sick, and died. 
As his last breath was expiring, he said, 
" .Stand by me, my brave grenadiers," 
and passed from life. The so-called 
" Palladium of American Liberty " was 
no more. 

1782. Oct. 8. Holland concluded a 
treaty of amity and commerce with the 
United States, 

1782. Nov. 3. Elias Boudinot, LL. D., 
of New Jersey, was elected president of 
the continental congress to succeed John 
Hanson. 

1782. Nov. 30. A preliminary 
treaty of peace between the United 
States and Great Britain was signed at 
Paris. 

1782. Dec. 5. The independence 
of the United States was acknowledged 
in England in a speech of George HI. 



1775-1783.] THE DA 

to the House of Commons. The state- 
ment was made quite heartily, and yet 
with some evident hesitation. 

1782. Dec. 14. Charleston, S. C, 
was evacuated by the British. 

1782. The last naval exploit of the 
Revolution was the escape of the Amer- 
ican frigate Hague, Capt. Manley, from 
four British ships of the line, after lying 
on a shoal near Gaudaloupe, West Indies, 
for three days, under fire from them. 



r OF TRIAL. 



323 



1783. Feb. 25. Denmark acknowl- 
edged the independence of the United 
States. 

1783. March 24. Spain acknowl- 
edged the independence of the United 
States. 

1783. April 19. The cessation of 
hostilities was proclaimed by Washing- 
ton at the head of the army. It was 
the eighth anniversary day of the battles 
of Lexington and Concord. 




Washington's army chest. 



1782. Washington and Lee Univer- 
sity, Lexington, Va., was chartered this 
year. It took Washington's name in 
1796, because he gave it one hundred 
shares of James River canal stock. It 
took Gen. Robert E. Lee's name at his 
death in 1S70. Gen. Lee served as pres- 
ident from 186^ to 1870. 

1782. A pestilence in Greenland car- 
ried off many of the inhabitants. 

1783. Feb. 5. Sweden acknowl- 
edged the independence of the United 
States. 



1783. June 19. The " Society of 
the Cincinnati" which is still in exist- 
ence, was organized at Newburg on the 
Hudson, by some of the army olficers. 
Its objects were to cement by frequent 
re-unions the friendship they had formed 
in scenes of war, to commemorate the 
experiences through w^hich they had 
passed, and to aid in the extension of 
liberty, and of good feeling between the 
states. 

1783. June 21. Mutinous soldiers 
besieged the doors of the State House in 



324 



RE VOL UTIONART S TR UGGLES . 



Philadelphia, where congress was in ses- 
sion, demanding immediate pay for ser- 
vice. The difficulties of the situation 
had a delay in the issue of notes for the 
last three months. The city militia re- 
fused aid, and congress finally adjourned 
to Princeton, where the members were 
received with hospitality by the college. 
This forced removal brought up for vig- 
orous discussion the question of a perma- 
nent abode for the government. 

1783. An anti-slavery barbacue 
presided over by Dr. Bloomfield, was 
held at Woodbridge, N. J. An ox was 
roasted whole for the public dinner, and 
a great deal of interest attended the 
gathering. 

1783. July. Russia acknowledged 
the independence of the United States. 

1783. Sept. 3. A definite treaty of 
peace between the United States and 
Great Britain was signed at Paris. The 
Mississippi River was the western boun- 
dary, Canada and Nova Scotia the 
northern and eastern boundaries. There 
was a long discussion over the western 
boundary, because the English commis- 
sioners insisted upon making it the Ohio 
River. Dr. Franklin was inclined to 
grant it, but Adams and Jay refused to 
do so, because the land northwest of that 
river had been conquered by Clark, 
and was then occupied by United States 
troops. Adams and Jay preferred to 
return home and continue the war, rather 
than yield the territory. 

1783. Oct. 16. A dark day oc- 
curred in Canada. The phenomenon 
was about one hour long, but extreme 
while it lasted. The first approach was 
at two o'clock in the afternoon, when the 
darkness came on suddenly, then relaxed, 
and came again. 

1783. Oct. 18. The discharge of 



the soldiers who enlisted for the war, was 
proclaimed by congress. 

1783. Nov. 2. Farewell orders to 
the army were issued by Washington. 

1783. Nov. 3. The disbanding of 
the army took place. The entire num- 
ber of troops sent by the different states 
to serve in the continental army was 
231,791. A lai"ge number of militia 
troops engaged iu the struggle in a more 
or less private and irresponsible way. 
The cost of the war was $130,000,000, 
exclusive of the amounts lost by private 
individuals and the different states. 

1783. Nov. 3. Thomas Mifflin, of 
Pennsylvania, was elected president of 
the continental congress, to succeed Elias 
Boudinot. 

1783. Nov. 25. " Evacuation Day." 
The British army evacuated New York, 
their last foothold in the United States. 

1783. Dec. 4. Washington bade 
farewell to the army officers in Fraunce's 
tavern, at the corner of Broadway and 
Pearl Streets, New York. The scene 
was one of great tenderness, and both 
Washington and his companions were 
melted to tears. 

1783. Dec. 23. Washington re- 
signed his commission to congress, and 
proceeded to Mount Vernon. His jour- 
ney was a triumphal march. All com- 
pensation save for his actual expense 
was I'e fused. 

1783. Slavery was excluded from 
New Hampshire by a constitutional dec- 
laration of rights, which was adopted to 
go into effect in June, 17S4. 

1783. Noah Webster began his lex- 
icographical work on the English lan- 
guage this year by issuing the " First 
Part of a Grammatical Institute of the 
English Language." 

1783. "Webster's SpeUing Book" 



1775-1783.] 

was Issued for the first time, and has sold 
since by hundreds of thousands of copies. 

1783. Improved machinery for flour 
mills was invented by Oliver Evans, and 
has been the basis of all the changes 
since his time. His improvements con- 
sisted of the endless chain, the conveyor, 
the hopper boy, the drill, and the kiln- 
drier. 

1783. Improved cattle wei'e first 
imported into the United States, and 
were bought by Matthew Patton, of 
Virginia, for breeding purposes. Mr. 
Patton became widely known for his 
fine stock, 

1783. The Northwest company of 
Canada was formed, to compete with 
the Hudson Bay company in the fur 
trade. There were often serious difii- 



THE DAT OF TRIAL. 



325 



culties between the two companies, al- 
most amounting to war at times. But 
the new company gained great power, 
extending its operations, and soon had 
two thousand men in its employ through 
Canada. 

1783. Dominica was restored to 
England, having been in the possession 
of the French from 1778, at which time 
it was captured by a French squadron 
under the Marquis de Bouille. Grenada 
and St, Vincent, Windward Islands, were 
also restored to England, together with 
the Bahama Islands. A great many 
royalists had gone to the latter at the 
close of the Revolution. British Hon- 
duras was confirmed to England, which 
made great efforts to extend its limits, 
but unsuccessfully. 




A REVOLUTIONARY FLAG. 



yv 



r 



SECTION XV. 




'he close of the war left the States 
very weak, and with no strength 
of union. Congress had no power 
to carry out any measures, save as 
the State legislatures confirmed them. 
Different rules were adopted by different 
States, thus creating confusion. Preju- 
dices and unkind feelings existed, and 
great peril threatened the young republic. 
There was an indifference on the subject 
of raising taxes, and in some sections a 
positive opposition to it. Incipient re- 
bellions appeared here and there. The 
financial distress was very great, and 
bore heavily upon thousands of j^eople. 
In the midst of this agitation the consti- 
tution was formed. The wisdom of the 
great leaders secured it, and the elevation 
of Washington to the chief magistracy, 
established its operation. Now began 
that wonderful career in invention and 
kindred lines of progress which to-day 
puts the United States into the forefront 
of the world. Manufactures began to 
multiply. The western territory began 
to be sprinkled with settlements which 
started into existence. Intelligence and 
manliness spread abroad rapidly. A new 
power was in active operation in the 

l^"d- [326] 



1784. March. All persons were de- 
clared free who should be born in the 
State of Rhode Island after this date. 

1784. July 5. The first bank under 
the State Constitution of Massachusetts 
began business, and was for some years 
the only banking house in the State. It 
was the second in the United States. 
The Bank of North America in Phila- 
delphia, was the first. The capital was 
limited to $300,000. Up to 1S76 this 
bank had passed but two dividends, one 
about 1S15, and one in 1836. 

1784. Nov. 14. First American 
Episcopal Bishop. The Rev. Samuel 
Seabury, D. D., was ordained bishop, 
having been elected to that ofiice by the 
Episcopalians of Connecticut. Political 
obstacles prevented his ordination in 
England, and the service was performed 
at Aberdeen, Scotland, by three Scottish 
bishops. Hitherto the church in America 
had been under the care of the London 
bishop, and American candidates for the 
ministry were obliged to go to London 
to be ordained. The first organization 
of the American Episcopal church fol- 
lowed in less than a year, and other bish- 
oprics were soon erected. 

1784. Nov. 30. Richard Henry 



1784-1799.] 

Lee, of Virginia, was elected president 
of the continental congress at Trenton, 
N. J., to succeed Thomas Mifflin. 

1784. Dec. 24. Organization of 
Methodist Church. A convention of 
sixty ministers was held in Baltimore 
upon the aiTival of Rev. Thomas Coke, 
LL. D., who had been ordained in Eng- 
land by Wesley, as superintendent of 
American societies. The convention at 
once adopted the Episcopal form of gov- 
ernment, instituted some ininor arrange- 
ments, and elected Coke and Asbury to 
serve as superintendents. This was the 
first formal organization of the Methodist 
Episcopal church in America. 

1784. The gradual abolition of sla- 
very was provided for in Connecticut by 
an act passed this year. 

1784. The first agricultural society 
in America was organized in South Car- 
olina. It was named the " South Caro- 
lina Agricultural Society," and is in ex- 
istence at the present time, 

1784. The first law school in Amer- 
ica was established at Litchfield, Conn., 
by the Hon. Tapping Reeve. 

1784. The first frame house on the 
site of Saratoga Springs was erected by 
Gen. Philip Schuyler. 

1784. Morse's Geography. The 
first geography published in the United 
States was printed at New Haven. It 
was a single small iSmo., and was pre- 
pared by Jedediah Morse, who followed 
it with larger works. For thirty years 
Mr. Morse remained the principal occu- 
pant of this line of work. His books 
sold by hundreds of thousands. He was 
the father of Prof. S. F. B. Morse. 

1784. Eight bales, or about seventy- 
one bags of cotton, which had been 
shipped from America to England, were 
seized, " on the ground that so much 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



327 



cotton could not be produced in the 
United States." 

1784. The exportation of a stocking 
frame from England into the States was 
made subject to a penalty of jE'40. 

1784. A model for a boat to move 
against wind and tide by the force of the 
current acting upon setting poles, was 
shown Gen. Washington this year by 
James Rumsey, its inventor, who pat- 
ented it in several States. The model 
was operated upon the Potomac. 

1784. The first lecturer on Natural 
History in any American college was 
Benjamin Waterhouse, M. D., of Brown 
University and Harvard College, who 
led the way in the study of Mineralogy. 

1784. The American flag was dis- 
played for the first time in a Chinese 
port, by the ship Empress of China, 
commanded by Capt. Green, of New 
York. 

1784. The American fur company, 
of which John Jacob Astor was the chief 
proprietor, began operations this year. 

1784. The first daily paper in Amer- 
ica, named Poulson's Daily General Ad- 
vertiser, was established in Philadelphia. 
It had been running since 1771 as a 
weekly, called " The Pennsylvania 
Packet." 

1784. New Brunswick, hitherto a 
part of Nova Scotia, was made a sepa- 
rate colony, and Sir Guy Carleton was 
soon after appointed governor. At the 
close of the American Revolution a great 
many royalists settled in the province. 

1784. Cape Breton was this year 
separated from Nova Scotia. 

1784. St. Bartholomew, one of the 
Leeward Islands, was ceded by France 
to Sweden, and is the only one of the 
West India Islands possessed by the latter 
power. 



328 



RE VOL UTIONAR T STR UGG L ES. 



1785. Jan. 25. An anti-slavery 
society for " promoting the manumission 
of slaves, and protecting such of them as 
have been, or may be liberated," was 
formed in New York, and chose for its 
first president John Jay. Alexander 
Hamilton was the second president of 
this society. 

1785. February. First Minister to 
England. John Adams \\'as sent as the 
first minister plenipotentiary from the 
United States to England, with special 
instructions to try to adjust the standing 
difficulties in connection with the fulfill- 
ment of the treaty of 17S3. But the 
mission resulted in no advantage. 

"BROTHER JO.y^TH±¥r 

1785. Aug. 17. Jonathan Trumbull, 
LL. D., of Connecticut, died at Lebanon 
in that State, at the age of 75 years. He 
was born in Lebanon, June 10, 17 10, and 
was educated for the ministry, but finally 
studied law, and entered political life. 
From 1733, v\^hen he was elected to the 
colonial assemblv, to 17S3, when he re- 
signed the governorship, a j^eriod of fifty 
years, he was constantly in the public 
service. His judgment was highly es- 
teemed by Washington, who often went 
to him for advice. After the latter had 
taken command of the American army, 
he found a great destitution of military 
stoies existed. In his consideration of the 
matter, he said to some one, " Let us 
see what Brother Jonathan says about 
it," referring to Mr. Trumbull, who 
was at that time governor of Connecti- 
cut. Mr. Trumbull was consulted upon 
the matter, and aided very much by 
his wisdom in providing for the army. 
From this the term " Brother Jona- 
than" grew into use as a name for the 
U. S. government. 



1785. Weakness of the Confedera- 
tion. Maryland and Virginia appointed 
commissioners to arrange the navigation 
of Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac 
and Roanoke Rivers. After discussion, 
the commissioners found that their author- 
ity was too weak to complete a settlement. 
James Madison, of Virginia, drew up 
some resolutions based upon their exper- 
iences, and presented them. From the 
nature of these suggestions he has been 
called the " Father of the Constitution." 
The commissioners did not agree, and 
the legislature of Virginia invited the 
other States to a gathering at Annapolis, 
to consider the defects existing in the 
government. 

1785. The first Universalist Con- 
vention in the United States was held, 
and was the beginning of their denom- 
inational work in America. The dis- 
tinguishing tenet of this body is a belief 
in the final salvation of all men, 

1785. " The great American piano- 
forte, of his own invention," was adver- 
tised by James Juliann, of Philadelphia. 

1785. Improvements in stoves began 
to be devised by Count Rumford, an 
American who became eminent for his 
practical scientific knowledge. He in- 
vented a cooking range, which was for 
some years the model of manufactures in 
that hue. Stoves had not yet, however, 
come into general use, and were the sub- 
ject of a great deal of prejudice. 

1785. Algiers declared war upon the 
United States, and congress advised 
building five men-of-war of forty guns 
each, but lack of power in that body 
made the recommendation of no eflfect, 
consequently there was no interference 
with Algerine depredations. 

1786. June 6. Nathaniel Gorham, 
of Massachusetts, was elected president 



1784-1799.] 

of the continental congress. John Han- 
cock, who was again sent from Massa- 
chusetts, had been elected to succeed 
Richard Henry Lee, but had not been 
present, because of sickness. Daniel 
Ramsey, of South Carolina, presided 
temporarily until Mr. Gorham was 
elected in place of Mr. Hancock. 

GEX. N:lTH7lXIEL GREEXE. 

1786. June 19. This eminent Amer- 
ican soldier died at Mulberry Grove, near 
Savannah, Ga., at the age of forty-four 
years, ^e was born at Warwick, R. I., 
May 27, 1742. His father was a Qua- 
ker preacher, and the son was early in- 
structed in the principles of liberty and 
piety. He was a great lover of athletic 
sports, and was especially fond of danc- 
ing. His father was deadly opposed to 
the latter, and upon hearing that his boy 
had attended dances, planned to horse- 
whip him. Nathaniel, suspecting his 
father's intentions, slipped some stout 
shingles down his back, and in this way 
bore the blows of the weapon with ease. 
But his strong mind could not long find 
its satisfaction in frivolity. Upon being 
set to work at a forge which his father 
owned, he began the collection of a 
small library with all his surplus money. 
He became enslaved to books, and would 
stop to study while the iron was heating. 
In this way he disciplined his mind to a 
very excellent degree. In 1770 he was 
elected to the general assembly of the 
colony, and took great interest in the dif- 
ferences with the mother country, having 
thoroughly studied the nature of the 
quarrel. He was soon convinced that 
the battle-field must decide the contest, 
and resolved to enter the conflict when it 
came. He therefore carefully studied every 
book upon military science which he could 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



329 



obtain. For this the Quakers called him 
to account, and refusing to make amends, 
he was banished from their society. He 
was married in 1774, but the attractions 
of his new home could not hinder his 
purpose. Hence, when the first blood 
had been spilled at Lexington and Con- 
cord he hastened to Boston and enlisted 
in the army. He was appointed briga- 
dier-general by congress, and did good 
service in drilling the Rhode Island 
troops. He soon won the esteem and 
confidence of Washington, who sent him 
in the spring to occuj^y Long Island. 
Gen. Greene never entered a battle with- 
out studying the situation thoroughly, 
and making approximate calculations 
upon the result. After examining the 
ground and making extensive prepara- 
tions upon Long Island, he was taken 
sick with bilious fever, and Putnam was 
put in command. Being ignorant of 
Greene's plans, the latter would have 
sufl^ered a defeat fatal to the American 
army, had not Washington saved it. 
Greene was soon in active service again. 
At Brandywine, Germantown and other 
places, his boldness and skill prevented 
final disaster. His men, under his will, 
behaved like veterans. He was now ap- 
pointed to the command of the southern 
army, which was left by Gates in a cha- 
otic, destitute condition. His conduct of 
the campaign, in thwarting the English 
troops, in retreating before Cornwallis 
and then turning upon him, until at last, 
reinforced, he was able to follow up his 
efforts and see the enemy gradually give 
way before him, was masterly. 

At the close of the war he removed to 
a plantation near Savannah, Ga., and died 
there from the effects of a sunstroke. His 
integrit}^, heroism, and patriotism, com- 
mend him as an example of the purest sort. 



330 



RE VOL UTIONART STR UGGLES. 



1786. July. A skiflf propelled by a 
steam engine which turned a crank, to 
which paddles were attached at the stern 
of the boat, was exhibited upon the Del- 
aware. The engine was constructed by 
John Fitch and Henry Voight, and had 
a three inch cylinder. They had previ- 
ously made a smaller engine, but this was 
their first application of the power to the 
moving of boats. 

1786. August. A decimal coinage 
of gold and silver was decided upon by 
congress, who adopted names and de- 
signs for the same. 

1786. September. The Annapolis 
Convention, consisting of delegates from 
the States, was held at Annapolis, Md., 
in accordance with the suggestion of 
Virginia to consider the commercial re- 
lations of the States, and to decide how 
far they could be made uniform. Five 
States, New York, New Jersey, Penn- 
sylvania, Delaware and Virginia, were 
represented, and the body voted to advise 
congress to call a convention to revise 
the Articles of Confederation. 

1786. A Sunday school was started in 
Hanover Co., Va., by Bishop Francis 
Asbury, of the Methodist church. 

1786. A Roman Catholic hierarchy 
was for the first time established in the 
United States by the appointment of John 
Carroll as vicar-general. 

1786. The first machines for roving, 
carding and spinning cotton, ever made 
in America, were constructed by two 
Scotchmen named Alexander and Robert 
Barr, for Mr. Hugh Orr. Massachusetts 
appropriated £200 to encourage the set- 
ting up of such machinery at East 
Bridgewater. 

1786. A tack and nail machine was 
invented this year by Ezekiel Reed, of 
Bridgewater, Mass. 



1786. The first printing press west 

of the Alleghenies, was set up this year 
in Kentucky. 

1786. Extent of Slave Trade. The total 
number of negro slaves imported into all 
the English colonies since 1680, was 
3,130,000. Into the island of Jamaica 
alone since 1 700, there had been brought 
610,000, according to the importing lists. 
Thousands also had died on the way. 
The entire number of those who had 
been shipped for the colonies, was un- 
doubtedly much larger than the above. 

1786. The first Sea Island cotton 
raised \\\ the United States was cultivated 
on Sapelo Island, on the coast of Georgia. 
It was of the Pernambuco variety, and 
the seed had been sent to Frank Levett 
by a Mr. Patrick Walsh, of Jamaica. 
Before many years its superior quality 
caused it to bring higher prices than 
other cotton. The cultivation of it has 
brought wealth to very many. 

1786. The first American play ever 
put upon the stage was " The Contrast,'* 
written by Royal Tyler, who afterward 
became chief-justice of Vermont. The 
piece remained upon the stage but a little 
while. Other plays were brought out 
after this, but no American 2:)roductions 
had much merit. 

1786. A law forbidding theatrical 
exhibitions was passed by Pennsylvania. 
Massachusetts had just before re-enacted 
her old law to the same effect. 

1786. An excited mob surrounded the 

legislature of New Hampshire at Exeter, 

in an unsuccessful attempt to frighten the 

members into the issue of paper money 

for the relief of the financial distress of 

the times. 

S/MTS REBELLION. 

1786. December. The restlessness 
of the people of Massachusetts because 



1784-1799.] 

of the poverty of the country, and the 
prevalent inability to pay taxes, broke 
out into an armed rebellion under the 
leadership of Daniel Shay, who had 
been an officer in the continental army. 
The province had been drained of money 
to pay the army. Taxes vv^ere high. A 
flood of suits for debt broke out in the 
courts. The people v\^ere distressed, and 
urged very strenuously that the State 
officers were receiving too much salary, 
and that fees were too high. Conventions 
had been held, and the delegates to the 
general court had been instructed to ad- 
just the difficulties by legal measures, 
but no result occurred. Men began to 
band themselves together, and to call 
themselves " Regulators." The first 
armed attempt had been made in Sep- 
tember of this year, in j^reventing the 
court at Worcester from sitting. The 
success of this movement, which caused 
the court to adjourn till December, en- 
couraged the ill-feeling. During No- 
vember the court of sessions attempted 
to meet at Worcester, but were pre- 
vented from entering the court house by 
a solid guard of armed men. The sheriff, 
Col. William Greenleaf of Lancaster, 
was undertaking to open a way through 
the crowd for the judges, when one of 
the insurgents said they wished redress 
for their grievances, and that one of the 
greatest of these grievances was the 
sheriff himself, and next were his fees, 
which were exorbitant, especially for 
criminal executions. The irritated sheriff 
at once replied, " If you consider fees for 
executions oppressive, you need not v\^ait 
long for redress; for I will hang you all, 
gentlemen, for nothing, with the great- 
est pleasure." With this retort he was 
forced to turn away. The government 
of Massachusetts was slow, in adopting 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



331 



severe measures, although the attempt 
had been made to get out the militia 
without success, for numbers of them 
sympathized with the rebellion. During 
December a body of a thousand men 
suspended the session of the supreme 
court at Worcester, and held the city at 
their control. A portion of them marched 
to Springfield. 

1787. January. The militia called 
out by Gen. Lincoln to suppress the in- 
surrection in Massachusetts, marched from 
Boston to Springfield, where about two 
thousand of the insurgents were collected,, 
under Daniel Shay, Luke Day, and Eli 
Parsons, in an attempt to secure posses- 
sion of the United States arsenal. Gen. 
Lincoln left a force at Worcester to keep 
the surrounding towns in awe, and the 
courts began to proceed with their busi- 
ness. Blood had already been shed at 
Springfield, but by Gen. Lincoln's en- 
ergy the rebellion was soon broken up, 
and those engaged in it captured or scat- 
tered. Many of them were afterward 
punished. Some of them were brought 
to the gallows for the sake of the exam- 
ple, and reprieved just before execution, 
in order that no harsh feeling might be 
left. The sentiments which led to this 
rebellion continued to prevail, but turned 
their force into the elections, since the 
more considerate of the people began to 
see the danger of trying to adjust their 
difficulties by force. The insurgents 
around Worcester had in the meantime 
suffered much from the severities of the 
season, and had been practically disabled. 
At one time an attack upon Boston was 
meditated, but finally given up. The 
sentiment of large numbers began to go 
against the insurgents, before this month 
was over. The difficulties were righted 
gradually, as the country began to prosper.. 



332 



RE VOL UTIONA RV STR UGGLES. 



1187. Feb. 2. Arthur St. Clair was 

elected president of the continental con- 
gress, to succeed Nathaniel Gorham. 

1787. Feb. 12. The revision of the 
" Articles of Confederation " was deter- 
mined upon by congress, and a conven- 
tion was called for that purpose. 

1787. May 14. The constitutional 
convention called by congress for the 
revision of the " Articles of Confedera- 
tion" met at Independence Hall, Phila- 
delphia. Each State was represented, 
except Rhode Island. George Wash- 
ington was elected president, and William 
Jackson secretary. There was an in- 
definite idea of what would be necessary 
to be done. All knew that the country 
had no standing abroad in credit, and 
that the situation was daily growing 
worse instead of better. The States 
could unite upon nothing, for separate 
intei"ests were continually clashing. The 
members of the convention proceeded to 
consider the " Articles," and take up 
various methods of revision. It began 
very soon to dawn upon some that an 
entirely new constitution must soon be 
prepared. 

1787. July 11. The "Ordinance 
of 1787 " for the government of the 
" Northwest Territory " was passed by 
congress. This act forbade any " slavery 
or involuntary servitude except for crime," 
within the limits of the Territory. Pro- 
visions were also made for schools, by the 
cession of tracts of land for that purpose. 
This celebrated ordinance became the 
basis of all subsequent constitutions in 
the States since cut out of that great 
Territory. 

1787. The first practical American 
steamboat was exhibited on the Dela- 
ware River before the authorities of 
Philadelphia, by John Fitch, who had 



made a similar exhibition on a much 
smaller scale the year before. This boat 
was not successful as a packet, on account 
of the smallness of the machinery. The 
engine had only a cylinder of twelve 
inches. The propelling power of steam 
was fully shown. A speed of eight 
miles an hour in dead water was attained 
by this steamboat. 

1787. Sept. 10. All plans for the 
revision of the Articles of Confederation 
were placed by the convention in the 
hands of a committee composed of Mad- 
ison, Hamilton, King, Johnson, and Gov. 
Morris. 

1787. Sept. 17. The constitution 
of the United States as drawn up by the 
committee, was presented to the conven- 
tion, and after discussion it was adopted 
and signed by all the membei's except 
sixteen. The convention voted to give 
congress the power to abolish slaveiy in 
the United States twenty years after the 
adoption of the constitution. It was 
agreed in estimating the basis of repre- 
sentation to count five hundred slaves 
equal to three hundred whites. This is 
the famous thi^ee-fifths rule. 

1787. Sept. 28. The new constitu- 
tion having been laid before congress, 
was sent out for the ratifications of the 
States. Now arose a great struggle 
during which the two great parties, the 
Federalists and the Anti-Federalists, or 
Democrat-Republicans^took the full shape 
which they retained till other questions 
came in to modify them. 

1787. Oct. 5. Arthur St. Clair was 
elected by congress first governor of the 
" Northwest Territory." He was in- 
structed to hold a general treaty with 
the Indians of the Territory, to adjust the 
relations between them and the gov- 
ernment. 



1784-1799.] 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



333 



1787. October. The slave trade 

was prohibited in Rhode Island by the 
passage of an act forbidding any citizen 
to engage in it. 

1787. Dec. 7. Delaware was the 
first State to ratify the new constitution, 
and thus took the lead in the formation 
of a real nation out of the original thir- 
teen confederated States. It has an area 
of 2,1 20 square miles, and a population 
in 1870 of 135,015. Its motto is "Lib- 
erty and Independence," and it is called 
" The Blue Hen." 

1787. Dec. 12. Pennsylvania was 
the second State to ratify the new consti- 
tution. It has an area of 46,000 square 
miles, and a population in 1870 of 
3,52 1 ,95 1 inhabitants. Its motto is " Vir- 
tue, Liberty and Independence," and it is 
called " The Keystone State," as, in an 
arch of the old thirteen beginning with 
New Hampshire, it is the keystone. 

1787. Dec. 18. New Jersey was 
the third State to ratify the new constitu- 
tion. It has an area of 8,330 square 
miles, and a population in 1870 of 906,096 
inhabitants. The motto of the state is 
"Liberty and Independence." 

1787. December. A steamboat 
was exhibited upon the Potomac by 
James Rumsey, who had experimented 
with steam for some months. A stream 
of water was pumped in at the bow of 
the boat, and expelled forcibly at the 
stern directly into the water of the river, 
thus pushing the boat ahead. Rumsey 
seems to have tried the same plan on a 
smaller scale the year before. A Dr. 
Allen, of England, was experimenting 
upon it also. Rumsey became involved 
in a controversy with John Fitch as to 
the priority of their respective exper- 
iments. He afterward went to England 
and was progressing quite well in his 



endeavors, when he died in the midst of 
them. 

1787. The first cotton-mill really 
built in New England, was started at 
Beverly, Mass. The machinery was so 
rude that in fifteen years the mill ceased 
to run because no one could be found to 
build improved machinery. The principal 
cloths made were corduroys and bed- 
tickings. 

1787. The first high pressure engine 
was made this year by Oliver Evans of 
Philadelphia. A steam land carriage 
was also conceived by Mr. Evans at this 
time. 

1787. The salt works at Syracuse, 
N. Y., began with the manufiicture of 
about ten bushels a day. These were 
the first springs worked by English peo- 
ple in America. 

1787. Stage-players were classed as 
" vagrants subject to arrest," by an act 
passed in South Carolina. 

1787. Robert Metlin, a Scotchman, 
died at Wakefield, Mass., at the age of 
115 years. He had been a baker in 
Portsmouth, N. H,, and used to walk to 
Boston, a distance of sixty miles, in a 
single day, for the purchase mg.nsT. 
of flour. This he did as late Mozart. 

as his eightieth year. When he had put 
his goods on board a coaster, he would 
walk home the next day. He was one 
of the well-known pedestrians of his 
time. 

1787. The oldest incorporated mis- 
sionary society in the United States was 
" the Society for propagating the Gospel 
among the Indians and others in North 
America." A few men of Boston and 
vicinity founded it. 

1787. A model for an iron bridge of 
four hundred feet span to be built across 
the Schuylkill, was exhibited by Thomas 



334 



RE VOL UTIONAR 1' S TR UGGLES. 



Paine, the author of the famous Revoki- 
tionary pamphlet, " Common Sense." 
He got his idea from the spider's web. 
But it was regarded as a hazardous exper- 
iment. A similar judgment was ex- 
pressed concerning a plan offered by a 
Mr, Weston, for an iron bridge upon 
stone piers. A covered wooden bridge 
was built, instead of either. Mr. Paine's 
idea was afterward experimented upon 
in France or England. 

1788. Jan, 2. Georgia was the fourth 
State to ratify the constitution. It has an 
area of 53,009 square miles, and a popu- 
lation in 1S70 of 184,109 persons. The 
motto of the State is " Wisdom, Justice, 
and Moderation." 

1788. Jan. 9. Connecticut was the 
fifth State to ratify the constitution. The 
area of the State comprises 4,674 square 
miles. The population numbered in 
1870, 537,454 persons. The motto of 
the State is " Qui transtulit sustinet." 
*' He who brought us over sustains us." 
It is known as the " Nutmeg State." 

1788. Jan. 22. Cyrus Griffin of 
Virginia, was elected president of the 
continental congress, to succeed Arthur 
St, Clair, 

1788. Feb. 7. Massachusetts was the 
sixth State to ratify the constitution. It 
has an area of 7,800 square miles, and a 
population in 1S70 of 1,457,351 persons. 
The motto of the State is " Ense petit 
placidam sub libertate quietem," " By 
the sword he seeks placid rest in liberty," 
Massachusetts is known through the 
country as the "Bay State." 

1788. April 7. Marietta, Ohio, at 
the mouth of the Muskingum River, 
was founded by a company of sixty per- 
sons, the greater part of whom were ex- 
soldiers and officers of the Revolution, 
who came from New Eng-land under 



Gen. Rufus Putnam. They left New 
England in 17S7, crossed the mountains, 
but encamped during the winter, and 
reached their destination in the spring. 
They were to occupy a grant of 2,000,- 
000 acres ceded to Sargent, Cutler, and 
company, the leaders of the enterprise. 
No regular settlement had yet been made 
in the State, though separate settlers had 
in some instances come in. The present 
settlers soon made arrangements for all 
the New England privileges, in the way 
of churches and schools. Improvements 
were vigorously begun. . 

1788. April 28. Maryland was the 
seventh State to ratify the constitution. 
It has an area of 11,124 square "liles, 
and a population in 1S70 of 780,894 
persons. The motto of the State is 
" Crescite et multiplicamini." " Increase 
and multiply." 

1788. May 23. South Carolina was 
the eighth State to ratify the constitution. 
It has 34,000 square miles, and a popula- 
tion in 1870 of 705,163 persons. Its 
motto is " Animis opibusque parati." 
" Ready in will and deed." It is known 
as the Palmetto State. 

1788. May. Messenger, a thorough- 
bred English horse, was imported into the 
United States and became the ancestor 
of many of the fast horses of the present 
century. He died at Oyster Bay, Long 
Island, in 1808. A volley of muskets 
was fired at his burial, because of his long 
popularity. 

1788. May. Impromptu Courts. 
The courts not having been set up yet 
under the ordinance for the government 
of the " Northwest Territory," the emi- 
grants were left open to violations of law. 
The emigrants in the Miami region, in 
order to protect themselves, met and or- 
ganized a court, appointed a judge, and 



1784-1799.] 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



335 



began to try the cases which came up, 
inflicting punishment if so decreed. The 
military officer interfered, and the United 
States court was set up in August. The 
self-acting code was therefore superseded. 

1788. June 21. New Hampshire 
was the ninth State to ratify the consti- 
tution, and thus made the proposed gov- 
ernment a fact. It has an area of 9,280 
square miles, and in 1870, 318,300 inhab- 
itants. New Hampshire is known as the 
" Granite State." 

1788. June 26. Virginia was the 
tenth State to ratify the constitution. It 
has an area of 38,352 square miles, and 
in 1870, 1,225,163 inhabitants. Its motto 
is " wSic semper tyrannis." " So always 
with tyrants," and it is known as the 
" Old Dominion." 

1788. June. John Ledyard, an Amer- 
ican traveler of repute in his day, left 
England upon an attempt to cross Africa 
m a westerly direction from Sennaar. He 
was, however, taken sick at Cairo, in 
Egypt, and died the following January. 
He had shown great perseverance and 
endurance in other undertakings. He 
sailed with Capt. Cook on his third voy- 
age round the world. He afterward 
crossed Northern Europe with the inten- 
sion of going overland to explore Beh- 
ring's Strait and the adjacent coast. He 
attempted to cross the Gulf of Bothnia 
on the ice, but came to open water, and 
only reached St. Petersburg after a long 
walk around the coast of the gulf. He 
had gone 1,400 miles in seven wrecks. 
He went into Siberia, but after long 
wanderings he was obliged to return to 
his friends and patrons in London. It 
being suggested that he go to the interior 
of Africa, the question was asked of him 
when he would be ready. "To-morrow 
morning," was the quick reply. Mr. 



Ledyard was born at Groton, Conn., in 
1 75 1, and entered Dartmouth College, 
but left before his term was completed. 
His life was one of constant wandering 
and adventure. 

1788. July 4. A great celebration 
was held at Philadelphia in honor of the 
newly adopted constitution. The trades 
and industi'ies were prominently repre- 
sented in procession. At Providence, R. 
I., an intended celebration of the same 
event, although the State had not yet 
joined the union, was prevented by a mob 
of a thousand men from the neighboring 
towns, who opposed the adoption of the 
new constitution. A great excitement 
came near bursting forth. 

1788. July 14. The question of 
carrying the new government into effect 
over the nine consenting States, was re- 
ferred by the continental congress to a 
committee. The time for the new con- 
gress to open its session was to be March 
4, 1789, and the place was to be New 
York. The choice of electors was to be 
on the first Wednesday in January, 
1 789, and the voting of the electors was 
to be on the first Wednesday in February, 
1789. The first steps in national gov- 
ernment were now to be taken. The 
country w^as to gradually make its way 
out of the condition of separation into 
one of consolidation and power. The 
wisdom of very earnest, prophetic minds 
was put into the constitution, which now 
took its place among the charters of the 
world. 

COMTITUTIOK OF THE UNITED STATES. 

We, the people of the United States, in order 
to form a more perfect union, establish justice, 
insure domestic tranquility, provide for the com- 
mon defense, promote the general welfare, and 
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and 
our posterity, do ordain and establish this Con- 
stitution for the United States of North 
America: 



336 



RE VOL UTIONAR T S TR UGGL ES. 



ARTICLE I. 

Section i. All legislative powers herein 
granted shail be vested in a Congress ot" the 
United States, which shall consist of a Senate 
and House of Representatives. 

Sec. 2. The House of Representatives shall 
be composed of members chosen every second 
year by the people of the several States, and the 
electors in each State shall have the qualifica- 
tions requisite for electors of the most numerous 
branch of the State legislature. 

No person shall be a representative who shall 
not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, 
and been seven years a citizen of the United 
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an 
inhabitant of that State in which he shall be 
chosen. 

Representatives and direct taxes shall be 
apportioned among the several States which 
may be included within this Union, according to 
their respective numbers, which shall be deter- 
mined by adding to the whole number of free 
persons, including those bound to service for a 
term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, 
three-fifths of all other persons. The actual 
enumeration shall be made within three 
years after the first meeting of the Congress 
of the United States, and within every 
subsequent term of ten years, in such man- 
ner as they shall by law direct. The num- 
ber of representatives shall not exceed one 
for every thirty thousand; but each State shall 
have at least one representative; and until such 
enumeration shall be made, the State of New 
Hampsliire shall be entitled to choose three, 
Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Provi- 
dence Plantations one, Connecticut five. New 
York six. New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, 
Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten. North 
Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia 
three. 

When vacancies happen in the representation 
from any State, the executive authority thereof 
shall issue writs of election to fill such 
vacancies. 

The House of Representatives shall choose 
their speaker and other officers; and shall have 
the sole power of impeachment. 

Sec. 3. The Senate of the United States 
shall be composed of two Senators from each 
State, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six 
years ; and each Senator shall have one vote. 

Immediatelv after they shall be asseinbled in 
consequence of the first election, they shall be 
divided, as equally as may be, into three classes. 
The seats of the Senators of the first class shall 
be vacated at the expiration of the second year, 
of the second class at the expiration of the 
fourth year, and of the third class at the expira- 
tion of the sixth year, so that one-third may 
be chosen every second year; and if vacancies 
happen, by resignation or otherwise, during the 
recess of the legislature of any State, the exec- 
utive thereof may make temporary appoint- 
ments until the next meeting of the legislature, 
which shall then fill such vacancies. 



No person shall be a senator who shall not 
have attained the age of thirty years, and been 
nine years a citizen of the United States, and 
who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of 
that State for which he shall be chosen. 

The Vice-President of the United States shall 
be president of the Senate, but shall have no 
vote, unless they be equally divided. 

The Senate shall choose their other officers, 
and also a president pro tempore, in the absence 
of the Vice-President, or when he shall exercise 
the office as President of the United States. 

The Senate shall have the sole power to try 
all impeachments. When sitting for that pur- 
pose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. 
When the President of the United States is 
tried, the chief-justice shall preside; and no per- 
son shall be convicted without the concurrence 
of two-thirds of the members present. 

Judgment, in cases of impeachment, shall not 
extend further than to removal from office, and 
disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of 
honor, trust or profit, under the United States; 
but the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be 
liable and subject to indictinent, trial, judgment, 
and punishment, according to law. 

Sec. 4. The times, places, and manner of 
holding elections for senators and representa- 
tives, shall be prescribed in each State by the 
legislature thereof; but the Congress may, at 
any time, by law, make or alter such regulations, 
except as to the places of choosing senators. 

The Congress shall assemble at least once in 
every year; and such meeting shall be on the 
first Monday in December, unless they shall by 
law appoint a difierent day. 

Sec. 5. Each house shall be the judge of the 
elections, returns, and qualifications of its own 
members ; and a majority of each shall consti- 
tute a quorum to do business; but a sinaller 
number may adjourn from day to day, and be 
authorized to compel the attendance of absent 
members, in such manner and under such pen- 
alties as each house may provide. 

Each house may determine the rules of its 
proceedings, punish its members for disorderly- 
behavior, and, with the concurrence of two- 
thirds, expel a member. 

Each house shall keep a journal of its pro- 
ceedings, and from time to time publish the same, 
excepting such parts as may in their judgment 
require secrecv; and the yeas and nays of the 
members of either house, on any question, shall, 
at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be 
entered on tlie journal. 

Neither house, during the session of Con- 
gress, shall, without the consent of the other, 
adjourn for more than three days, nor to any 
other ]ilace than that in which the two houses 
shall be sitting. 

Sec. 6. The senators and representatives 
shall receive a compensation for their services, 
to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the 
treasury of the United States. They shall, in 
all cases except treason, felony, and breach of 
the peace, be privileged from arrest during their 
attendance on the session of their respective 



1784-1799.] 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



337 



houses, and in going to and returning from the 
same; and, for any speech or debate in either 
house, they shall not be questioned in any other 
place. 

No senator or representative shall, during the 
time for which he was elected, be a])pointed to 
any civil office under the authority of the 
United States which shall have been created, or 
the emoluments whereof shall have been in- 
creased, during such time; and no person hold- 
ing any office under the United States, shall be 
a member of either house during his continu- 
ance in office. 

Sec. 7. All bills for raising revenue shall 
originate in the House of Representatives; but 
the Senate may propose or concur with amend- 
ments, as on other bills. 

Every bill which shall have passed the House 
of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before 
it become a law, be presented to the President 
of the United States; if he appi-ove he shall 
sign it, but if not he shall return it with his ob- 
jections, to that house in which it shall have 
originated, who shall enter the objections at 
large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider 
it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of 
that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be 
sent, together with the objections, to the other 
house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, 
and, if approved by two-thirds of that house, it 
shall become a law. But, in all such cases, the 
votes of both houses shall be determined by 
yeas and nays; and the names of the persons 
voting for and against the bill shall be entered 
on the journal of each house, respectively. If 
any bill shall not be returned by the President 
within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it 
shall have been presented to him, the same shall 
be a law, in like manner as if he had signed 
it, unless the Congress by its adjournment 
prevent its return, in which case it shall not be 
a law. 

Every order, resolution or vote, to which the 
concurrence of the Senate and House of Rep- 
resentatives may be necessary (except on a 
question of adjournment), shall be presented to 
the President of the United States; and, before 
the same shall take effect, shall be approved by 
him, or, being disapproved by him, shall be re- 
passed by two-thirds of the "Senate and House 
of Representatives, according to the rules and 
limitations prescribed in the case of a bill. 

Sec. 8. The Congress shall have power: — 

To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and 
excises, to pay the debts, and provide for com- 
mon defense and general welfare, of the United 
States; but all duties, imposts, and excises, shall 
be uniform throughout the United States. 

To borrow money on the credit of the United 
States. 

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, 
and among the several States, and with the 
Indian tribes: 

To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, 
and uniform laws on the subject of bankrupt- 
cies throughout the United States: 

To coin money, regulate the value thereof. 



and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of 
weights and measures: 

To provide for the punishment of counter- 
feiting the securities and current coin of the 
United States: 

To establish post-offices and post-roads: 

To promote the progress of science and the 
useful arts, by securing for limited times, to 
authors and inventors, the exclusive right to 
their respective writings and discoveries: 

To constitute tribunals inferior to the Su- 
preme Court: 

To define and punish piracies and felonies 
committed on the high seas, and offenses against 
the law of nations : 

To declare war, grant letters of marque and 
reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on 
land and water: 

To raise and support armies; but no appropri- 
ation of money to that use shall be for a longer 
term than two years : 

To provide and maintain a navy: 

To make rules for the government and regu- 
lation of the land and naval forces: 

To provide for calling forth the militia to exe- 
cute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrec- 
tions and repel invasions: 

To provide for organizing, arming, and dis- 
ciplining the militia, and for governing such 
part of them as may be employed in the service 
of the United States, reserving to the States 
respectively, the appointment of the officers, 
and the authority of training the militia accord- 
ing to the discipline prescribed by Congress: 

To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases 
whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding 
ten miles square) as may, by cession of particu- 
lar States, and the acceptance of Congress, be- 
come the seat of government of the United 
States; and to exercise like authority over all 
places purchased by the consent of the legisla- 
ture of the State in which the same shall be, for 
the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock- 
yards, and other needful buildings: — And 

To make all laws which shall be necessary 
and proper for carrying into execution the fore- 
going" powers, and all other powers vested by 
this Constitution in the government of the 
United States, or in any departmient or officer 
thereof. 

Sec. 9. The migration or importation of such 
persons, as any of the States now existing shall 
think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by 
the Congress prior to the year one thousand 
eight hundred and eight; but a tax or duty may 
be imposed on such importation, not exceeding 
ten dollars for each person. 

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus 
shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of 
rebellion or invasion, the public safety may 
require it. 

No bill of attainder of ex post facto law, shall 
be passed. 

No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, 
unless in proportion to the census, or enumera- 
tion, hereinbefore directed to be taken. 

No tax or duty shall be laid on articles ex- 

23 



338 



RE VOL UTIONAR T STR UGGL ES. 



ported from any State. No preference shall be 
given by any regulation of commerce or reve- 
nue to the ports of one State over those of 
another; nor shall vessels bound to or from one 
State be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in 
another. 

No money shall be drawn from the treasury 
but in consequence of appropriations made by 
law; and a regular statement and account of the 
receipts and expenditures of all public money 
shall be published from time to time. 

No title of nobilitj' shall be granted by the 
United States; and no person holding any office 
of profit or trust under them shall, without the 
consent of Congress, accept of any present, 
emolument, office, or title of any kind whatever, 
from any king, prince, or foreign state. 

Sec. id. No State shall enter into any treaty, 
alliance, or confederation ; grant letters of marque 
or reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; 
make anything but gold and silver coin a tender 
in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, 
ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation 
of contracts ; or grant any title of nobility. 

No State shall, without the consent of the 
Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports 
or exports, except what may be absolutely nec- 
essary for executing its inspection laws; and the 
net produce of all duties and imposts laid by 
any State on imports or exports, shall be for the 
use of the treasury of the United States; and 
all such laws shall be subject to the revision and 
control of the Congress. No State shall, with- 
out the consent of Congress, lay any duty of 
tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of 
peace, enter into anv agreement or compact with 
another State, or with a foreign power, or engage 
in war, unless actually invaded, or in such im- 
minent danger as will not admit of delay. 

ARTICLE II. 

Skction I. The executive power shall be 
vested in a President of the United States of 
America. He shall hold his office during the 
term of four years, and together with the Vice- 
President, chosen for the same term, be elected 
as follows : — 

Each State shall appoint, in such manner as 
the legislature thereof may direct, a number of 
electors equal to the whole number of senators 
and representatives to which the State niay be 
entitled in the Congress ; but no senator or rep- 
resentative, or person holding any office of trust 
or profit under the United States, shall be ap- 
pointed an elector. 

The electors shall meet in their respective 
States, and vote by ballot for two persons, of 
whom one, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of 
the same State with themselves. And they 
shall make a list of all the persons voted for, 
and of all the votes for each ; w^hich list they shall 
sign and certif\', and transmit sealed to the seat 
of the government of the United States, directed 
to the president of the Senate. The president 
of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Sen- 
ate and House of Representatives, open all the 



certificates ; and the votes shall then be counted. 
The person having the greatest number of votes 
shall be the President, if such number be a ma- 
jority of the whole number of electors appointed; 
and if there be more than one who has such 
majority, and have an equal number of votes, 
then the House of Representatives shall imme- 
diately choose, by ballot, one of them for Presi- 
dent; and if no person have a majority, then, 
from the five highest on the list, the said house 
shall, in like manner, choose the President. 
But in choosing the President, the votes shall 
be taken by States ; the representation from each 
State having one vote; a quorum for this pur- 
pose shall consist of a inember or members 
from two-thirds of the States; and a majority of 
all the States shall be necessary to a choice. In 
every case, after the choice of the President, the 
person having the greatest number of votes of 
the electors, shall be Vice-President. But, if 
there should remain two or more who have 
equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them, 
by ballot, the Vice-President. 

The Congress may determine the time of 
choosing the electors, and the day on which they 
shall give their votes; which day shall be the 
same throughout the United States. 

No person, except a natural born citizen or 
a citizen of the United States at the time of the 
adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to 
the office of President; neither shall any per- 
son be eligible to that office who shall not have 
attained to the age of thirty-five years, and 
been fourteen years a resident within the United 
States. 

In case of the removal of the President from 
office, or of his death, resignation, or inability 
to discharge the powers or duties of the said 
office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-Pres- 
ident; and the Congress may by law, provide 
for the case of removal, death, resignation or in- 
ability, bodi of the President and Vice-Presi- 
dent, declaring what officer shall then act as 
President; and such officer shall act accordingly, 
until the disability be removed, or a President 
shall be elected. 

The President shall, at stated times, receive 
for his services a compensation, which shall 
neither be increased or diminished during the 
period for which he shall have been elected; and 
he shall not receive within that period any other 
emolument from the United States, or any of 
them. 

Before he enter on the execution of his office, 
he shall take the following oatli or affirmation : — 

" I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will 
faithfully execute the office of President of the 
United States, and will, to the best of my abil- 
ity, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitu- 
tion of the United States." 

Sec. 2. The President shall be commander- 
in-chief of the army and navy of the United 
States, and of the militia of the several States, 
when called into the actual service of the United 
States ; he may require the opinion, in writing, 
of the principal officer in each of the executive 
departments, upon any subject relating to the 



1784-1799.] 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



339 



duties of their respective offices, and he shall 
have power to grant reprieves and pardons for 
oftences against the United States, except in 
cases of impeachment. 

He shall have power, by and with the advice 
and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, 
provided two- thirds of the senators present con- 
cur; and he shall nominate, and bj and with the 
advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint 
ambassadors, other public ministers, and con- 
suls, judges of the' Supreme Court, and all 
other officers of the United States, whose ap- 
pointments are not herein otherwise provided 
for, and which shall be established by law; but 
the Congress may, by law, vest the appointment 
■of such inferior officers as they think proper, in 
the President alone, in the courts of law, or in 
the heads of departments. 

The President shall liave power to fill up all 
vacancies that may happen during the recess of 
the Senate, by granting commissions, which 
shall expire at the end of their next session. 

Sec. 3. He shall, from time to time, give to 
the Congress information of the state of the 
Union, and recommend to their consideration 
such measures as he shall judge necessary and 
expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, 
convene both houses, or either of them, and, in 
case of disagreement bettveen them with respect 
to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn 
them to such time as he shall think proper; he 
shall receive ambassadors and other public min- 
isters; he shall take care that the laws be faith- 
fully executed; and shall commission all the 
■officers of the United States. 

Sec. 4. The President, Vice-President and all 
civil officers of the United States, shall be re- 
moved from office on impeachment for and con- 
viction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes 
and misdemeanors. 

ARTICLE III. 

Section i. The judicial power of the United 
States shall be vested in a Supreme Court, and 
in such inferior courts as the Congress may 
from time to time ordain and establish. The 
judges, both of the supreme and inferior comls, 
shall hold their offices during good behavior; and 
shall, at stated times, receive for their services a 
compensation, which shall not be diminished 
during their continuance in office. 

Sec. 2. The judicial power shall extend to all 
cases, in law and equity, arising under this Con- 
stitution, the laws of the United States, and 
treaties made, or which shall be made, under 
their authority; to all cases affecting ambassa- 
dors, other public ininisters and consuls; to all 
cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; 
to controversies to which the United States shall 
be a party ; to controversies between two or 
more States, between a State and citizens of 
another State, between citizens of different 
States, between citizens of the same State 
claiming lands under grants of different States, 
and between a State, or the citizens thereof, and 
foreign States, citizens, or subjects. 



In all cases affecting ambassadors, other pub- 
lic ministers and consuls, and those in which a 
State shall be a party, the Supreme Court shall 
have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases 
before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have 
appellate jurisdiction both as to law and fact, 
with such exceptions, and under such regulations 
as the Congress shall make. 

The trial of all crimes, except in cases of im- 
peachment, shall be by jury ; and such trial shall 
be held in the State where the said crimes 
shall have been committed; but, when not 
committed within any State, the trial shall be at 
such place or places as the Congress may by 
law have directed. 

Sec. 3. Treason against the United States 
shall consist only in levying war against them, 
or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid 
and comfort. No person shall be convicted of 
treason unless on the testimony of two wit- 
nesses to the same overt act, or on confession in 
open court. 

The Congress shall have power to declare the 
punishment of treason, but no attainder of trea- 
son shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture, 
except during the lite of the person attainted. 

ARTICLE IV. 

Section 1. Full faith and credit shall be 
given in each State to the public acts, records, 
and judicial proceedings of every other State. 
And the Congress may, by general laws, pre- 
scribe the manner in which such acts, records, 
and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect 
thereof. 

Sec. 2. The citizens of each State shall be 
entitled to all privileges and immunities of citi- 
zens in the several States. 

A person charged in any State with treason, 
felony, or other crime, who shall flee from jus- 
tice, and be found in another State, shall, on the 
demand of the executive authority of the State 
from which he fled, be delivered up, to be re- 
moved to the State having jurisdiction of the 
crime. 

No person held to service or labor in one 
State under the laws thereof, escaping into 
another, shall, in consequence of any law or 
regulation therein, be discharged from such ser- 
vice or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim 
of the party to whom such service or labor may 
be due. 

Sec. 3. New States may be admitted by 
Congress into this Union; but no new State 
shall be formed or erected within the jurisdic- 
tion of any other State ; nor an}' State be formed 
by the junction of two or more States or parts 
of States, w ithout the consent of the legislature of 
the States concerned, as well as of the Congress. 

The Congress shall have power to dispose of 
and make all needful rules and regulations re- 
specting the territory or other property be- 
longing to the United States; and nothing in 
this Constitution shall be so construed as to 
prejudice any claims of the United States, or of 
any particular State. 



340 



RE VOL UTIONAR T S TR UGGLES. 



Sec. 4. The United States shall guarantee 
to every State in this Union a republican form 
of government, and shall protect each of them 
against invasion ; and on application of the leg- 
islature, or of the executive (when the legislature 
cannot be convened), against domestic violence. 

ARTICLE V. 

The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both 
houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose 
amendments to this Constitution, or, on the appli- 
cation of the legislatures of two-thirds of the 
several States, shall call a convention for propos- 
ing amendments, which, in either case, shall be 
valid, to all intents and purposes, as part of this 
Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of 
three-fourths of the several States, or by conven- 
tions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the 
other mode of ratification mav be proposed by the 
Congress; Provided, that no amendment which 
may be made prior to the year one thousand 
eight himdred and eight, shall in any manner 
affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth 
section of the first article; and that no State, 
without its consent, shall be deprived of its 
equal suffrage in the Senate. 

ARTICLE VI. 

All debts contracted and engagements en- 
tered into, before the adoption of this Constitu- 
tion, shall be as valid against the United States 
under this Constitution, as under the Confed- 
eration. 

This Constitution, and the laws of the United 
States, which shall be made in pursuance 
thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be 
made, under the authority of the United States, 
shall be the supreme law of the land; and the 
judges in every State shall be bound thereby, 
anything in the Constitution or laws of any 
State to the conti^ary notwithstanding. 

The senators and representatives before men- 
tioned, and the members of the several State 
legislatures, and all executive and judicial 
officers, both of the United States and of the 
several States, shall be bound by oath or affirma- 
tion to support this Constitution ; but no reli- 
gious test shall ever be required as a qualifica- 
tion to any office or public trust under the 
United States. 

ARTICLE VII. 

The ratification of the conventions of nine 
States shall be sufficient for the establishment 
of this Constitution between the States so rati- 
fying the same. 

Done in convention by the unanimous con- 
sent of the States present, the seventeenth day 
of September, in the year of our Lord, one 
thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and 
of the Independence of the United States of 
America, the twelfth. In witness whereof, we 
have hereunto subscribed our names: 

GEORGE WASHINGTON, 
President, and 
Dei>uty from Virgini.\. 



New Hampshire.— John Langdon, Nicholas 
Gilman. 

Massachusetts. — Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus 
King. 

Connecticut. — William Samuel Johnson, 
Roger Sherman. 

New York. — Alexander Hamilton. 

New Jersey. — William Livingston, David 
Bearly, William Patterson, Jonathan Dayton. 

Pennsylvania. — Benjamin Franklin, Thom- 
as Mifflin, Robert Morris, George Clymer, 
Thomas Fitzsimmons, Jared Ingersoll, James 
Wilson, Gouverneur Morris. 

Delaware. — George Read, Gunning Bed- 
ford, Jr., John Dickinson, Richard Bassett, 
Jacob Broom. 

Maryland. — James McHenry, Daniel of 
St. Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll. 

Virginia. — ^John Blair, James Madison, Jr. 

North CAROLiNA.^William Blount, Rich- 
ard Dobbs Spaight, Hugh Williamson. 

South Carolina. — ^John Rutledge, Charles 
Cotesworth Pincknev, Charles Pinckney, Pierce 
Butler. 

Georgia. — William Few, Abraham Baldwin. 

[attest.] William Jackson, 

Secretary. 

amEjYdmexts to the coxstitutio.y* 

ARTICLE I. 

Congress shall make no law Respecting an es- 
tablishment of religion, or prohibiting the free 
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of 
speech, or of the press; or the right of the peo- 
ple peaceably to assemble, and to petition the 
government for a redress of grievances. 

ARTICLE II. 

A well-regulated militia being necessary to the 
security of a free State, the right of the people 
to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. 

ARTICLE III. 

No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered 
in any house without the consent of the owner; 
nor in time of war, but in a manner prescribed 
by law. 

ARTICLE IV. 

The right of the people to be secure in their 
persons, houses, paper, and effects, against un- 
reasonable searches and seizures, shall not be 
violated ; and no warrants shall issue but upon 
probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, 
and particularly describing the place to be 
searched, and the person or things to be seized. 

ARTICLE V. 

No person shall be held to answer for a capi- 
tal or otherwise intamous crime, unless on a 
presentment or indictment of a grand jury, ex- 
cept in cases arising in the land or naval forces, 

* The first ten amendments were declared in force De- 
cember ijlh, 1791. 



1784^1799.] 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



341 



or in the militia wlien in actual service, in time 
of war or public danger; nor shall any person 
be subject, for the same oftence, to be twice put 
in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be com- 
pelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness 
against himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty, 
or property, without due process of law; nor 
shall pri\'ate property be taken for public use, 
without just compensation. 

ARTICLE VI. 

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall 
•enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by 
an impartial jury of the State and district where- 
in the crime shall have been committed, which 
district shall have been previously ascertained 
by. law; and to be informed of the nature and 
cause of the accusation; to be confronted with 
the witnesses against hiin; to have compulsory 
process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and 
to have the assistance of counsel for his defense. 

ARTICLE VIL 

In suits at common law, where the value in 
controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the 
right of trial by jury shall be preserved; and no 
fact, tried by a jurv, shall be otherwise re-exam- 
ined in any court of the United States, than ac- 
cording to the rules of the common law. 

ARTICLE VIII. 

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor ex- 
cessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual 
punishments inflicted. 

ARTICLE IX. 

The enumeration in the Constitution of cer- 
tain rights, shall not be construed to deny or 
disparage others retained by the people. 

ARTICLE X. 

The powers not delegated to the United States 
by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the 
States, are reserved to the States respectively, 
or to the people. 

ARTICLE XL* 

The judicial power of the United States shall 
not be construed to extend to any suit in law or 
■equity, commenced or prosecuted against one 
of the United States by citizens of another 
State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign 
State. 

ARTICLE Xll.f 

The electors shall meet in their respective 
States and vote by ballot for President and Vice- 
President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an 
inhabitant of the same State with themselves; 
they shall name in their ballots the person voted 
for as President, and in distinct ballots the per- 
son voted for as Vice President; and they shall 

* Declared in force Jan. 8, 179S. 
+ Declared in force Sept. 25, 1S04. 



make distinct lists of all persons voted for as 
President, and of all persons voted for as Vice- 
President, and of the number of votes foi each, 
which lists they shall sign and certify, and 
transmit sealed to the seat of the government of 
the United States, directed to the President of 
the Senate; the president of the Senate shall, in 
the presence of the Senate and House ol Rep- 
resentatives, open all the certificates, and the 
votes shall then be counted ; the person having 
the greatest number of votes for President shall 
be the President, if such number be a majority 
of the whole number of electors appointed ; and 
if no person have such majority, then from the 
persons having the highest numbers, not ex- 
ceeding three on the list of those voted for as 
President, the House of Representatives shall 
choose immediately by ballot, the President. 
But in choosing the President, the vote s-hall be 
taken by States, the representation from each 
State ha\ing one vote; a quorum for this pur- 
pose shall consist of a member or members 
from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of 
all the States shall be necessary to a choice. 
And if the House of Representatives shall not 
choose a President, whenever the right of 
choice shall devolve upon them, before the 
fourth day of March next following, then the 
Vice-President shall act as President, as in the 
case of the death or other constitutional disa- 
bility of the President. 

The person having the greatest number of 
votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-Presi- 
dent, if such number be a majority of the whole 
number of electors appointed; and if no person 
have a majority, then from the two highest 
numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the 
Vice-President; a quorum for this purpose shall 
consist of two-thirds of the whole number of 
senators, and a majority of the whole number 
shall be necessary to a choice. 

But no person constitutionally ineligible to 
the office of President, shall be eligible to that 
of Vice-President of the United States. 

ARTICLE XIII.* 

Section i. Neither slavery nor involuntary 
servitude, except as a punishment for crime, 
whereof the party shall have been duly con- 
victed, shall exist within the United States, or 
any place subject to their jurisdiction. 

Sec. 2. Congress shall have power to en- 
force this article by appropriate legislation. 

ARTICLE XlV.f 

Section i. All persons born or naturalized 
in the United States, and subject to the jurisdic- 
tion thereof, are citizens of the United States, 
and of the State wherein they reside. No State 
shall make or enforce any law which shall 
abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens 
of the United States; nor shall any State de- 
prive any person of life, liberty, or property, 

* Declared in force Dec. 18, 1S65. 
t Declared in force July 28, 1S6S. 



342 



REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLES. 



without due process of law, nor deny to any 
person within its jurisdiction the equal protec- 
tion of the laws. 

Sec. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned 
among the several States, according to their 
respective numbers, counting the whole number 
of persons in each State, excluding Indians not 
taxed. But Avhen the right to vote at any elec- 
tion for choice of electors for President and 
Vice-President of the United States, represen- 
tatives in Congress, the executive and judicial 
officers of a State, or the members of the legis- 
lature thereof, is denied to the male inhabitants 
of such State, being twenty one years of age, 
and citizens of the United States, or in any way 
abridged, except tor participation in rebellion or 
other crime, the basis of representation therein 
shall be reduced in the proportion which the 
number of such male citizens shall bear to the 
whole number of male citizens twenty-one years 
of age in such State. 

Sec. 3. No person shall be a senator, or rep- 
resentative in Congress, or elector of President 
and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or 
military, under the United States, or under any 
State, who, having previously taken an oath as a 
member of Congress, or as an officer of the 
United States, or as a member of any State leg- 
islature, or an executive or judicial officer of any 
State, to support the Constitution of the United 
States, shall have engaged in insurrection or re- 
bellion against the same, or given aid or comfort 
to the enemies thereof; but Congress may, by a 
vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such 
disability. 

Sec. 4. The validity of the public debt of 
the United States authorized by law, including 
debts incurred lor payment of pensions, and 
bounties for services in suppressing insurrection 
or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither 
the United States, nor any State, shall assume 
or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of' 
insurrection or rebellion against the United 
Slates, or any claim for the loss or emancipation 
of any slave; but all such debts, obligations, 
and claims, shall be held illegal and void. 

Sec. ^. The Congress shall have power to 
enforce by appropriate legislation, the provisions 
of this Article. 

ARTICLE XV.* 

Section i. The right of citizens of the 
United States to vote shall not be denied or 
abridged by the United States, or by any State, on 
account of race, color, or previous condition of 
servitude. 

Sec. 2. The Congress shall have power to 
enforce this Article by appropriate legislation. 



1788. July 26. New York was the 
eleventh State to ratify the constitution. 
It has an area of 47,000 square miles, 
and a popuhition in 1S70 of 4,374,499 

* Declared in force March 30, 1S70. 



jDersons. Its motto is Excelsior, and it is 
known as the " Empire State." 

1788. July 27. A mob attacked the 
office of" Greenfield's Political Register," 
a newspaper in New York which opposed 
the constitution. 

1788. Dec. 22. The county of 
Washington, containing sixty-four square 
miles, was ceded by Maryland to the 
United States, to become part of the 
capital. 

1788. Dec. 24. Queen City of the 
West. The first settlers arrived upon 
the present site of Cincinnati, which had 
been bought by Matthias Denman, of 
Springfield, N. J., at the rate of fifteen 
pence an acre in specie. The payment 
was in continental currency at the rate of 
five shillings an acre. The next year 
the city was surveyed and laid out in lots, 
even then giving promise of what it has 
since become. 

1788. A law prohibiting the slave 
trade, was passed in Massachusetts. The 
kidnapping of three colored persons in 
Boston, and the selling of them in the 
West Indies, led to this act. Connecticut 
and Pennsylvania soon passed similar 
laws. 

1788. The abolition of slavery was 
advised in a pastoral letter sent out by 
the Presbyterian church in New York 
and Philadelphia. The Methodist church 
soon disqualified slave-holders from being 
communicants, but the law efl^ecting it 
was soon repealed. 

1788. Mining for lead was attempted 
in Iowa by Julien Dubuque, a French- 
Canadian who settled upon the site of the 
town which has since taken his name. 

1788. The Doctors' Mob. Several 
physicians of New York city were found 
to have robbed the graveyards, in order 
to obtain bodies for dissection. So great 



1784-1799.] 

did the popular excitement become, that 
they were lodged in prison to protect 
them from the fury of the people. An 
assault on the prison was at one time 
attempted, but was successfully resisted. 
Some of the physicians had already fled 
the city. 

1788. The first native American 
dentist was John Greenwood, of New 
York. The profession was introduced 
into the United States a few years before 
by Le Mair, a Frenchman, who was 
connected with the forces which had 
joined the American army during the 
Revolution. An Englishman named 
Whitlock also began business after Le 
Mair. Mr. Greenwood made a complete 
set of teeth carved from ivory, for Gen. 
Washington. They were called very 
fine work. The profession increased 
slowly for years. In 1820 there were 
not more than one hundred dentists in the 
United States. 

1788. The Federalist. In defending 
the new constitution and explaining it 
for the people, a series of papers was 
prepared by Hamilton, Jay and Mad- 
ison, and issued over the signature Publius. 
They have since been published as a 
volume with the above title, and consti- 
tute one of the most valuable of all pub- 
lications relating to the American gov- 
ernment. 

1788. A cotton company was or- 
ganized by Brown and Ahny, of Prov- 
idence, R. I., and a small factory was 
started, but for a number of 3'ears they 
worked under many disadvantages. 

1788. A steamboat was built by 
Fitch, and provided with the machinery 
he had used the year before. It made a 
few trips from Burlington to Philadel- 
phia and back, at the rate of four miles 
an hour. 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



343 



FIRST PRESIBEjYTML C±MPAIGK. 

1789. January. All thoughts turned 
toward George Washington as the desire 
of the nation for its first president. The 
electors were chosen this month by the 
legislatures of the several States. 

1789. February. The electoral col- 
lege met and chose George Washington 
president, and John Adams vice-president, 
of the United States. According to the 
first provisions of the constitution, no 
votes were cast for president and vice- 
president distinctively, but each elector 
voted for two persons, and in the final 
count the person who had received the 
highest vote of all was pronounced pres- 
ident, and the one who had received the 
next highest vote, vice-president. In the 
present election ten States only voted, 
as New York had not yet any law which 
provided for the choice of electors, and 
two States of the old thirteen. North 
Carolina and Rhode Island, had not yet 
ratified the new constitution. Each 
elector cast one vote for George Wash- 
ington, giving him 69 in all, a unanimous 
election as president. Of the other votes 
of the electors John Adams received 34, 
the next highest number, and was elected 
vice-president. The remaining 35 votes 
were cast for John Jay, John Hancock, 
and others. 

ETH±Y ALLEjY. 

1789. Feb. 13. Ethan Allen, the 
Green Mountain champion of liberty, 
died Feb. 1 3, 1 789, at the age of 60 years. 
He was born in Connecticut, and at an 
early age re'moved to the " Plampshire 
Grants," now Vermont. At a later 
period he took an active part in the polit- 
ical strife between that section and New 
York, which laid claim to the Territory 
of the " grants." When the noise of 
Lexington and Concord swept across 



344 



REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLES. 



the country, Ethan Allen was among the 
first to answer the summons. His first 
effort was at Ticonderoga and Crown 
Point, and is the one for which he is re- 
membered most popularly. The sleepy 
British commander was surprised to see 
this energetic Vermonter at his door so 
early in the morning, but gave up the 
garrison at the peremptory demand. It 
was an auspicious opening for the patriot 
cause in that region, through which 
there was afterward to be such an at- 
tempt to invade the States. Allen was 
afterward ordered to assist Montgomery 
in an invasion of Canada, and in an at- 
tack upon Montreal was captured, and 
taken to England. When he arrived 
there a great crowd gathered to see this 
rustic with worsted stockings, a deer-skin 
coat, and a red worsted cap. During a 
somewhat prolonged stay in England he 
was offered a tract of land in the Eng- 
lish American colonies, if he would be- 
come a British officer. To this he re- 
plied: "That reminds me of Satan's 
offer to Jesus Christ of all the kingdoms 
in the world if he would fall down and 
worship him, when at the same time the 
poor devil had not a foot of land on 
the earth." He was afterward shipped 
to Halifax, and, having suffered a dreary 
and injurious imprisonment, he v\^as ex- 
changed in 177S for Campbell. He was 
promoted to brigadier-general, and sta- 
tioned at the North, but did no military 
service, as the war was thereafter at the 
South. Ethan Allen deserves more 
credit for his suffering than for his mil- 
itary career, \vhich was brief, but I'oman- 
tic. He was a self-made American 
soldier. 

1789. March 4. The new govern- 
ment of the United States was to have 



gone into operation at this time, but 
there was not a sufficient number of 
members of congress who arrived at New 
York to form a quorum. 

1789. April 6. The new congress 
at last opened its session, the continental 
congress having ceased to exist. Fred- 
erick A. Muhlenburg, of New York, 
was chosen speaker. The electoral votes 
were counted, and the result alfirmed. 

1789. April. The first petition pre- 
sented to congress was from the mechan- 
ics and tradesmen of Baltimore, who 
called attention to the de- ,„,„ _. 

n89. Rise of 

cline in manufactures and French Revoiu- 
trade, and asked that the "'""■ 
government make them " independent in 
fact, as well as in name," by imposing 
duties on foreign articles, which would 
create a demand for home labor. This 
was followed by memorials from nearly 
all the principal cities. 

1789. April 30. George Washing- 
ton, " The Father of his Country," was 
inaugurated president of the United 
States in Federal Hall, New York. The 
oath of office was administered by Rob- 
ert R. Livingston. On the way from 
his home at Mt. Vernon, he had passed 
through a succession of ovations, and 
was everywliere received with acclama- 
tions. John Adams had already taken 
his place as presiding officer of the 
senate. The day of inauguration was a 
day of great jubilee. 

1789. May 12. The Tammany So- 
ciety was organized in New York for 
charitable purposes only. An Irishman, 
named William Mooney, was the leader 
in its formation. The society took its 
name from a recent Delaware chief of 
great age and virtue, who was made 
patron saint of the order. The society 
was organized in imitation of the Jacobin 



1784-1799.] 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



345 



Clubs of Paris, then recently established. 
In the course of years it has become 
identified with the Democratic party, and 
ver}' lately w^ith a peculiar section of the 
party, having been made an engine of 
political effort. William M. Tweed's 
connection with it somewhat discredited 
the club, but it has since been put upon a 
firmer basis, and is still flourishing. The 
titles of sachems, sagamores,warriors, are 
applied to the officers and membei-s. 

1789. June. The professional train- 
ing of school teachers was first publicly 
suggested in the Massachusetts Magazine, 
by Elisha Ticknor. 

1789. July 4. First Revenue Bill. 
A bill which congress had been discussing 
since April, and which laid duties upon 
a list of imported articles " for the en- 
couragement and protection of manufac- 
tures," was signed by the president, and 
became a law. There were many dif- 
ferent ideas as to what articles should be 
taxed. The basis of this bill has been 
called the Protective System, and has 
been followed by the government till the 
present time, with a variation in the 
amount of duties laid. It has sometimes 
been called the American system. 

1789. July 27. The Department of 
State in the United States government 
was oi-ganized under the name of the 
Department of Foreign Affairs. Thomas 
Jefferson was appointed first sccretarv. 

1789. Aug. 7. The Department of 
War in the United States government 
was established by act of congress, and 
Gen. Henry Knox, of Massachusetts, 
was appointed first secretary. He had 
previously held the same office under the 
Confederation. The department covered 
the army, the navy, and Indian affairs. 

1789. Sept. 2. The Department of 
the Treasury in the United States gov- 



ernment was established by act of congress. 
Alexander Hamilton was appointed 
secretary. 

1789. Sept. 22. The Postoffice De-' 
partment of the United States was 
created by act of congress. Samuel Os- 
good, of Massachusetts, was the first 
postmaster-general. The head of the 
department was not a member of the 
presidential cabinet till 1S29. 

1789. Sept. 24. The judicial system 
of the United States was established by 
congress, who appointed John Jay chief- 
justice, and Edmund Randolph, attorney- 
general. 

1789. The first presidential cabinet 
was now complete, and was composed of 
Alexander Hamilton, of New York, a 
Federalist, Secretary of the Treasury; 
Gen. Henry Knox, of Massachusetts, a 
Federalist, Secretary of War; Thomas 
Jefferson, of Virginia, an Anti-Federalist, 
Secretar}' of State. 

1789. Nov. 8. A tour through 
New England was made by the presi- 
dent of the United States, in his own 
carriage. He was nine days in riding 
from New York to Boston, and was 
everywhere received with great attention 
and enthusiasm, especially by the veterans 
of the Revolution. 

1789. Nov. 21. North Carolina 
was the twelfth State to ratify the new 
constitution. It was the northern por- 
tion of the great tract known as Carolina, 
and has an area of 50,704 square miles, 
with a population in 1870 of 1,871,361 
persons. It is sometimes known as the 
Old North State, or Turpentine State. 

1789. Dec. 3. The county of Al- 
exandria, containing thirty-six square 
miles, was ceded by the State of Virginia 
to the United States, to become part of 
the capital. 



346 

1789. First Roman Catholic Bishop. 

John Carroll, who in 17S6 had been ap- 
pointed vicar-general of the Roman 
Catholic church for the United States, 
was this year appointed bishop, under the 
title of Bishop of Baltimore. This was 
the foundation of the organization of the 
Roman Catholic church in the United 
States. Mr. Carroll was consecrated in 
England. 

1789. Georgetown College, the first 
Roman Catholic college erected in the 
United States, was founded at George- 
town, D. C. 

1789. Theatrical exhibitions were 
made free in Pennsylvania by the repeal 
of the act which had been passed con- 
demning them. 

1789. First Temperance Move- 
ment. The first public movement in the 
United States in behalf of temperance, 
was made in Litchfield, Conn., where 
two hundred farmers agreed together 
" not to use any distilled liquor in doing 
their farm work the ensuing season." 

1789. A conspiracy in Brazil, in the 
district of Minas, was formed for the 
purpose of throwing off the Portuguese 
authority, but the outbreak was at once 
suppressed. 

1789. Mackenzie River. Alexander 
Mackenzie, an agent of the Northwest 
Fur Company, of Canada, explored the 
country north of Lake Athabasca in the 
British Possessions, and after some weeks 
reached the Arctic Ocean at the mouth 
of the great river which bears his name, 
he having descended it from Slave Lake. 
Mr. Mackenzie was one of the most 
energetic of the explorers of the great 
company in whose service he labored. 

1790. Jan. 14. American Fund- 
ing System. Alexander Hamilton, sec- 
retary of the treasury, reported at great 



REVOLUTIONART STRUGGLES. 



length in the second session of congress 
upon the condition of the treasury as it 
had been left by the Confederation, and 
suggested plans for the improvement of 
the management of the finance of the 
Union, and for the increase of the public 
credit. A protracted discussion between 
the Federalists and Anti-Federalists con- 
sumed nearly the entire session. A cer- 
tain portion of the State debt was finally 
assumed, and a funding bill passed, pro- 
viding for both the foreign debt at its es- 
tablished methods, and the domestic debt, 
with terms and rates of interest for the 
latter in a funded shape. The domestic 
debt and State debts alone were funded. 
The total amount of debt was $So,ooo,- 
000, or more, and when the measures 
were carried out, the public credit was 
benefited, and agriculture, commerce,, 
and manufactures, stimulated. 

1790. Feb. 12. The Abolition of 
slavery was the subject of a petition sent 
to the first national congress by the Penn- 
sylvania Abolition Society. The peti- 
tion received favorable attention on the 
part of many, and the matter was re- 
ferred to the States for the promotion of 
the objects embraced in the memorial. 
All decided congressional action was de- 
ferred because of the twenty year law 
passed in 17SS. It is thought to have 
been one of the last public acts of Dr. 
Franklin, to sign this petition. 

1790. March 23. Importation of 
Slaves. Congress, after a prolonged dis- 
cussion, voted that it could not prohibit 
the importation of slaves before 1808,. 
and could not emancipate them at any- 
time, the power to do this remaining- 
with the individual States. It decided,, 
however, that Americans could be for- 
bidden to supply foreigners with slaves^ 
and that the fitting out of a slave vessel 



1784-1799.] 

by a foreigner in any American port, 
could be prohibited. 

1790. March 24. A naturalization 
law was passed by congress. 

1790. April 15. The first patent 
right law of the United States was 
passed by congress. For 46 years, how- 
ever, the bureau of patents was in the 
charge of the president and cabinet, who 
could not organize the business because 
of the press of their other duties. The 
work was there- 
fore done in a very 
unsystematic way. 

BEKJ. FRAKKLIK. 

1790. April 17. 

This eminent 
American sage, 
statesman, and 
philosopher, died 
after an illness of 
twelve months, in 
the 85th year of 
his age. He was 
born in Boston, 
Jan. 17, 1706, and 
was the youngest 
son in a family of 
seventeen chil- 
dren. There were 
two daughters 
younger than him- 
self. His parents 
from Northampton, England, in 16S2, to 
find greater freedom of religious opinion. 
His father, Josiah Franklin, was a dyer 
by trade, but in the new home he took 
up the business of a tallow chandler, and 
by his excellent qualities became a much 
respected citizen of Boston. Benjamin 
was at first designed for the ministry, but 
he was, after a little schooling, taken into 
the shop with his father. Here he re- 



THE RISE OF A NA TION. 



347 




BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

to America 



mained discontentedly two years, till he 
was twelve years of age. He was then 
bound an apprentice to his brother James, 
a printer. His spare time was occupied 
in reading. A volume of the Spectator 
fell into his hands, and made a great im- 
pression upon him by its style. He read 
the book several times, and then tried to 
reproduce it in prose and poetry. In 
this way he acquired facility of composi- 
tion. When he was about fourteen 
years old he com- 
posed a story for 
his brother's pa- 
per. The New 
England Courant, 
and slipped it un- 
der the oflice door 
one night. In the 
morning it was 
found, and seem- 
in g to possess 
great merit, was 
published, and met 
with universal fa- 
vor. More articles 
followed, and 
every effort was 
made to find the 
unknown author. 
Benjamin at last 
disclosed the mat- 
ter to his brother, 
but met with poor treatment for his pains. 
After still further unpleasantness between 
himself and brother, he took secret passage 
to New York. There he could get no 
work, and went on to Philadelphia, 
where he arrived in a destitute condition. 
Within a few days he obtained employ- 
ment of Mr. Keimer. His intelligence 
and good conduct soon attracted the at- 
tention of prominent men, among whom 
was Gov. Keith. He formed the ac- 



348 



RE VOL UTIONAR T STR UGGL ES. 



quaintance of the reading classes of the 
city, and was highly esteemed in society. 
In undertaking to start business for him- 
self, at the suggestion of Gov. Keith, he 
went to London to buy type. Here he 
found that the promises made to him 
would not be fulfilled, and he was obliged 
to go to work for a living. Finally, in 
two years an opportunity opened for his 
return to Philadelphia, and he gladly ac- 
cepted it. He soon after started in bus- 
iness for himself, and began the publica- 
tion of " Poor Richard's Almanac." 
With a few of his friends he organized a 
secret debating club, called the Junto. 
The work of this club necessitated ref- 
erence to books, and he thus conceived 
the idea of forming a company for a 
public library, which is now the Phila- 
delphia Library Company. Franklin 
soon purchased Keimer's newspaper, 
which he greatly imj^roved, and pub- 
lished under the name of The Pennsyl- 
vania Gazette. He soon began to be 
put forward into places of trust, and was 
appointed deputy postmaster-general by 
the British government. He assisted in 
establishing newspapers in other colonies. 
An interest in the heating of dwellings 
led him to the invention of the Franklin 
stove, which is still a standard. He was 
the means of organizing a fire company 
in 1737, and a militia company in i743' 
In 1749 he was the main worker in 
starting the Academy of Science, which 
has grown into the present University of 
Philadelphia. 

He was now put into the assembly of 
the province, and gave up his private 
business, that he might attend wholly to 
public affairs. His reputation was en- 
larging rapidly, and his advice deemed 
essential in all important concerns. Sev- 
eral conventions had the benefit of his 



experience and wisdom. During a visit 
to Boston he met a man who had brought 
some electrical apparatus from England. 
This led to experiments which have 
made his name famous in that line alone. 
The service of Dr. Franklin during the 
Revolution already brought out in our 
previous record, can hardly be over esti- 
mated. He was a great honor, and a 
vast aid to his country in her peril. 
Loyally did he serve her. His life is an 
example of the widest individual useful- 
ness along any merely human lines 
which it is possible to attain. The ver- 
satility of his mind was unequaled in his 
own day, and almost in any day of the 
world. His gifts were remarkable. 
But working through all his capabilities 
and acquirements, was the wonderful dil- 
igence of the man. He occupied his gifts 
thoroughly. The record of what he 
was, and of his unintermitting applica- 
tion to his mission is woven through and 
through the story of the vicissitudes of 
his native land, which will never cease to 
express in her institutions and work, the 
grandeur of the endowments of Benja- 
min Franklin. 

GEK. ISRAEL PUTKAM. 

1790. May 19. Gen. Putnam, the 
" Iron Man," as he has been called, died 
at his farm in Brooklyn, Conn., at the 
age of 72 years. He was born in Salem, 
Mass., Jan. 7, i7iS,and grew up without 
many opportunities for getting an educa- 
tion. It was his intention to become a 
farmer. When the French and Indian 
war broke out he received command of a 
company of rangers in the English army. 
His adventures in the field marked him 
as a man of fearless courage. At the 
opening of the Revolution he was ap- 
pointed one of four major-generals by 



1784-1799.] 

congress. His service during the war 
showed that no man was his superior in 
striking a fearful blow with a small force. 
He did not have the discipline of mind 
which would have enabled him to han- 
dle large armies. The British tried to 
gain him to their side by bribes, but he 
could not be tempted. The adventures 
of his life make up a rare list. His per- 
sonal courage became widely known, 
when at 25 years of age he shot a she 
wolf in her den. He was captured once 
or twice and threatened with torture by 
Indians, but was saved by intervention. 
At Fort Edward he saved a magazine of 
three hundred barrels of powder, by 
standing between it and the leaping 
flames, upon which he threw water 
handed him by his men. Portions of 
his body were severely burned, and por- 
tions of his skin came off after the dan- 
ger was over. His escape from pursuit 
by riding down the steps at Stamford, 
Conn., is a household word. Gen. Putnam 
had two challenges to fight a duel. The 
first was from an American officer whom 
he unintentionally oflfended at table. 
Putnam agreed to meet him the next 
morning without seconds. The oflScer 
came, armed with sword and pistols, but 
before taking his place he received a 
shot from Putnam's gun at thirty rods 
distance. The general began to reload, 
and the officer approached quickly, and 
asked, " What are you about to do? Is 
this the conduct of an American officer, 
and a man of honor? " " What am I 
about to do? " said the general; " a pretty 
question to put to a man whom you in- 
tended to murder. I'm about to kill you, 
and if you don't beat a retreat in less 
time than it takes old Heath to hang a 
tory, you are a gone dog." The officer 
waited no longer, but fled the field. 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



349 



The second challenge was from a 
British officer who was a prisoner on 
parole. Gen. Putnam, being the chal- 
lenged party, agreed to select the weapon 
and appear at the place named, with 
arms for both. The oflficer found him 
at the time appointed, calmly smoking 
his pipe, and seated near a cask with 
powder grains scattered over the top of 
it. Gen. Putnam asked the officer to 
take a seat on the other side, and remark- 
ing " that there was an equal chance for 
both of them," set fire to a match which 
communicated with the contents of the 
cask. The officer looked at the match a 
few moments, and as the fire approached 
the powder, he left hastily. As he was 
going, " Old Put" exclaimed, " You are 
just as brave a man as I took you to be. 
This is nothing but a barrel of onions 
with a few grains of powder on top, ta 
try you by. But you don't like the 
smell." 

The rough, hardy nature of Gen. Put- 
nam was true, but did not appreciate the 
delicacies of life. He filled a large place 
in the contest for freedom. At last his- 
frame, which had been subjected to great 
strains, gave out, and he was stricken 
with paralysis in the left side. This laid 
him aside from active service till he died. 



1790. May 29. Rhode Island was 

the thirteenth State, the last of the " old 
thirteen," to ratify the constitution, and 
enter the Union. It has an area of 1,306 
square miles, being the smallest of our 
States, and a population in 1870 of 217,- 
353 persons. Its motto is " Hope," and 
it is known as " Little Rhody." 

1790. June 5. A steamboat was 
put upon the Delaware River by John 
Fitch, and ran during the season between 
Philadelphia and Burlington as a passen- 



350 



RE VOL UTIONART STR UGGLES. 



ger steamer, an aggregate distance of 
over two thousand miles, at an average 
rate of seven and one-half miles an hour. 
Its paddle-wheel was at the stern. This 
was the first steamer in the world which 
carried passengers regularly. The parts 
of the machinery were greatly improved 
over what Mr. Fitch had previously 
employed. 

1790. July 10. The Capital of the 
United States. PhiladeljDhia was made 
the capital of the United States till i8oo, 
by a bill passed by congress. After that 
date some place situated upon the Poto- 
mac was to be selected by the president. 
This measure was a compromise be- 
tween the friends of several different 
cities. 

1790. July 16, District of Colum- 
bia. Congress accepted the cessions 
made by Maryland and Virginia, one or 
two years before, for a capital of the 
United States. 

1790. July 17. Maple Sugar Manu- 
facture. A half ton of maple sugar 
was brought to Philadelphia from Stock- 
port, on the Delaware. At a later day 
forty hogsheads came in a sloop from 
Albany. Estimates were made, showing 
that the domestic supply of maple sugar 
could be made sufficient for the Union. 
The matter was recommended in public 
print by Dr. Rush and others. 

1790. Oct. 17. Harmar's Defeat. 
The Indians of the Northwest Territory 
having become troublesome, Gen. Har- 
mar was sent out against them, and a 
battle was fought near Chillicothe, Ohio, 
where the American force was defeated. 
The troops were very poorly equipped 
and were undisciplined, some of the 
militia running at the first fire. Many 
also were old and feeble. The Indian 
villages were, however, destroyed in the 



absence of the occupants, and the great 
object of crippling the enemy was thus 
accomplished. 

1790. December. The first Ark- 
wright machinery for spinning cotton 
in America, was set up in Providence, 
R. I., for Messrs. Almy and Brown, by 
Samuel Slater, a young man who had 
been thoroughly educated in English 
mills, and was a practical mechanic. He 
is known as the "father of American 
cotton manufactures." The Arkwright 
machinery could not be imported from 
England, and Slater made it from mem- 
ory. The weaving was done in private 
families. This mill was the first success- 
ful water-power cotton-mill in America. 

1790. The first jewelry manufactured 
in the United States was by Epaphras 
Hinsdale, of Newark, N. J., this year, or 
a little later. 

1790. The first American voyage 
around the world was completed by 
Capt. Gray of Boston, who, in the ship 
Columbia, sailed to the Pacific coast of 
North America, having left Boston Sept. 
30, 17S7, and from there with furs' to 
China, and then home by the way of the 
Cape of Good Hope. 

1790. " John Sears' Folly " at Den- 
nis, Bainistable County, Mass., caused ex- 
citement in the region. It consisted of 
a pump and windmill which Sears had 
erected to raise the sea - water for the 
manufacture of salt. He tried the ex- 
periment of solar evaporation, although 
only the process of artificial heat was 
used along the Atlantic coast. Until 
this year he had raised the water in 
buckets, but having found the pump in 
the wreck of a British ship, he set it 
working, and was so successful that 
numerous companies wei'e formed to 
follow his example. 



1784-1799.] 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



351 



1790. Yankee Enterprise. The well- 
known Elkanah Watson, after having 
taken up his residence in Albany, N. Y.i 
began to agitate the question of improv- 
ing the city in various ways, and finally 
secured the undertaking of some changes. 
In his journal he narrates the following 
personal danger into which his attempts 
brought him : 

"Just after State Street had been 
paved at a heavy expense, I sauntered 
into it, immediately after a heavy thun- 
der storm, and whilst regretting the dis- 
turbance in the sidewalk, and observing 
the cellars filling with water, for in that 
section, which was in the present locality 
of the State Bank, the street in grading 
had been elevated about two feet, I heard 
two women in the act of clearing their 
invaded premises from the accumulation 
of mud and water, cry out, ' Here comes 
that infernal paving Yankee.' They 
approached me in a menacing attitude, 
broomsticks erect. Prudence dictated a 
retreat, to avoid being broomsticked by 
the infuriated Amazons, although I did 
not run, as some of my friends insisted, 
but walked off at a quick pace." 

1790. A steamboat, which went five 
miles an hour up stream, was exhibited 
upon the Savannah River by William 
Longstreet, an inventor who then lived in 
Georgia. He obtained money to aid him 
in his project from several who became 
interested in it. Longstreet also devised 
a new way of ginning cotton, and 
affirmed that steam would finally become 
the dominating motive power of the 
world. 

1790. Postal Service. The whole 
number of postofficcs in the United 
States was seventy-five, and the postal 
service covered only 7,375 miles. In five 
years it had increased to 1,799,720 miles. 



while in 1845 ^^^ number of miles was 
35,634,369. 

1790. The first census of the United 
States enrolled 3,929,827 persons, exclud- 
ing Indians. It was taken at a cost of 
$44,377.18. There were found to be 
nearly 700,000 slaves. This was the first 
systematic census ever taken by order of 
any government in the world. 

1791. February. Bank of the United 
States. Congress passed an act to estab- 
lish a United States Bank, with a capital 
of $10,000,000, of which one-fifth was to 
be subscribed by the United States, and 
four-fifths by individuals. Its charter 
was to run twenty years. This act was 
in accordance with the recommendation 
of Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the 
Treasury. 

1791. March 4, Vermont was the 
fourteenth State to take its place in the 
Union. It is the northwestern New 
England State, with an area of 10,212 
square miles, and a population in 1870, of 
330,552 persons. Its motto is " Free- 
dom and Unity." It is called " The 
Green Mountain State." 

1791. March 30. The United States 
Capital. President Washington issued 
a proclamation ordering the running of 
the lines of the new capital of the United 
States upon the Potomac, according to 
his selection. 

1791. April 15. The first corner, 
stone of the District of Columbia was 
set at Jones' Point by Hon. David Car- 
roll and Dr. David Stewart, with Ma- 
sonic ceremonies. 

1791. May 15. Black Voters in San 
Domingo. The French Convention de- 
clared that all free persons of color in its 
colonies could vote. This was drawn 
out in explanation of a decree of 1790, 
declaring that all free persons could vote. 



352 



RE VOL UTIONAR T S TR UGGLES . 



The planters of San Domingo affirmed 
that free blacks were not included. 
There had been great agitation on the 
island over the matter, and now it in- 
creased still more. The affair grew so 
stormy that in the following autumn a 
decree was issued reversing the one of 
this date. San Domingo had a popula- 
tion of 686,000 persons, of whom 42,000 
were white, 44,000 free blacks, and 600,- 
000 slaves. 

1791. July. United States Bank 
Stock. In less than a day after the stock 
of the United States Bank was opened 
to the public, it was all taken. Branches 
were soon established in other cities of 
the Union. 

1791. Aug. 23. A slave insurrection 
broke out in Hayti, and caused the 
whites, through fear of destruction, to 
grant the rights of the decree of May 1 5 
to the mulattoes. 

1791. August. The first minister from 
Great Britain to the United States, was 
appointed in the person of George 
Hammond. 

1791. August. The first patent for 
a nail cutting machine given in America, 
1749-1791. was to Samuel Briggs of 

Mirabeau. Philadelphia. Many were 
trying at this time to accomplish the 
same thing, and patents soon followed 
rapidly. 

1791. Sept. 9. Washington, D. C, 
was named in a letter from the commis- 
sioners appointed for the selection of a 
site for the capital of the United States, 
to Major L'Enfant, who was designing 
maps for it. They directed him to call 
the whole district the Territory of 
Columbia, and the city within it, the city 
of Washington. 

1791. Sept. 15. Advocate of Eman- 
cipation. Rev. Dr. Jonathan Edwards, 



afterward president of Union College, 
preached a very able sermon before the 
" Connecticut Society for the Promotion 
of Freedom," which, in a solid and con- 
vincing way, set forth the argument for 
emancipation. This was printed and 
sent far and wide, doing a great work at 
the time. Dr. Samuel Hopkins' Dia- 
logue on Slavery was also influential. 

1791. Sept. 24. A civil war of great 
severity arose in San Domingo because 
the French assembly this day repealed 
the decree of May 15, which gave the 
rights of citizens to the free blacks. 

1791. Nov. 4. St. Clair's Defeat. Gen. 
St. Clair, who had been appointed to suc- 
ceed Harmar in the Indian war, having 
marched into the Northwest Territory 
with a force of 2,300 men, was, in sjoite 
of warnings given him beforehand not ta 
allow his troops to be surprised, taken off 
his guard where he had encamped near 
the Wabash, by a large force of Indians 
under " Little Turtle," and severely 
beaten, with a loss of half his army. 
The rout continued 27 miles to Fort 
Jefferson. This defeat is said to have 
excited Washington almost beyond his 
control when he heard of it, a surprise 
being contrary to all his ideas of military 
vigilance. There were, however, many 
palliating circumstances. The Indians 
afterward resisted offers of peace, and 
murdered the ambassadors. 

1791. Dec. 15. The first ten 
amendments to the constitution, which 
had been proposed to congress the pre- 
vious year, were declared in force. They 
were passed in order to satisfy Anti- 
Federalists, and had something to do 
with bringing into the government the 
States of North Carolina and Rhode 
Island, which had refused to ratify the 
constitution as it first stood. 



1784-1799.] 

1791. The University of Vermont 

was established at Burlington, and re- 
ceived a generous gift from Ira Allen, a 
brother of Ethan Allen. 

1791. A law classing stage-players 
as vagrants, was repealed by South 
Carolina. 

1791. First Internal Taxation. Con- 
gress laid a tax on domestic distilled 
spirits, which was the first instance of 
internal taxation in the shape of an excise 
duty, in the States. This tax was estab- 
lished to aid in paying the government 
debt, and was the origin of the Whisky 
Rebellion in Pennsylvania, in 1794. 
Opposition to the tax manifested itself 
almost at once in certain sections of that 
State. 

1791. The yellow fever visited New 
York with great mortality. 

1791. The first mail wagon west of 
Albany, N. Y., was started by a Mr. 
Beal, who had been carrying the mail on 
horseback from Albany to Canajoharie, 
once a week. At the suggestion of a 
traveler he started a mail wagon and 
carried passengers between those two 
places. An unsuccessful enterprise of 
the kind had been undertaken before. 
Mr. Deal's experiment was entirely suc- 
cessful, and soon grew into the great 
stage lines of Central New York. 

1791. The first carpet manufactory 
in America was established at Philadel- 
phia, by William P. Sprague. 

1791. Anthracite coal was discovered 
in the mountains of Carbon Co., Penn., 
by Philip Ginter, as he was returning 
home from a hunting expedition. 

1791. The Province of Canada was 
divided by act of Parliament into two 
parts. Upper Canada and Lower Canada, 
because of the difference in the popula- 
tion, which made the question of repre- 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



353 



sentation in the assembly difficult to settle. 
The provinces have also been known as 
Canada West, and Canada East. 

1792. April 1. American manu- 
factures were for the first time allowed 
in Great Britain, by order of that gov- 
ernment. 

1792. April. Gen. Anthony Wayne 
was appointed in command of the army 
against the western Indians, and imme- 
diately began preparations ,^„„ „ 

J i^ i- r 1792. France 

to take the field, but being declared a Re- 

warned by the defeats of ^"*^'"- 
Harmar and St. Clair, declared that he 
would not do it until he had a disciplined 
army. 

1792. May 8. A uniform militia 
system for the United States, which has 
continued to the present day, with little 
variation, was provided for by an act of 
congress. 

1792. May 11. Columbia River. 
Capt. Robert Gray discovered the Co- 
lumbia River on the Pacific coast of the 
United States, and entered it in the " Co- 
lumbia Rediviva," a Boston vessel. 

1792. June 1. Kentucky was the 
fifteenth State to be received into the 
Union. It has an area of 37,680 square 
miles, and a population in 1870 of 1,331,- 
911 persons. Its motto is, " United we 
stand, divided we fall." It is called " The 
Blue Grass State." 

1792. June. The first turnpike road 
in the United States was begun, from 
Philadelphia to Lancaster. Two thou- 
sand two hundred and sixty-seven shares 
of stock in it were sold in twelve hours. 

P:iUL JO. YES. 

1792. July 18. Paul Jones, the 
brilliant naval commander, died in Paris 
at the age of forty-five years. John 
Paul, for this was his real name, was 

23 



354 



RE VOL UTIONAR T STR UGGLES. 



born in Scotland in 1 747, and was the 
son of a gardener. A life on the beach 
subjected him to the fascination of the 
sea, and when he was twelve years old 
he was received as a sailor on board the 
" Friendship," bound for Rappahannock, 
Va. By his fidelity and intelligence he 
was promoted through the several grades 
of duty, until he 
was captain. 
He was upon 
the sea most of 
the time until 
he was twenty- 
six years of age, 
when he took 
charge of his 
deceased broth- 
er's farm in Vir- 
ginia, where he 
remained two 
years. In 1775 
he was ap- 
pointed by con- 
gress first lieu- 
tenant of the 
Alfred, and un- 
folded a nation- 
al ensign for 
the first time on 
shipboard. The 
design of this 
f 1 a g is only 
traditionally 
known. At a 

later day he received the first salute 
ever paid by a foreign nation to the 
Stars and Stripes, which was given by 
France. On his first cruise in the Provi- 
dence, to which he had been transferred, 
he took one hundred cannon from six- 
teen different prizes. He was an ener- 
getic sailor and hard fighter. His edu- 
cation was small, but he presented plans 



to congress for the improvement of the 
navy. They were favorably received 
and acted upon. His ambition and 
courage were limitless. His very reck- 
lessness seemed his protection. The 
brave are the longest lived. Having 
been put in charge of the Ranger, he 
cruised in British waters, and about mid- 
night of April 
22, 1778, he en- 
tered the port at 
W hitehavcn, 
where there 
were about 
three hundred 
s h i 2^ s , well 
guarded by a 
strong battery. 
After leaving 
orders for the 
shipping to be 
fired, he ad- 
vanced in a row 
boat with only 
one man, under 
the very muzzle 
of the guns, to 
take the fort. 
He entered the 
battery after 
having made 
way with the 
sentinel, spiked 
the cannon, and 
PAUL JONES. at daybreak 

was surprised not to see the vessels on fire. 
Indignant at the neglect or inefficiency of 
his lieutenant, he refused to depart, and 
entering a large ship, kindled a fire in the 
steerage. The inhabitants rushed from 
their homes, but he posted himself at the 
entrance to the wharves with a loaded 
pistol, and declared he would shoot the 
first man who came toward him. They 




1784-1799.] 

turned and fled, when he sailed leisurely 
away, returning pistol shots for the dis- 
charges of the two cannon, which were 
the only ones capable of being worked 
in the battery. This was an example of 
his whole career. Ho planned to abduct 
the Earl of Selkirk from his home on the 
river Dee, in order to force exchanges 
with England, but was not able to carry 
out his purpose, because of the absence of 
his intended captive. His greatest naval 
contest, and the one on which his popu- 
lar fame rests, was the one between the 
Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis, 
an English vessel. He was apparently 
beaten two or three times, but refused to 
surrender. He exhibited the greatest 
daring until the British gave up the light. 
His presence in the little American navy 
was worth an incalculable amount. He 
was the great hero of the day. The king 
of France gave him a gold mounted 
sword. Congress gave him a gold medal. 
After peace was declared he entered the 
Russian service on a cruise in the Black 
Sea, but could not agree with his supe- 
rior officer, and withdrew, receiving the 
promise of a pension from the Empress 
Catharine, without fulfillment. He re- 
tired to Paris. His last days were spent 
in obscurity. But notice of his death 
was taken by the French court, and a 
eulogium pronounced upon him. His 
moral character has been condemned by 
some. He was undoubtedly full of pride. 
Yet the name of Paul Jones will brighten 
the page of American histoiy as long as 
an American vessel floats. 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



355 



1792. July. Samson Oecom, a Mo- 

hegan Indian, v/ho graduated at Mr. 
Wheelock's school at Lebanon, N. H., 
and became a preacher, died at sixty-nine 
years of age. He visited England at 



one time, and was received with great 
favor. His gifts were very excellent. 

1792. July 22. Alexander Macken- 
zie, who had previously been down the 
Mackenzie River to the Arctic Ocean,, 
arrived at the mouth of the Eraser River 
opposite Vancouver's Island, having fol- 
lowed it from its source in a trip across 
the continent. 

1792. Oct. 13. The White House. 
The corner stone of the president's house 
at Washington, D. C, was laid. The 
building was designed by James Hoban, 
after the country house of the Duke of 
Leinster, England, and was built of 
porous Virginia freestone. 

1792. Canal Enterprise. The South 
Hadley, and the Montague Canals, the 
oldest in the United States, were begun 
by a company chartered this year. They 
were dug around the rapids of the Con- 
necticut River, the former being two 
miles long, and the latter three miles. 
There were also two canal companies 
chartered at this time by New York, 
one for " opening a lock navigation from 
the navigable waters of the Hudson, to 
be extended to Lake Ontario and Seneca 
Lake," and another from the Hudson to 
Lake Champlain. Gen. Philip Schuyler 
was largely instrumental in getting the 
charter. Work was done and navigation 
opened by taking advantage of water- 
courses, but the undertaking was after- 
ward swallowed up by the Erie Canal. 
Many other canal projects were proposed, 
but few of them came to anything, be- 
cause of lack of capital and other rea- 
sons. It was thought it would be, how- 
ever, the great coming method of trans- 
portation. . 

1792. The first clock in the world 
with wooden wheels, was made by Eli 
Terry of Connecticut. He entered into 



356 



RE VOL UTIONAR T S TR UGGL ES. 



the manuflicture of them, at first shaping 
the wheels with a knife. He went about 
the country twice a year to sell them. 

1792. The first piece of dress silk 
in the United States, of purely domestic 
production, was made in the family of 
.Rev. Mr. Atwater of Beauford, Conn., 
who raised the silk himself. 

1792. A small theater was opened in 
Boston, notwithstanding the law against 
it. During the exhibition one night, the 
company were arrested on the stage, but 
soon released through some legal defect 
in the papers. A second arrest, however, 
broke up the company. 

1792. Vancouver Island. The Span- 
ish commander, Quadra, surrendered 
Vancouver Island to Capt. Geo. Van- 
couver, who gave it the name of Quadra 
and Vancouver Island, and took posses- 
sion for the British government. 

1792. Postal Rates. In the further 
organization of the postoffice depart- 
ment, rates were fixed at six cents on 
each letter carried thirty miles or less, 
and twenty-five on each letter carried 
450 miles or more. On newspapers the 
rate was one cent for 100 miles or less, 
and one cent and a half for a longer dis- 
tance. Members of congress had the 
liberty to employ the franking jorivilege 
during the sessions of that body, and for 
twenty days thereafter. 

1792. The investigation of Hamilton 
was carried on by the Anti-Federalists, 
who used the greater part of the last 
session of congress this year in this way. 
The lines between the parties were be- 
coming more distinct, and the Anti- Fed- 
eralists opposed the growth of a national 
government, which could issue currency 
and collect money for imposts, lay taxes, 
raise an army and navy, and legislate 
with power in various ways, over the 



several States. The investigation finally 
resulted in showing the ability and integ- 
rity of Hamilton, 

SECOXD PRESIDEXTML CtLMP^IGK. 

1792. In the second presidential cam- 
paign it was again universally thought 
that George Washington must be reelect- 
ed. He therefore received one vote cast 
by each elector. John Adams was again 
elected vice-president by receiving sev- 
enty-seven votes out of one hundred and 
thirty-two. George Clinton, Thomas 
Jefferson, and Aaron Burr, were the chief 
opposing candidates, supported by the 
Anti-Federalists. In this campaign the 
two joarties became more distinctly out- 
lined, though both sides united in sup- 
porting Washington. 



1793. Jan. 24. A great celebration 

took place in Boston, in honor of the 
proclamation of the French Republic. A 
banquet was held in Faneuil Hall, at 
which Samuel Adams presided. The 
school children paraded the streets. 
Other cities had similar rejoicings. 

1793. Feb. 12. The surrender of 
fugitives and criminals in whatever State 
they might be taken, was required accord- 
ing to an act of congress. This was 
made to apply to fugitive slaves, though 
there was trouble afterward in exe- 
cuting it. 

1793. Feb. 22. The celebration of 
Washington's birthday became the sub- 
ject of much criticism among those who 
feared that there would be an attempt to 
set up a monarchy, with him at the head 
of it. 

1793. March 4. George Washington 
was inaugurated president, and John 
Adams vice-president, each for a second 
term. 



1784-1799.] 

1793. April 8. Citizen Genet arrived 
in the United States as the minister of 
the French Republic, and began at once 
to fit out privateers to prey on English 
commerce, and attempted the raising of 
supplies and men for the French. He 
caused great excitement, and even inti- 
mated, after he found it likely that the 
United States government would inter- 
fere with his plans, that he would appeal 
to the American people. Several occur- 
rences showed the excitability of a large 
portion of the citizens of the States. But 
Genet pursued such an extreme course, 
and violated so recklessly the laws of 
America, that he at last alienated the best 
of his friends, and thus ruined his pros- 
pects. At a later day he was recalled, at 
the suggestion of the United States. 

1793. Democratic Clubs. A large 
number of clubs in imitation of the Jaco- 
bin clubs of Pai'is were organized in the 
United States. They even went so far 
as to advocate the abolition of the title 
Mr., and the use of the title Citizen, 
instead. They were violently opposed 
to the administration. These clubs ex- 
isted till after the Whisky Rebellion of 
1 794, and then died, partly because Wash- 
ington publicly declared them to be the 
instigators of that evil. This withdrew 
much sympathy from them, and they 
disappeared. The French Jacobin clubs 
died out previously, at the overthrow of 
Robespierre. 

1793. April 22. The famous proc- 
lamation of neutrality was issued by 
1193. Mitrat as- President Washington, in 
^ciiaHoHe Cor which he affirmed that the 
day. United States would take 

i793. Coalition of i. ■ ii i i_i c 

„ , . ' no part m the troubles or 

Kurope against '■ 

France. European powers. The 

French sympathizers at once denounced 
the government in the grossest terms, 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



357 



claiming that it was unfriendly to repub- 
lican institutions. The Anti-Federalists 
were just ready to espouse the cause of 
France against England. 

1793. June 8. American com. 
merce was crippled by an order from 
England that all vessels loaded with 
corn for France, should be stopped, and 
compelled to go into English ports. 

1793. July 23. Roger Sherman, of 
Connecticut, a signer of the Declaration 
of Independence, died at New Haven, at 
the age of 72 years. He was born at 
Newton, Mass., April 19, 1721, and be- 
came a shoemaker until he was 22 years 
of age. At that time he and a brother 
opened a store in New Milford, Conn. 
He used his private moments for study, 
and became a fine mathematician. He 
afterward read law, and was admitted to 
the bar in 1 754. He soon began to rise 
in influence, and passed from one station 
to another, till he had been assistant gov- 
ernor of Connecticut 19 years, judge of 
common pleas, and of the superior court, 
23 years, treasurer of Yale College 10 
years. He was a member of the conti- 
nental congress from 1774 till its expii^a- 
tion in 1789, and a member of the na- 
tional congress from that time till his 
death. He was mayor of New Haven 
for 9 years, and served his State and 
country at several times on important 
commissions. He was unexcelled for 
practical wisdom and Christian integritv. 

1793. August. English hostility 
was shown by the failure of the Amer- 
ican commissioners to conclude a treaty 
with the western Indians, which was 
thought to be owing, to some extent, to 
the influence of British agents upon 
them. This was but one of the many 
difficulties of the time. The impress- 
ment of seamen was becoming more 



358 



RE VOL UTIONAR T STR UGGLES . 



common. The refusal to surrender west- 
ern posts, and to pay for slaves taken 
during the Revolution, was persisted in. 
In reply England pleaded that the United 
States had violated the treaty by not 
paying the debts due British subjects, and 
acted everv way as if the United States 
\vere in alliance with France. 

1793. Sept. 18. The corner-stone 
of the old capitol at Washington, D. C, 
which is now the center of the new 
capitol, was laid by Washington with a 
grand Masonic ceremonial, amid a great 
concourse of people. The plan for the 
building was drawn by Dr. Thornton. 

JORY HAXCOCK. 

1793. Oct. 8. John Hancock, well 
known as President Hancock of the con- 
tinental congress, at the passage of the 
Declaration of Independence, died at the 
age of 56 vears. " The British ministry 
can read that without their spectacles; let 
them double their reward," was his ex- 
clamation as he affixed his bold signature 
to the Declaration, at the head of the list. 
He was born at Quincy, Mass., Jan. 12, 
1737, and when quite young was given 
to the care of an affectionate uncle. He 
graduated from Harvard College in 1754, 
and took a position in the counting house 
of his uncle. Such was his evident busi- 
ness capacitv that he was sent to London 
at the age of 24 years, on a commercial 
mission. At twenty-six he received bv 
inheritance the property of his uncle, 
who died one of the most wealthy men 
of New England. Mr. Hancock became 
an eminent merchant, and a well known 
leader in society. In 1766 he was the 
representative of Boston in the State as- 
sembly. He delivered the annual oration 
in 1774, in commemoration of the Boston 
Massacre, and the same year was elected 



president of the provincial congress, and 
a delegate to the continental congress. 
The following year he was chosen pres- 
ident of the latter body, in place of Pey- 
ton Randolph, who had resigned. Mr. 
Hancock's health began to decline, and 
in 1777 he resigned his seat in congress. 
After assisting in framing a new consti- 
tution for Massachusetts, he was rewarded 
with the office of chief magistrate, to 
which he was re-elected, save at one 
time when he refused it, till his death. 
John Hancock was a zealous patriot, and 
greatly assisted public affairs with his 
large fortune. He was deservedly pop- 
ular, and discharged all his public duties 
with ability and accuracy. He and Sam- 
uel Adams, becauseof their bold, patriotic 
sentiments and wide influence, were 
called " arch rebels " by the British min- 
istry, who set a price upon their heads. 
He was thoroughly a strong New Eng- 
land gentleman, able to obey or preside, 
with equal ease and dignity, as the case 
might be. 

1793. Nov. 9. " The Centinel of 
the Northwest Territory" was issued 
in its first number by William Maxwell, 
at Cincinnati. It was the first paper 
north of the Ohio River, and third west 
of the mountains. 

1793. Williams College Nvas founded 
at Williamstown, Mass. 

1793. The law prohibiting stage 
playing in Massachusetts was repealed. 

1793. The yellow fever visited Phil- 
adelphia during the summer and autumn 
of this year, and soon spread into other 
parts of the United States. This was 
the first malignant disease with which 
that city had been visited on so extensive 
a scale. Business was suspended, fam- 
ilies fled from the city, and by Oct. 20 
over 4,000 persons had died. 



1784-1799.] 

1793. Whitney's Cotton Gin. A 

cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney, 
which was patented this year, and passed 
into successful use. When the matter 
was first suggested to Mr. Whitney, he 
had never seen cotton, or cotton seed, but 
his ingenious mind grasped the problem, 
and he soon provided a machine which 
added greatly to the value of the cotton 
crop, and what was before comparatively 
worthless, because it could not be readily 
cleansed, became one of the great staples 
of America. The production of cotton 
went up from 487,600 lbs, in 1793, to 
6,276,300 lbs. in 1796, and increased rap- 
idly afterward, causing a great increase 
of slave labor. Mr. Whitney ranks 
among the great benefactors of the 
world. The story of Mr. Whitney's 
success and subsequent trials is like that 
■of many another great inventor. He had 
graduated from college, and had gone 
South to teach at Savannah, Ga., where 
he boarded in the family of Mrs. Gen. 
Greene. Some one was complaining in 
her house one day of the difficulty of 
separating the cotton seeds from the fiber, 
and wishing for some machine which 
would do it. Mrs. Greene told him to 
1793. Louisxvi. speak to her young friend, 
^nd Marie An- foj- }-,£ could make any- 

ioinette executed , 

in France. ReigH thuig. The qUCStlOU WaS 

^/ Terror. explained to Mr. Whitney, 

and he soon had solved it in his mind, 
<ind hastened in secret to put it into shape. 
This he did, but without permanent ben- 
efit to himself. His patents were hin- 
dered and infringed; his rights in the 
matter disregarded, and he was left 
unrewarded. 

1793. A mold board for plows, 
which would turn a furrow without 
breaking it, was invented by Thomas 
Jefferson, who had been experimenting 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



359 



on his farm in Virginia. His interest in 
the subject was great, and he was one of 
the first in the country to investigate the 
matter. 

1793. First Spanish Merinoes. Three 
full-blooded Spanish Merino sheep were 
imported from Cadiz by William Foster, 
of Boston. He gave them to a friend of 
his, named Andrew Cragie, who killed 
and ate them. The same kind of sheep 
were bought by Mr. Cragie afterward at 
$1,000 a head. Within ten years others 
were imported, and they soon became 
highly esteemed. 

1794. Jan. 1. A national abolition 
convention was held at Philadelphia, 
composed of delegates from all the abo- 
lition societies in the country. It pre- 
sented a memorial to congress praying 
for the suppression of the slave trade. 

1794. March 26. Congress voted 
an embargo on American jjorts for 
thirty days, and afterward added thiity 
more, in order to stop the British in the 
West Indies from securing provisions. 
This was in return for a British " Order 
in Council " authorizing the seizure of 
any vessel laden with supplies for the 
French colonies. 

1794. March 27. The United States 
Navy. A vote of congress authorized 
the construction of six frigates. This 
was the immediate outcome of the Alge- 
rine troubles. No one of them was to 
carry less than thirty-two guns, and the 
building of them was not to proceed, if 
peace should be proclaimed. 

1794. April 16. Mission to. England. 
Chief-Justice Jay was nominated by 
Washington as Envoy Extraordinary to 
England, to arrange the difficulties be- 
tween the two nations. In spite of the 
opposition of the Democrats, the appoint- 
ment w^as confirmed, and he sailed for 



360 ^E yOL UTIONAR2- STRUGGLES 

England. This was one of the great 
party contests in congress. 



1794. May 9. United States Coast 
Defenses. Congress established a corps 
of artillerists and engineers, to have 
charge of the work of constructing coast 
defenses. Gentlemen of foreign birth, 
skilled in engineering, Avere to be ap- 
pointed in charge. By the year iSi2 
our coast fortifications were very strong. 

1794. June 17. The anniversary of 
the battle of Bunker Hill was celebrated 
for the first time, and by the Charles- 
town artillery. The day was observed 
with parades by military organizations, 
and an oration was pronounced. 

RICHARD HEXRY LEE. 

1794. June 19. Richard Henry Lee, 
one of the most illustrious of the signers 
of the Declaration of Independence, died 
at Chantilly, Westmoreland Co., Va., 
at the age of sixty-two years. He was 
born at Stratford, in the same county, 
Jan. 20, 1732, being just one month older 
than Washington, who was a native of 
the same county. Mr. Lee became one 
of the foremost statesmen, orators, pa- 
triots, of the revolutionary period. He 
was finely educated, both in this country 
and in England. His attainments as a 
scholar were very extensive and accurate. 
Lee, when young, formed an aversion for 
the British cause, from the manner in 
which Braddock refused the aid of a vol- 
unteer company which he had raised and 
offered for service during the campaign. 
The young men remembered their disap- 
pointment. The governor of Virginia 
appointed Mr, Lee a justice of the peace in 
1757, and when he was only twenty-five 
years of age he was elected to the House 
of Burgesses, where his thoughtfulness 
and eloquence anointed him a leader in 



the affairs of state. When the Stamp 
Act was passed, he, without due consid- 
eration, applied for the post of collector, 
but before he was appointed he saw, 
upon reflection, the inconsistency of his 
act, and came out boldly against the 
measure. He always cherished the idea 
of independence, and was one of the fore- 
most patriots in his patriotic State. Lee 
first conceived the idea of a general con- 
vention, in which all the colonies should 
be represented, as a means of protection 
and harmony. This grew into the con- 
tinental congress, to which he was elected 
in 1774. He served on most of the im- 
portant committees, usually as chairman. 
His literary acquirements and parliamen- 
tarv knowledge, fitted him for that place. 
In June, 1776, he offered the resolu- 
tions which have made his name to be 
indissolubly connected with American 
independence. He was, however, called 
home by sickness, and could not serve on 
the committee which drafted the Decla- 
ration. In I 7S3 he was elected president 
of the continental congress. In the con- 
test over the constitution he sympathized 
deeply with the rights of the individual 
States, and feared centralized power. 
But he afterward supported it with all his 
might, and was the first senator from 
Virginia under the new government. 
This office he held till age compelled him 
to retire from public life. He was greatly 
beloved by all that knew him, even his 
enemies, and his death was deeply felt by 
the nation he had done so much to found, 
and had served so fitithfully. 



1794. July 10. Amnesty. President 
Washington issued a proclamation grant- 
ing full pardon to persons engaged in 
the Whisky Insurrection, which was now 
causing great agitation, with the excep- 



1784-1799.] 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



361 



tlon of those who had committed certain 
offenses. 

1794. July 16. Whisky Insurrection. 
The opposition which had existed in the 
valley of the Monongahela, Penn.,tothe 
tax laid by congress upon distilled spirits 
in 1791, now took the form of an armed 
rebellion. The officers of the law were 
fired upon, and a vast force of men be- 
gan to talk of marching on Pittsburg to 
take the U. S. arsenal and fort. The 
numbers at last i^ose to nearly 16,000, and 
" all western Pennsylvania w^as in a 
blaze." The president had already issued 
a proclamation for the preservation of 
peace. But collectors of taxes had been 
maltreated in niany ways, and their lives 
endangered. The trouble grew worse. 
The insurgents insisted that it was not 
just for a very small part of the country 
to pay a tax on something not produced 
elsewhere. Their excessive crops of 
grain could not be disposed of, save to the 
distillers, hence the trouble. At last 
Washington issued a call for troops, and 
raised a large force from several states. 
When the leaders of the rebellion found 
that an army was coming against them, 
they made terms of peace, and the mat- 
ter was settled without bloodshed. A 
great deal of political excitement attended 
the growth and culmination of this affair. 
The management of It served as a test of 
the new constitution, and the result was 
every way favorable. 

1794. Aug. 20. Wayne's Victory. 
A srreat battle was fought between Gen. 
Anthony Wayne, " Mad Anthony," who 
had pushed into the Indian country with 
a force of about 2,000 men, and " Little 
Turtle " at the head of his Indian follow- 
ers, on the Maumee River, Ohio. The 
Indians were completely routed by the 
energy of Gen. Wayne, and never I'e- 



covered from this defeat. Their loss was 
never known. The American loss was 
139, killed and wounded. Canadian 
auxiliaries assisted the savages, and the 
action was fought near a British fortified 
post in the Northwest Territory. A 
sharp correspondence ensued between 
Gen. Wayne and the commander of the 
post. Gen. Wayne destroyed Indian 
villages and supplies in the neighborhood. 
1794. Nov. 19. Jay's Treaty. A 
treaty of commerce and navigation with 
Great Britain, was signed by John Jay, 
for the United States. This treat}' was 
rendered necessary by the complaints of 
the British concerning the loss of the 
property of loyalists in the xA-merican 
Revolution, and by Americans concern- 
ing the loss of slaves at the close of the 
same war, and other alleged violations of 
the treaty of 1 783. The treaty did not 
reach America until March, when it was 
secretly discussed in the senate until one 
of the members gave it to the public, by 
whom it was received with indignation, 
because it did not provide for stopping 
impressments. So much excitement pre- 
vailed among the anti-federalists, that 
the president was assailed, and even 
threatened, if he signed it, but he did 
sign it, however, believing it to be better 
than no treaty. The final effects showed 
the wisdom of his course. 

BAROy STEUBEK. 

1794. Nov. 28. Frederick William 
Augustus Steuben, baron, eminent in 
service to the American cause at a time 
when it needed help from such as he, 
died near Utica, N. Y,, at the age of 
sixty-four years. Deep affection from 
every true American is his due, for the 
order and skill to which he brought the 
American forces in their great exigency. 



362 



RE VOL UTIONART STRUGGLES. 



Like many other foreigners, he left home, 
wealth, honor, for the privilege of fight- 
ing for the American cause. He was 
born at Magdeburg, Prussia, Nov. 15, 
1730, and received a good education. 
He entered the military service, and soon 
rose to a position near the person of the 
king, the great Frederic William. He 
ranked high in the military and court 
circles of Europe, because of the reputa- 
tion he had gathered in the seven years' 
Avar. He was not obliged to leave his 
country, but came voluntarily, and upon 
arrival offered his service to congress. 
He was placed with the army at Valley 
Forge, and at once began to introduce 
the Prussian drill, by adapting it to the 
American troops. In the brilliant cam- 
paigns which followed, his influence was 
marked. He wrote a book on military 
science in French, at the solicitation of 
Washington and congress. He could 
not use the English language. It was 
translated, and was the only book of the 
kind accessible to American ofticcrs dur- 
ing the Revolution. He ultimately be- 
came a major-general. His service can 
never be over-estimated. He was a fer- 
vent Christian, but was possessed of a 
quick temper, which would manifest 
itself when he undertook to deal with 
raw troops. He, however, gained the 
affection of the soldiers, and would often 
reward the apt scholars out of his own 
pocket. His life was full of noble and gen- 
erous acts. His fortune dwindled away 
through liis kindness. He was voted, in 
1790, by congress, an annuity of $3,500 a 
year, for life. He leceived land from 
several States, among the rest 16,000 acres 
froin New York. He retired to a log 
house upon the latter, and freely settled 
some of his old army companions upon 
portions of it, which he presented to 



them. His last years were spent in com- 
23arative quiet. 

1794. Dec. 2. The first monument 

in commemoration of the " Battle of 
Bunker Hill," was dedicated by the King 
Solomon Lodge of Free Masons, who 
had erected it. It was a plain wooden 
jDillar on a brick pedestal, twenty-eight 
feet high, and stood upon the spot where 
Warren fell. Its cost was $1,000. In 
1S35 it was presented to the Bunker Hill 
Monument Association. 

1794. Bowdoin College was char- 
tered at Brunswick, Maine, and named 
in honor of Gov. James Bowdoin, of 
Massachusetts, who befriended it, and at 
his death gave it a gallery of paintings, 
which, until quite recently, has been the 
finest in the country. 

1794. An alleged fugitive slave was 
arrested in Boston, and brought before 
the court. Josiah Quincy was defending 
him, when a bustle took place, and the 
colored man passed out in the confusion, 
and escaped. The master of the slave 
threatened to sue Mr. Quincy for ob- 
structing his agent, but failed to do so. 

1794. Swedenborgian churches were 
first formed in America by the Rev. Wil- 
liam Hill, from England. 

1794. First Cotton Sewing Thread. 
Cotton was first used in the manufacture 
of sewing thread at Pawtucket, R. I., by 
Samuel Slater. Flax had always been 
used everywhere, but as Mrs. Slater was 
spinning cotton, she noticed the fineness 
of the fiber, and at once conceived that it 
would make smooth thread. The idea 
was immediately put into successful use. 

1794. A steamboat with a stern 
wheel was built by Samuel Morey, of 
Connecticut, who navigated it from Hart- 
ford to New York city. 



1784-1799.] 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



363 



1794. Wood engraving was intro- 
duced into the United States by Alexander 
Anderson, who, until his death in 1870, 
was known as an engraver. He made 
the first pictures with which Webster's 
Spelling Book was embellished. 

1794. The Stars and Stripes. It 
was voted by congress that the United 
States flag should consist of fifteen stripes, 
alternate red and white, and fifteen stars, 
white on a blue field. A star and a 
stripe were to be added for each new 
State. It remained thus until 1818, 
when the j^resent arrangement was finally 
adopted. 

FR±A'CI8 MARIOK. 

1795. Feb. 28. Gen. Francis Marion, 
a well-known revolutionary leader of the 
South, died near Eutaw, S. C, at the age 
of 63 years. He was born near George- 
town, S. C, in 1732, the year that gave 
birth to Washington and R. H. Lee. 
Partisan warfiire was an essential feature 
of the Revolution, and to it was due the 
fact that the British could get no enduring; 
foothold south of the Potomac Rivei*. 
Francis Marion was one of the select 
partisan leaders. His boyhood, exxept a 
few months when he was at sea, was 
spent on a farm. He had little educa- 
tion, but an abundant supply of common 
sense. In the French and Indian war 
he served as a private soldier in his 
brother's command. When the Revolu- 
tion broke out he was appointed captain 
of a company. At Fort Moultrie he 
fired the last cannon, killing two young 
officers and three sailors on one of the 
departing ships. At Savannah he ex- 
hibited his bravery, but at Charleston an 
accident befell him, and he returned 
home. After his recovery he raised a 
■company of volunteers, and joined Gates. 
He afterward began his celebrated for- 



ages, and unexpected assaults, which con- 
tinued in I'apid succession, when and 
where the enemy least expected them. 
He formed his famous brigade, each 
member of which was to provide his 
horse, and armed them with swords 
made out of saw blades from the saw- 
mills. His secret,sudden, dashing attacks 
came to be dreaded by the British. At 
Butler's Neck he struck a large band of 
tories like a thunderbolt. This was his 
way, and usually his men carried greater 
numbers than their own before them. 
In his brigade were five brothers named 
James, the eldest of whom chased Major 
Gainey, a toiy leader, over half a mile, 
and then found himself alone in the 
midst of a company of the Major's 
friends gathering to his aid. But James 
dashed upon them, shouting, " Come on, 
boys, here they are!" and the whole com- 
pany broke and fled, thinking themselves 
surrounded by patriots. Everywhere 
Marion went he left his mark upon the 
exasperated British and toi'ies, who were 
not free from his attack at any time of 
day or riight. Tarleton, with a superior 
force, was ordered by Cornwallis to de- 
stroy " Mr, Marion's band at all hazards," 
but after having chased them a long dis- 
tance, and having received several blows 
in retaliation, he ordered his men to return, 
saying that they could find the " game 
cock," — Gen. Sumter — but that the evil 
one himself could not catch the " swamp 
fox," — Gen. Marion. When peace was 
made he was offered, but did not accept, 
the command of Fort Johnson in Charles- 
ton harbor. He was now fifty years 
old, and was at last conquered by a rich 
Huguenot lady, whom he married. They 
lived happily upon his desolated farm at 
Pond Bluff. He occasionally took part 
in lesfislative affairs. His life was com- 



364 



REVOLUTION ART STRUGGLES. 



parativcly quiet until he died, leaving no 
children to hear his name. 



1795. July 22. Spanish Hayti was 
ceded to France according to the terms 
of the treaty of Basel. 

1795. Aug. 3. Wayne's Treaty. A 

treaty was arranged with the western 
Indians by Gen. Wayne, at Greenville, 
1795. Liiho-r- Ohio, which closed the In- 
raphy invented, ^lian War, and opened the 

1195. Extinction _ , _., 

of Poland as a gi'S'^t Northwcst Territory 
kingdom. ^q the incoming settlers. 

The council lasted several weeks. About 
1,130 Indians from different tribes were 
present, and gave up British influence, 
professing to wish for peace. This hast- 
ened the execution of the treaty of 1 793 
by England. Wayne told the Indians 
that if they ever violated the treaty, he 
would rise from his grave to fight them. 
" Big Wind," as they called him, to- 
gether with his threat, was long remem- 
bered by them. 

1795. August. The famous intrigue 
between Randolph, Secretary of State, 
and the French minister Fauchet, became 
known to the president. It was entirely 
political, and came out during the at- 
tempt to secure the ratifications of Jay's 
treaty. 

1795. Sept, 5. Treaty with Algiers. 
A treaty was concluded with the Dey of 
Algiers, by which the United States 
were made to pay $800,000 for captives 
then alive, give the Dey a frigate worth 
$100,000, and an annual tribute of 
$33,000 in maritime stores, all of 
\vhich was to insure peace in the future. 
Under this treaty the building of the six 
frigates w^as at once suspended, until con- 
gress provided for the completion of them, 
when the work went on. The historic 
trio which formed the first really effective 



American navy was the United States, 
Constitution, and Constellation. 

1795. Oct. 20. A treaty with 
Spain was concluded, which fixed the 
boundaries between the United States 
and Florida, and opened the Mississippi 
to the navigation of either party. 

1795. October. A malignant attack 
was made through the press ujDon Pres- 
ident Washington, stating that he had 
overdrawn his salary, etc., but the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, and Alexander 
Hamilton, proved the fiilsity of the charge. 

1795. The " establishment of com- 
mon schools throughout the State " was 
recommended by Gov. Clinton, of New 
York, in his message to the legislature. 
$50,000 were accordingly set aside, and 
for a time the matter was earnestly car- 
ried out, but in a few years it ^practically 
failed. 

1795. Union College was founded at 
vSchenectady, N. Y. 

1795. The earliest scientific school 
in the United States was " The Agricul- 
tural and Mechanical College of the 
University of North Carolina," which 
was opened for instruction in mining, 
civil engineering, and kindred lines of 
studv. 

1795. Yazoo Fraud. A great ex- 
citement was produced in Georgia over 
the sale, by the legislature, of the west- 
ern lands belonging to that State. After 
much political controversy the sales were 
obliterated from the State records. But 
in the United States courts the claims of 
the buyers were afterward declared good. 
The matter ran through several years, 
and is known in history as the Yazoo 
Fraud. 

1795. The first manufactory of mus- 
kets in the United States was established 
at Springfield, Mass. 



1784-1799.] 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



365 



1795. The "Maxwell Code." The 

first job printing done in the Northwest 
Territory was the Maxwell code, a body 
of laws adopted for the government of 
the province, by the governor and judges 
of the Territory. They were printed by 
William Maxwell, who had set up a 
printing office at Cincinnati, the first one 
northwest of the Ohio. Maxwell had 
established a newspaper in i793- 

1795. A revolt of the Maroons in 
Jamaica, W. I., took place, but was sup- 
pressed in a short time. The Maroons 
were fugitive slaves, who had congre- 
gated in the northern part of the island. 
The English government sent to Cuba 
for " chasseurs," who made it a business 
to hunt fugitives with trained dogs. 
Each chasseur led three dogs, trained to 
stop a fugitive by barking at him and 
crouching by him until he could be seized. 
These men would sometimes follow fu- 
gitives for weeks. No one could escape 
them. The Maroons of Jamaica grad- 
ually surrendered in small numbers. 
Within a year quite a large number were 
transported to Halifax, w^here they helped 
fortify the city, and built the Maroon 
bastion. Others at a later day were sent 
to Africa. 

1795. Revolutionary efforts were 
made in Colombia, S. A., without much 
success. 

1796. June 1. Tennessee was the 
sixteenth State to be admitted to the 
Union. It has an area of 45,600 square 
miles, and a j^opulation in 1S70 of 1,358,- 
376 persons. Its motto is " Agriculture, 
Commerce." It is called the " Big Bend 
State." 

1796. Sept. 17. Farewell Address. 
Washington issued his " Farewell Ad- 
dress " to the American people. It was 
his last direct utterance to his fellow- 



countrymen, and was full of practical 
wisdom, and rich with patriotism. It 
reviewed his own labors, and warned 
against the dangers to which the country 
was liable. It showed that he was an 
eminent lover of his country, and truly 
entitled to the name " Father of His 
Country." 

1796. Dec. 7. Washington made 
his closing address to congress, briefly 
reviewing the situation of the country. 

AKTHOKY WAYKE. 

1796. Dec. 14. Gen. Anthony Wayne, 
known as " Mad Anthony," died at 
Presque Isle, now Erie, Penn., at the age 
of fifty-one years. He was born in 
Chester Co., Penn., Jan. i, 1745. He 
was sent to school at home, and then to 
the Philadelphia academy, where he be- 
came specially j^roficient in mathematics. 
When he was twenty years old he 
opened a surveyor's office, and was sent 
to Nova Scotia to locate some land for 
the crown. The business was discharged 
so faithfully that he was made superin- 
tendent of the settlement, and remained 
there about two years. He then returned 
home, and began business again. In 
1773 he was elected to the Assembly. 
When he saw the storm brewing in 
1775? he left the general discussion to 
politicians, and raising a volunteer corjDs, 
began to drill them. At the beginning 
of the war he was appointed a colonel, 
and sent to Canada. After the failure of 
the attack on Three Rivers, he was with 
the army in its retreat to Ticonderoga. 
He saw that the peril and glory of the 
war were to be with Washington, and 
thirsting for these, at his own request he 
was joined to Washington's army, and 
was made brigadier. At the battles of 
Germantown, Brandywine and Mon- 



366 



REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLES. 



mouth, he showed that headlong spirit 
and presence of mind which never for- 
sook him. When asked by Washington 
if he woukl storm the ahnost impregna- 
ble Stony Point, on the Hudson, his 
reply, though profane, indicated a fearless 
heart, and a touching reverence for his 
commander. When peace was declared, 
Georgia gave him a handsome farm, but 
he returned to his old home. In 1793, 
after two unsuccessful attempts by Har- 
mar and St. Clair to subdue western 
Indians, Washington appointed Gen. 
Wayne commander-in-chief. The Indi- 
ans said " The white men have a leader 
who never sleeps." In battle he routed 
them completely, and then made peace 
with them. Upon his return he was re- 
ceived with great honor at Philadelphia. 
He died while returning from the North- 
west Territory. He was an eminently 
useful man to his country. 



1798. French Depredations. During 
this year French cruisers began to prey 
upon American commerce, under a secret 
order from the French Directory, which 
was embittered because of the neutral 
position assumed by the United States 
in the war between France and England. 
The " Mount Vernon," ovyrjed by an 
American citizen, was seized at the capes 
of the Delaware by the " Flying Fish," 
a French privateer which had been lying 
at Philadelphia. The French minister 
refused to give any explanation of the 
affair. 

1796. Western Military Posts. The 
British surrendered their ^oosts at Detroit, 
Niagara, Michillimackinac, and other 
1796-1815. Wars places, including the rapids 

nsTiiT" ^' "^ ^'""^ Maumee. This was 

Jiodei-i Burns, in accordance with Mr. 

Jay's treaty in 1 793, but their action was 



hurried by the great victory of Wayne 
over the Indians the previous year. 

1796. Indian Slavery. When Detroit 
and other jjlaces occupied by the Cana- 
dian French were turned over to the 
United States, numbers of Pawnee slaves 
were found in use as domestic servants 
and laborers. It seems that the Pawnees, 
who were thought by other tribes to be 
inferior, had been sold to the French 
when taken captives in war, and not only 
remained enslaved, but their children 
after them also. At the time of the sur- 
render of Detroit, the inhabitants boasted 
of the efficiency of their servants. The 
Pawnees had become superior household 
servants. 

1796. The first machine for cutting 
a nail and making a head upon it at the 
same time, was patented this year by 
Isaac Garrettson,of Pennsylvania. Form- 
erly the head had been made by hand with 
a hammer, while the nail, after being 
cut, was grasped in a vise. 

1796. The First Propellor. A little 
steamboat was run by a wheel under the 
water at the stern of the boat, on Collect 
Pond, in Nev.'- York city. It was made 
by John Fitch, and had for a boiler a 
twelve gallon pot with a plank top, 
fastened down by an iron bar and clamps. 
This was John Fitch's last attempt. He 
was discouraged in trying to make a 
complete success of steam navigation, 
and was involved in numerous lawsuits 
over lands which he held in Kentucky. 
During a fit of depression he took some 
opium pills and ended his life. 

1796. Dutch Guiana, S. A., was oc- 
cupied by the English. 

THIRD PRESIDEXTML C±MP:1I0.¥. 

1796. The third presidential campaign 
was the first well-defined party contest 



1784-1799.] 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



367 



in the United States. Near the close of 
this year electors were chosen by the 
several legislatures. ' There was, as yet, 
no popular presidential election by the 
people. Nominations were not as yet 
made by any party assemblies. The 
federalists supported by common con- 
sent, John Adams of Massachusetts, for 
president, and Thomas Pinckney of 
Maryland, for vice-president. The dem- 
ocrat-republicans supported Thomas Jef- 
ferson of Virginia, for president, and Col. 
Aaron Burr of New York, for vice-pres- 
ident. The French minister to the 
United States attempted to influence the 
election by issuing an " Address to the 
American People," in which he inti- 
mated that if the result should be adverse 
to the democrat-republicans the French 
government would break off their con- 
nection with the United States. The 
election was comparatively close, and the 
result was divided. Of the electoral 
votes John Adams had 71, and Thomas 
Pinckney 59. Thomas Jefferson had 6^^ 
and Aaron Burr 30. A few scattering 
votes were thrown. The votes, accord- 
ing to the constitution, made John Adams, 
federalist, president, and Thomas Jeffer- 
son, democrat-republican, vice-president, 
as having: the next hiofhest number. 



1797. February. French Indignities. 
C. C. Pinckney of South Carolina, who 
had been appointed ininister to France, 
and who, upon his arrival late in 1796, 
had been refused recognition, was or- 
dered to leave France, and withdrew to 
Holland. The French government was 
greatly offended by the treaty of Jay. 

1797. March 4. John Adams was 
inaugvn-ated president, and Thomas Jef- 
ferson vice-president. 

1797. May. The French government, 



excited by the election of Adams, au- 
thorized the capture of American vessels, 
and declared that an American sailor 
found on a hostile ship, even if placed 
there unwillingly, should be hung. 
American sailors were subject to impress- 
ment by England, and execution by 
France. 

1797. October. The X. Y. Z. Mission. 
An American mission was appointed to 
go to France and negotiate for peace. 
It was composed of Charles C. Pinckney, 
John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry. 
They proceeded to France, but were re- 
fused reception by the government, unless 
large sums of money were first paid to 
the French officers. It was then that 
Pinckney made his famous reply, " Mil- 
lions for defence, but not one cent for 
tribute." The envoys were badly treated, 
and finally returned home without effect- 
ing 'any result. The name of the mis- 
sion in history has come from the fact 
that the suggestions concerning bribes to 
be paid to the French, were made in 
letters written over the signature X. Y. 
Z. These letters were afterward ob- 
tained by England, and published 
through Europe. 

1797. War preparations were un- 
dertaken by congress, who provided for 
80.000 militia, ordered a small naval 
force to be prepared, and passed strict 
acts against privateering, under a threat- 
ened penalty of $10,000, and ten years' 
imprisonment. 

1797. Middlebury College was found- 
ed at Middlebury, Vermont. 

1797. Frederick College was founded 
at Frederick, Maryland. 

1797. The first medical journal in 
the United States, was issued in New 
York. Dr. Rush and others had written 
much through the press before. 



368 



REVOLUTION AR2' STRUGGLES. 



1797. The first steam locomotive in 

America, and probably in the world, was 
invented this year by A. Kinsley, and 
ran upon the streets of Hartford, Conn. 

1797. A cast-iron plow was invented 
by Charles Newbold of Burlington, N. 
J., who laid out about $30,000 in perfect- 
ing it. The report spread among the 
farmers, however, that the cast-iron plow 
1729-1197. " poisoned the soil, ruined 

Edmund Burke, the crops, and promoted the 
gi'owth of rocks." Hence the manu- 
facture of them ceased. There were 
other patents on different plans within a 
few years, but of no great importance, 
until 18 19. 

1797. The yellow fever raged along 
the Atlantic coast of the United States. 

1797. The island of Trinidad, which 
had been taken from the Spanish by the 
French in 1676, and shortly i"estored, was 
taken by the English, in whose posses- 
sion it has since remained. 

1797. A conspiracy for revolutioniz- 
ing the province of Caraccas, S. A., was 
discovered among the Creoles, and 
thwarted for a time. One of the leaders 
was executed two years afterward, and 
became one of the first martyrs of liberty 
in Colombia. Caraccas has been called 
the " cradle of South American liberty." 

1798. Jan. 8. The Eleventh Amend- 
ment to the constitution was declared in 
force, making it impossible for a suit to 
be brought against a state in the United 
States court, and enabling states to re- 
pudiate debts. 

1798. April 30. The Department 
of the Navy in the United States was 
created by act of congress, and Benjamin 
Stoddert of Maryland, was appointed to 
fill the office of Secretary. The navv 
had been previously in the War De- 
partment. 



1798. May 28. A provisional army 

was voted to be raised by congress. 
This act enabled the president to enlist 
ten thousand men for three years, in case 
of war. 

1798. July 2. Commander-in- 
chief. The president nominated Wash- 
ington Lieut.-General in command of all 
the armies of the United States, and he 
was unanimously confirmed the next day. 
By Washington's request, Alexander 
Hamilton was appointed major-general. 

1798. July 10. The inhabitants of 
British Honduras, a colony in Central 
America, successfully repulsed the attack 
of a Spanish fleet and land force of 
2,000 men, since which it has remained 
undisturbed in the possession of England, 

1798. July. " Alien and Sedition " 
laws were passed by congress, the former 
making it possible for the president to 
arrest any foreigner, and send him out 
of the country; and the latter subjecting 
to a heavy fine and imprisonment any 
who might be found aiding or abetting 
any resistance to the government of the 
United States. These were at once, and 
for a long time, extremely unpopular with 
the anti-federalists, and much scorn was 
heaped upon the administration. These 
two laws were the secret of the after 
defeat of the federalists, and in fact, the 
death of the party; for the democrat- 
republicans thought that they violated 
the first amendment, which prohibited 
any abridgement of the freedom of 
speech or press. 

1798. " Hail Columbia," the national 
ode of the American people, was written 
during the summer by Joseph Hopkinson 
of Philadelphia. A young actor named 
Fox, was to have a benefit in that city. 
Two days before its occurrence he was 
in company with Mr. Hopkinson, whom 



1784-1799.] 

he had known in his school clays, and 
said that if he could have a patriotic ode 
adapted to the tune of the " President's 
March " he would sing it on his benefit 
night. Ml". Hopkinson asked him to call 
the next day, and when he came, gave 
him the ode, which has since become so 
truly national in its reputation. 

1798. Nov. 10. The celebrated 
Kentucky Resolutions were drawn up 
by Jefferson, declaring that the States 
and the Federal government were two 
parties to a contract, either of which 
might judge of infractions. 

1798. Nov. 20. French privateers 
took the American frigate Retaliation, 
under Lieut. Bainbridge, and carried her 
to Guadeloupe, W. I. 

1798. Dee. 24. The Virginia Res- 
olutions were a series drawn up by 
-,«oc, z, .., r Madison, and adopted by 

1798. Battle of ' f J 

the Nile. Nei- the Virginia legislature, de- 

son''s Victory. i • i.\ i. i. i. i i 

-^ ckinng that states could 
interpose to prevent unconstitutional 
United States authority, and that the 
" Alien and Sedition " laws were usur- 
pations. Copies were sent to the other 
states, but were not favorably received. 
The next year, however, Virginia passed 
similar resolutions. 

1798. Impressment. Some Amer- 
ican sailors were impressed by a British 
squadron off Havana, Cuba. The affair 
caused much excitement, and began that 
long agitation which finally resulted in 
the war of i8i3, between Great Britain 
and the United States. 

1798. The first regular mining shaft 
in Missouri was sunk by Moses Austin 
of Virginia. A furnace and shot tower 
were also built. 

1798. The first efiective steam en- 
gine, after those made by Fitch, was 
constructed by Nicholas Rooseveldt, who 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



369 



made experiments in steam navigation 
near New York. 

1798. A bonnet of oat straw was 
made by Betsey Metcalf, of Dedham, 
Mass., a girl twelve years old. It ac- 
quired such a reputation through the re- 
gion that many ladies came to see and 
learn the art of making. She smoothed 
the straw with scissors, split it with her 
thumb nail, and bleached it by holding in 
the fumes of burning sulphur. The 
bonnet was made of seven open-work 
braids, and proved the foundation of a 
business in that vicinity. 

1798. The volcano of Izalco, thirty- 
six miles from San Salvador, originated 
by the bursting of lava through a fissure 
in the earth, and the rapid accumulation 
of stones and debris of all kinds. There 
has since been an almost constant erup- 
tion at that point, and the cone has been 
built up till it is 6,ooo feet above sea 
level. This and Jorullo in Mexico are 
the only volcanoes known to have been 
opened within the memory of man. 

1798. A plan to revolutionize the 
Spanish American provinces, was ar- 
ranged by Francis Miranda, a native of 
Venezuela, S. A., who hoped and tried 
to obtain aid from England and the 
United States. The scheme was frus- 
trated by the renewal of friendly relations, 
between Spain and America. 

1799. Feb. 4. The first general 
assembly of the Northwest Territory 
met at Cincinnati. W. H. Harrison was 
elected the first Representative to con- 
gress. A bill was passed foi-bidding the 
sale of whisky to the Indian villages of 
the territory, because of the great harm 
it was doing. The measure originated 
with the missionaries of the United 
Brethren. 

1799. Feb. 9. Naval Victory. The 



370 



RE VOL UTIONAR T STR UGGLES . 



French frigate, L'Insurgente, with 44 
guns and 409 men, was captured among 
the West Indies by the American frigate 
Constellation, with 36 guns, under Com- 
modore Truxton. The French loss was 
66, killed and wounded; the American, i 
killed, and 3 wounded. Silver plate 
worth $3,000 was given to Truxton as a 
reward for this achievement. 

1799. April. The gradual abolition 
of slavery within New York was pro- 
vided for in a bill passed by the legisla- 
ture of that State. Male children were 
to be free at twenty-eight years of age, 
females at twenty-five. 

PATRICK HEXRY. 

1799. June 6. Patrick Henry, whose 
eloquence when he was aroused, burned 
like a flame, died at Red Hill, Charlotte 
Co., Va., at the age of 63 years. He 
was the son of a Scotchman who settled 
in Virginia, where Patrick was born 
May 29, 1736. His boyhood was passed 
in varied ways, but he finally grew to be 
so fond of hunting and fishing that he 
would break away at any moment to go 
upon an expedition. He seems to have 
been somewhat shiftless in his young 
manhood. But at last, when twenty-four 
years old, he began to see that something 
must be done, or his family would starve 
to death. After six weeks' diligent study 
of the law he was admitted to the bar, 
on condition that he would pursue the 
study further before attempting to prac- 
tice. Rut no one would employ him. 
He was nothing but a lazy pettifogger. 
In 1763 he was employed in the case of 
the parsons against the state, in the ques- 
tion of the state tax on tobacco. The 
case had virtually gone against him, when 
he arose. He began in a faltering and 
apparently broken manner. The persons 



who sympathized with his side were giv- 
ing up in dismay, when a sudden trans- 
formation took place in the speaker, who 
now began to throw his masterly power 
over the whole assembly. Silence waited 
upon his words. The people were 
breathless with intense passion. He won 
his cause. He now was the celebrated 
man of the region. In 1765 he was 
elected to the Virginia House of Bur- 
gesses, where he spoke with overpower- 
ing eflfect on the great questions at issue 
between Parliament and the colonies. 
He foretold that the differences would 
have to be settled with the sword, and in 
1775 he ended his greatest speech in the 
assembly with the fiery words, " As for 
me, give me liberty, or give me death!" 
He was elected the first republican gov- 
ernor of Virginia, and was again put in 
the same place, afler peace had been de- 
clared. Washington appointed him sec- 
retary of state in 1795, but he refused to 
accept. A short time before his death he 
was appointed envoy to France by Pres- 
ident Adams, but his feeble health would 
not permit him to make the journey. He 
was bitterly opposed to the federal consti- 
tution, being an earnest advocate of state 
rights. He was ungainly in his personal 
appearance to a casual observer, but when 
aroused, his whole form changed its bear- 
ing, and he seemed to dilate with a spirit 
of power. He is to be remembered as 
the most remarkable orator of his time. 



1799. July 16. Alexander von 
Humboldt, the great European scientist, 
arrived at Cumana, Venezuela, for the 
purpose of exploring the Spanish posses- 
sions in America. Everything in the 
New World which would aid him in 
his undertaking had been put at his dis- 
posal by the Spanish government. 



1784-1799.] 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



371 



1799. November. An embassy to 
arrange the impending difficulties with 
France, was appointed by John Adams, 
president of tlie United States. OUver 
Ellsworth and William R. Davis sailed 
under orders to join William Vance 
Murray, American minister at the Hague, 
for this service. This commission was in 
opposition to the federalist wishes, and 
1199. Travels hi cost John Adams, who sent 

Africa byMun- j^ ^^^ without even COUSult- 
go Park, pub- 
lished, ing his cabinet, the sup- 
port of his party. The trouble was 
further increased by an alienation be- 
tween Adams and Hamilton. 

1799. Nov. 14. Nullification. Ken- 
tucky passed resolutions declaring that a 
state may nullify and declare void any 
act of congress w^hich it thinks unconsti- 
tutional. This, with the resolutions of 
179S, were quoted in 1S33 and i860. 

GEORGE WASHIKGTOK. 

1799. Dec. 14. George Washington, 
Commander-in-chief of the American 
forces during the Revolutionary War, 
and first president of the United States, 
died at Mt. Vernon, after a very brief 
illness. 

He was born Feb. 22, 1732, upon his 
father's estate on the bank of the Poto- 
mac, in Westmoreland Co., Va. His 
father died when George was but eleven 
years old, leaving him to the care of his 
inother, who was a wise, capable woman. 
As there was no advanced school near 
the estate in Stafford County, to which his 
father had gone soon after George's birth, 
and as he was deprived of his father's 
help, he was sent to his birthplace to live 
with his half-brother, Augustine, where 
tbere was a good school. He gave the 
most of his attention to such studies as 
would fit him for business, and was not 



at all acquainted with the languages, nor 
w^ith rhetoric and belles-lettres. Many 
of his vacations were spent at Mt. Ver- 
non with his older half-brother Lawrence, 
between whom and himself had sprung 
up a strong attachment, and who seemed 
in part to supply a father's place. On 
these visits he became acquainted with 
Hon. William Fairfax, the father of 
Lawrence's wife, whose estate joined Mt. 
Vernon. When George was fourteen 
years old, his brother and Mr. Fairfax 
procured for him a place in the navy, but 
at the last inoment this was given up on 
account of the final unwillingness of his 
mother. He therefore continued in 
school two years longer, making mathe- 
matics a specialty, and became thor- 
oughly acquainted with the principles of 
geometry, trigonometry, and practical 
surveying. At the end of this time, 
while on a visit to his brother at Mt. 
Vernon, Lord Fairfax, cousin of William, 
learning his knowledge of surveying, and 
his interest in it, procured his services in 
surveying a large tract of land which he 
had purchased beyond the Blue Ridge. 
This was undertaken and carried through 
by Washington with so much acceptance, 
that he was made public surveyor, in 
which office he continued three years. 

It was about this time that French and 
Indian hostilities began to break out on 
the frontier. Washington was put in 
command of a company of militia; but 
was interrupted in his labors by the ill 
health of his brother, which made it 
necessary for him to seek a warmer cli- 
mate. Washington accompanied him 
and remained until midwinter. Law- 
rence remained six months longer, but 
not finding his health improved, at length 
hastened home, as he said, to die. He 
died July 26, 175^? leaving a wife and 



372 



RE VOL UTIONAR T S TR UGGLES. 



infant daughter, to whom was left Mt. 
Vernon, which, in case of her death, fell 
to Washington. 

In October of the next year, Wash- 
ington set out on the perilous undertaking 
of carrying a message to the French 
commandant on the Ohio. In the exe- 
cution of this he showed so much pru- 
dence, especially in dealing with the 
crafty French and Indians, that he re- 
ceived the high- 
est commenda- 
tions from the 
Virginia legisla- 
ture. On the 
journey he noted 
the fine position 
for a fort at the 
junction of the 
Allegheny and 
Monongahela 
Rivers, and hav- 
ing collected 
forces, set out in 
the following 
spring to put 
plans in opera- 
tion f o r c o n - 
structing it, but 
learned that the 
French had an- 
ticipated him, GEORGE w 

and had erected Fort DuQuesne. Dur- 
ing the months that followed, Wash- 
ington was learning valuable lessons in 
frontier warfare, and, though finally 
obliged to surrender his forces to the 
French, obtained honorable terms, and 
ditl not lose his reputation for prudence. 
In the latter part of the year he resigned 
his position, and after a short visit to his 
mother, returned to Mt. Vernon. He 
did not remain long, however; when 
Gen. Braddock was sent out the next 




year from England to reduce Fort 
DuQuesne, Washington w^ent with him 
as aid-de-camp. Had Braddock not 
been too proud to listen to the advice of 
his aid-de-camjD, his expedition might not 
have ended so disastrously. In the ter- 
rible battle which terminated the unfort- 
unate expedition, Washington conducted 
himself with great coolness and courage. 
Two horses were shot under him, and 
f o u r bullets 
passed through 
his coat. An In- 
dian sharpshoot- 
er said that he 
was not born to 
be killed by a 
bullet, for he had 
taken direct aim 
at him seventeen 
times, and failed 
to hit him. 

After Brad- 
dock's defeat the 
command of the 
f o r c e s on the 
frontier was 
again placed in 
Washington's 
hands. During 
the next four 
years, until near 
the close of the French and Indian war, 
he had a chance to become acquainted 
with all the horrors of frontier life and 
Indian warfare. 

Washington was married Jan, 6, 1759, 
to IMrs. Martha Custis, whom he had 
met the previous year; and spent the next 
fifteen years, for the most part, at Mt. 
Vernon, while occupying at the same 
time a seat in the Virginia House of 
Burgesses. 

The passage of the Stamp Act occa- 



\SIIINGTON. 



1784-1799.] 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



373 



sioned him great concern, and he consid- 
ered all instrumental in its repeal 
" entitled to the thanks of every British 
subject." Later he approved discontinu- 
ing the use of taxed articles, and brought 
forward in the House of Burgesses, reso- 
lutions to that effect. He took an active 
part in the calling together of the first 
General Congress, and in the proceedings 
of that body. 

On the actual breaking out of hostil- 
ities, Washington was appointed com- 
mander-in-chief of the Continental forces, 
and his conduct of the war demonstrated 
the wisdom of the choice. Great Britain 
was not the most formidable foe with 
which he had to contend; his greatest 
victories, we may say, were in his own 
camp. It required a more than ordinary 
will to keep together an army situated 
as were the men who composed that 
army, sufficiently large to repel attacks 
from the foe. It required more than 
ordinary patience to see troops leaving 
him as soon as their terms of enlistment 
had expired, \vhatever might be the cir- 
cumstances of the army. It required more 
than ordinary watchfulness to keep the 
real condition of the army from the 
enemy, making it necessary that it should 
also be kept from friends. It required 
more than ordinary courage to bear pa- 
tiently the censures arising from this 
course, and to follow the policy which he 
knew to be the only safe one for his 
country. It required more than ordinary 
wisdom to allow just enough skirmishing 
to keep the troops contented, and to select 
that which would be most effective. He 
was obliged also to make repeated ap- 
peals to congress for the food and cloth- 
ing necessary to alleviate the real distress 
of the army, and for new methods of 
enlistment, by which, with better pros- 



pects in respect to pay, men might be 
induced to enlist for longer periods. 

Perhaps Washington's sound judg- 
ment is in no way better shown than in 
his method of quelling rebellions in camp. 
He looked at both sides of these as of 
other things; could see reasons for the 
apprehensions of the troops in regard to 
their pay, and their real need of supplies, 
and endeavored to get their wrongs 
righted; while at the same time he was 
prompt to quell the disturbance before it 
should become a general mutiny. But 
Washington's care for the troops ex- 
tended further than simply to bodily 
needs. He well knew the tendency of 
an army to looseness of moi^als, and 
exercised an almost paternal care over the 
soldiers in this respect. He discouraged 
foraging, allowing it only when supplies 
could be obtained in no other way, much 
regretting the necessity. He enjoined 
upon the troops a careful observance of 
the Sabbath, and checked profanity and 
eveiy vice, so far as lay in his power. 

While retaining the confidence of the 
troops and of the mass of the people, he 
was not altogether free from plots against 
his character and reputation. These he 
heeded as little as possible, and when an 
opportunity presented itself to do the 
well-known instigators a kindness, did 
not fail to do it in the kindest possible 
manner. In his treatment of jDrisoners 
of war he was ever disposed to be 
humane, resorted to severity only as a 
measure of retaliation, and was glad to 
change the treatment, when the need no 
longer existed. 

No one hailed the return of peace and 
the prospect of rest from public labors, 
with greater joy than Washington; yet 
it was not without much sorrow that he 
took his final leave of the soldiers and 



374 



RE VOL UTIONAR T STR UGGL ES. 



those officers who had for so long a time 
been his companions and advisers in mil- 
itary affairs. 

The same regularity \vhich had char- 
acterized his military life, followed him 
to his home; rising early, he partook of a 
simple breakfast, and then mounting his 
horse, rode to different parts of his 
estate ; dinner was served at two, and tea 
early in the evening, after which he 
wrote, or spent his time socially until 
nine, which was his time for retiring. 
During the years just preceding the 
adoption of the constitution, Washington 
became very much interested in the 
opening of water communication be- 
tween the Potomac and Ohio Rivers, 
feeling that it was necessary in order to 
the continuance of unity of feeling be- 
tween the territory bordering on the 
Mississippi and the Atlantic States. 

In his presidential career Washington 
was subject to the peculiar trials incident- 
al to a new government; trials from lack 
of confidence on the part of other gov- 
ernments; trials from lack of harmony 
between the different sections of our own 
government; trials from the impoverished 
state of the country, owing to the war, 
and want of credit; trials from the be- 
ginnings of party strife. He, himself, 
was no partisan. His clear judgment 
could discern the golden inean ; and 
while perhaps this alone kept our govern- 
ment from sinking at its very outset, it 
left him exposed to attacks from both 
sides, which were often bitter, and ex- 
tremely annoying. In his choice of 
cabinet officers he looked about for those 
men who, in his judgment, knew most 
about the duties and needs of their re- 
spective departments, and in whose 
integrity he had perfect confidence. It 
was a source of much trouble to him 



that Jefferson and Hamilton, the two in 
whom he perhaps had the greatest con- 
fidence, should from the beginning have 
been at such variance; Jefferson an ex- 
treme democrat, while Hamilton, at 
least in Jefferson's opinion, was almost a 
royalist. 

The election of Washington for a 
second term was, like the first, unani- 
mous. At the end of the second term 
many were anxious that he continue the 
office; but it was only because he had 
been made to feel it unquestionably his 
duty that he had accepted a second nom- 
ination, and a third he absolutely refused. 
Thankfully leaving the burdens and 
honors of office after the fourth of 
March, 1797, he again turned to his 
home, hoping to pass there his few re- 
maining years free from the annoyances 
of public life. 

The prospect of a war with France,, 
and the desire on the part of his country- 
men that in such an event he would 
again take command of the armies, 
seemed likely, in 1797, to interrupt his 
repose. He chose his subordinate offi- 
cers, and left to them the care of matters 
In the field, which he superintended from 
his home, only once going to Philadel- 
phia, as in accepting the command he 
made the reservation that he ^vas not to 
be in the field until necessary. In the 
midst of these preparations, Washington's 
life was suddenly brought to a close. On 
the twelfth of December, from a ride in 
the rain, he took a severe cold, which, 
settling in his throat, produced inflamma- 
tion, and terminated fatally on the night 
of the fourteenth. On the eighteenth 
his body was borne with military honors 
to its final resting place, and interred in 
the family vault at Mt. Vernon. 

The news of his death caused deep 



1784-1799.] 

sorrow throughout the nation. Judge 
Marshall moved an adjournment of con- 
gress, saying that after receiving intelli- 
gence of such a national calamity, that 
body could not be fitted for the transac- 
tion of business. Nor w^as the grief 
occasioned by his death confined to his 
ow^n country. In France, and Great 
Britain, too, high tribute was paid to one 
whose character could not fail to com- 
mand the highest admiration and respect. 
Not brilliant in its manifestations, that 
character seems to be more fitly com- 
pared to a great cathedral, massive in all 
its appointments, yet each part harmo- 
nizing perfectly with every other, and 
with the whole. We call the completed 
structure grand. Washington was grand ; 
perfectly developed in every part; the 
clearly discerning soul within corres- 
ponding to the finely developed phys- 
ical structure w^hich contained it. He is 
rightly named with the wisest of the 
earth. 

1799. Dee. 26. A funeral oration 

upon Washington was pronounced before 
congress by Henry Lee, who had been 
one of the most intimate personal friends 
of the deceased. 

1799. The Russian American Pur 
Company was founded under the Em- 
peror Paul, and carried on the fur trade 



THE RISE OF A NATION. 



375 



of Alaska until the sale of that territory 
to the United States in 1867. Its prin- 
cipal American depot has been Sitka. 

1799. The first teachers' association 
in America was formed this year at 
Middletown, Conn., under the name of 
" The Middlesex County Association for 
the improvement of Common Schools." 

1799. The University of North Car- 
olina was founded at Chapel Hill, N. C. 

1799. The first vaccination in Amer- 
ica was performed by Dr. Benjamin 
Waterhouse of Boston, upon four of his 
children. The process encountered great 
opposition at first. 

1799. House Tax Insurrection. An 
insurrection occurred in some of the 
counties of Pennsylvania, against the 
levying of the direct tax upon houses. 
In the village of Bethlehem the troubles 
took the form of an armed resistance to 
the assessors, by about fifty men, led by 
a man named Fries. A large number of 
them were afterward arrested, and Fries 
was found guilty of treason. For some 
technical reason a new trial was granted 
him, and he was again found guilty, but 
President Adams soon joardoned him. 

1799. Prince Edward's Island. The 
name of the island in the St. Lawrence 
gulf, hitherto known as St. John, was 
this year changed to Prince Edward's 
Island, in honor of the Duke of Kent. 




WASHINGTON'S SWORD AND CANE. 



SECTION XVI. 




T last the effects of the Revolution 
were visible in all North and South 
America. After many years of 
burden-bearing the Spanish prov- 
inces began to make greater efforts to ob- 
tain freedom, and in 1S24 the work was 
completed, save in poor Cuba, which has 
never thrown off the yoke. During the 
same time the United States were forced 
to fight the mother country once more, 
to gain the full blessings of the Revolu- 
tion. Between the war for Independence 
and the war of 1812, there was a con- 
stant military agitation over violations of 
international rights. Several thousands 
of American citizens were imj^ressed 
into the British service about the first of 
the present century. Not a case has oc- 
curred since 1S15. The North African 
jDirates were also effectually crushed by 
American courage. The West India 
pirates were also annihilated by the same 
agency. These things fill the present 
period. Liberty was becoming a greater 
power in the world. A great step was 
taken in many a direction. The early 
promise of the continent was beginning 
to be realized. 

1800. Feb. 1. A naval battle took 



place near Guadeloupe, W. I., between 
the American frigate Constellation under 
Commodore Thomas Truxton, and the 
French frigate La Vengeance. The 
latter, with fifty-four guns and five hun- 
dred men, was wholly disabled after five 
hours' conflict in the night, but escaped 
through the falling of the Constellation's 
mainmast. The Constellation lost thirty- 
nine men, killed and wounded; the La 
Vengeance one hundred and fifty. 

1800. Feb. 22. Washington's Birth- 
day. The first anniversary of Washing- 
ton's birthday, which had occurred since 
his death, was observed throughout the 
country, in accordance with the recom- 
mendation of congress. 

1800. April 24. Congressional Li- 
brary. An appropriation of $5,000, to 
be expended upon a room and books for 
a congressional library, was voted by 
congress at its last session in Philadelphia. 

1800. May 10. The provisional 
army which had been raised, because of 
impending hostilities with France, was 
now disbanded by act of congress, be- 
cause of the favorable reception of the 
American envoys in Europe. 

1800. May 21. Amnesty for all 
who had taken part in the " house tax 



1800-1824.] 

insurrection " in Pennsylvania vs^as de- 
clared by President Adams. 

1800. June. Washington, D. C, 
was officially occupied as the capital of 
the United States. The furniture of the 
governmental departments is said to have 
been conveyed from Philadelphia to 
Washington in one packet sloop. 

1800. Sept. 30. A temporary treaty 
with France was arranged by the United 
States commissioners. 

1800. Oct. 4. Improved Telegraph. 
A description of an improved telegraph 
which had been put into use between 
Boston and Martha's Vineyard, a distance 
of ninety miles, was filed in the patent 
department by Jonathan Grant, Jr., of 
Belchertown, Mass. A question had 
b^en sent over the line and answered, in 
less than ten minutes. 

1800. The second census of the 
United States gave a population of 5,308,- 
4S3 persons. It was taken at a cost of 
$66,609,04. There had been an increase 
in the population since 1790 of 35- 10 P^i* 
cent. 

1800. The first college paper in the 
United States was issued by the students 
of Dartmouth College, Hanover, N. H., 
and was named " The Gazette." 

1800. The first United States land 
oflBce was opened at Chillicothe, Ohio, 
accordingf to an act of con- 



THE A WAKENED CONTINENT. 



377 



1800. Union of 

E7i<riand and grcss, which provided for 
this one and three others at 



Ireland. 



Marietta, Cincinnati, and Steubenville, 
respectively. The pojDulation of the 
Northwest Territory was now 45,365 
persons, who had come in since 1788. 
Many of these men were ruined finan- 
cially by the war, or were young advent- 
urers without means. The ex-soldiers 
especially were in a suffering condition, 
for they had only government certificates 



which sold for almost nothing. At first 
the land had been sold in tracts of one 
and two million acres. Then quarter 
townships were offered, and in 1 796 sec- 
tions could be bought. This year half 
sections could be bought. Men of small 
means could now invest. Finally, it 
was possible to buy small amounts of 
land at two dollars an acre on five years' 
credit. 

1800. Humboldt explored the prov- 
ince of Venezuela, acquiring the first real 
knowledge of the Orinoco River. 

1800. An improved piano was pat- 
ented by John J. Hawkins of Philadel- 
phia, who advertised it from No. 15 
South Second Street, under the name of 
Patent Portable Grand Piano. He 
claimed that he could sell it at one-half 
the price of imported instruments. 

1800. The first total abstinence 
pledge written in America, was drawn 
up by Micajah Pendleton of Nelson Co., 
Va., for his own family. By his influence 
other families were induced to adopt it 
also, 

FOURTH PRESIBEKTML CAMPAIGK. 

1800. In the fourth presidential cam- 
paign at the close of this year, the fed- 
eralists put in nomination by a congres- 
sional caucus, John Adams of Massa- 
chusetts, for president, and C. C. Pinckney 
of South Carolina, for vice-president. 
The democrat-republicans in a similar 
way nominated Thomas- Jefferson of 
Virginia, for president, and Aaron Burr 
of New York, for vice-president. These 
were the first nominations of the kind. 
The federalists showed their partial 
alienation from President Adams, chiefly 
because of his favor to the Alien and 
Sedition laws. The consequence was, 
that the democrat-republican ticket tri- 
umphed in the vote of the electors, but 



378 



RE VOL UTIONARl' S TR UGGLES. 



the two candidates had each the same 
number of votes, thus making it impos- 
sible to tell under the methods then in 
use, which should be president, and which 
should be vice-president, except by the 
choice of the house of representatives. 
Jefferson and Burr each had 73 votes. 
Adams had 65, and Pinckney 64, and 
John Jay i- 

1801. Feb. 1. Balloting for president 
began in the house 
of representatives. 
The federalists had 
a majority in the 
house, but were re- 
stricted in voting 
to the two highest 
candidates, who 
were democrat-re- 
j^ublicans. 

1801. Feb. 17.\^^i 
Upon the 36th bal- ,■ 
lot Thomas Jeffer- 
son was elected 
president, and 
Aaron Burr, vice- 
president. 

1801. March 4. 
Jefferson and Burr 
were inaugurated. 
The federalists 
foreboded much ill 
from the loose po- 
litical ideas of those who had now been put 
in charge of the government. The chief 
idea of the democrat-republicans was 
the diffusion of power among the people. 
The federalists still had the head of the 
judiciary, John Jay. President Jefferson 
soon took occasion to pardon some who 
had been committed under the " alien 
and sedition " laws. 




BENEDICT ARNOLD, 



1801. June. Office-Holding. The 



first removal from office for political rea- 
sons was that of Elizur Goodrich, feder- 
alist, from the post of collector of the 
port of New Haven, Conn. Samuel 
Bishop, democrat-republican, was ap- 
pointed to the position. Mr. Jefferson, in 
referring to the matter, suggested the 
doctrine which has since become so pop- 
ular, and is so tersely expressed in the 
words of Gov. William L. Marcy, " To 
the victors belong 
the spoils." The 
removal, however, 
seems not to have 
been made f o r 
simply holding 
federalist opinions, 
but for using office 
as a means of ep- 
forcing party 
power. 

1801. June 10. 
Tripoli declared 
war upon the 
United States. 

^RXOLD. 

1801. June 14. 

Benedict Arnold, 
at one time a ma- 
jor-general in the 
continental army, 
died in obscurity in 
London, at the age of sixty-one years. He 
was born in Norwich, Conn,, Jan. 3, 1740. 
He had good training, and was sent to the 
best schools in the vicinity. But he grew 
up a reckless, cruel boy. He would rob 
birds' nests to hear the old birds cry, and 
would torment his schoolmates, who 
feared and despised him. When sent with 
grist to the mill, he would often catch hold 
of the mill-wheel and go round with it, just 
to frighten his companions. At a later day 



1800-1824.] 

he was established in the apothecary bus- 
iness, which he had learned, and enlai'ged 
his trade very much. At the dawn of 
tlie Revohition he joined Washington at 
Cambridge, witli a volunteer com^Dany 
which he had raised. He had already 
been at Ticonderoga with Ethan Allen, 
and now undertook the celebrated march 
into Canada, with all its disaster and 
final retreat. His conduct on Lake 
Champlain, and in the action at Saratoga, 
mark him as a man who was rash rather 
than brave. He certainly feared nothing. 
Little by little his alienation from the 
patriot cause increased, till he was ready 
to enter into the attempt to betray his 
country. Others had similar slights to 
bear, but his impatient spirit could not 
remain inactive. After his escape to the 
British vessels at the time of the capture 
of Andre, he became prominent in raids 
for the destruction of patriot property, 
and lives,with a fierceness seldom equaled. 
After the vs^ar he removed to England, 
where the " treason was accepted, but the 
traitor despised." The rest of his years 
were spent in increasing separation from 
everybody, until at last he died, the vic- 
tim of the indulgence which he had 
given to his own sensitiveness. One of 
his sons has served with credit and high 
rank in the British army. 



THE AWAKENED CONTINENT. 



379 



1801. July 1. San Domingo was 

declared an independent state under a 
constitution which was submitted to a 
convention by Toussaint L'Ouverture. 

1801. July. An American squadron, 
under Commodore Dale, was ordered to 
the Mediterranean to protect United 
States merchantmen from the depreda- 
tions of North African cruisers. 

1801. Aug. 6. The U. S. schooner 
"Experiment" captured a Tripolitan 



cruiser of fourteen guns after a severe 
battle of three hours, in which the Ex- 
periment did not lose a man. The Tri- 
politan lost twenty killed, and thirty 
wounded. 

1801. December. The first written 
presidential message was communicated 
to congress by President ,,,, ^^^^^ ^„,,. 
JeflTerson. Washington and -^'ays in Eng- 
Adams had delivered their ^''"''^ 
addresses in person. Jefferson's course 
has since been pursued. 

1801. The Sedition law of the United 

States expired by limitation, and could 
not be reenacted. The Alien law was 
modified. 

1801. The first suspension bridge in 
the world was built across Jacob's Creek, 
and the idea was afterward patented by 
James Finley, in iSoS. Within nine 
years several others were built. 

1801. The oxy-hydrogen blow-pipe 
was invented by Prof Robert Hare of 
Philadelphia, and by its intense heat, 
what was before impossible became 
easy. Prof Hare was very young at the 
time. He afterward invented the hydro- 
static blow-pipe. 

1801. The first full-blooded Merino 
buck imported into America, was brouo-ht 
to New York state, where his progeny 
became well-known. He was afterward 
sold into Delaware for sixty dollars. 
This was the first practical importation of 
the kind. 

1801. Orono, an Indian chief of the 
Penobscot tribe in Maine, who had been 
converted, and had labored to extend 
Christianity among his fellows, died at 
the age of one hundred and thirteen years. 

1801. Capture of Toussaint. Na- 
poleon sent an expedition to San Do- 
mingo, W. I., to restore slavery to the 
island. Toussaint L'Ouverture, the col- 



380 



RE VOL UTIONART S TR UGGL ES. 



ored leader, was ensnared, and sent to 
France, where he soon died. Dessalines 
assumed command of the negro forces. 

1802. March 16. The United States 
Military Academy at West Point, on 
the Hudson, was founded by the estab- 
lishment of a body of cadets, under the 
instruction of a corps of engineers, which 
was freshly organized by being separated 
from the artillery, and made to constitute 
a military academy. A private school 
had been in operation at the place for a 
year, but had failed of success. 

1802. June 23. Humboldt ascended 
to a point within two thousand feet of 
the summit of Mt. Chimborazo, S. A., 
reaching an altitude of 19,286 feet, a 
higher point than had ever before been 
reached. 

1802. June. The first trade sale 
for books ever held in America, was 
conducted at New York by the Amer- 
ican Company of Booksellers, of which 
Mr. Carey, of Philadelphia, was a lead- 
ing member. 

1802. July 6. An improvement in 
steamboats was patented by Edward 
West. It is claimed by some that he 
was the inventor of the first working 
steamboat in model. 

GEK. DAKIEL MORGAX. 

1802. July 6. Gen. Morgan, best 
known for the service which he rendered 
in the Revolution with his unerring 
riflemen, died at Winchester, Va., at the 
age of sixty-six years. He drove one of 
the teams connected with Braddock's 
expedition, and during the trip was 
whipped with five hundred lashes be- 
cause it was thought he had insulted a 
British officer. When the Revolution 
began he raised a company of riflemen, 
and with them marched six hundred 



miles in three weeks, to reach the camp 
at Boston. He was one of the hardy 
troop which pushed its way across the 
snows of Maine to the region of Quebec. 
At the assault he was captured by the 
English. He was afterward released, 
and again did good service with riflemen 
in New York, and later in the South, 
against Cornwallis. His health com- 
pelled him to leave the army before 
peace was made. He was a very bold, 
energetic fighter, and a great aid to the 
patriot cause. He was in the national 
congress for four years, at the close of the 
last century. 

1802. Oct. 16. Navigation of the 
Mississippi. The Spanish commander 
at New Orleans issued an order that 
citizens of the United States could no 
longer deposit goods at that place, and 
that the navigation of the Mississippi 
River would be no longer open to them. 
This was done in view of the prospect of 
the cession of Louisiana to France. 
News soon came that the cession had 
been accomplished, and James Monroe 
was sent to France to negotiate for the 
old privileges. 

1802. Nov. 29. Ohio was the sev- 
enteenth state to be admitted into the 
union. It has an area of 39,964 square 
miles, and a population in 1870, of 2,665,- 
CXD2 j^ersons. Its motto is, " Imperium 
in imperio." "An empire in an empire." 
It is known as the Buckeye State. 

1802. The citizens of the new Indiana 
territory petitioned congress to tempora- 
rily suspend the prohibition of slavery in 
the territories which came under the 
Ordinance of 17S7, until the labor of the 
region could be built up. The request 
was not granted. 

1802. Another squadron under Com- 



1800-1824.] 

modore Richard V. Morris, was ordered 
to the Mediterranean for the protection 
of American shipping. 

1802. The first Academy of Fine 
Arts in the United States, was estabhshed 
in New York. It was incorporated in 
1808, but died in 1S25, at the organiza- 
tion of another society. 

1802. The process of making starch 
from potatoes, was invented by John 
Biddis of Pennsylvania, who patented it 
at this time. 

1802. A proposal to light Central 
Square in Philadelphia, by gas obtained 
from coal, was made by Benjamin Hen- 
frey, who received a patent " for a cheap 
mode of obtaining light from fuel." The 
year before he had lighted Richmond 
with gas from wood. 

1802. Gigantic bird tracks were 
found in the quarries at Portland, Conn. 
They were found at quite a depth, were 
sixteen inches long, ten inches wide, and 
four or five feet apart. 

1802. The largest importation of 
Spanish Merino sheep was made this 
year for Hon. David Humphreys, min- 
ister to Spain. The flock, when shipped, 
numbered one hundred. Nine died on 
the passage. Nearly at this same time 
Hon. R. R. Livingston, minister to 
France, imported some of the Ram- 
bouillet stock. These important addi- 
tions had a great influence on the future 
sheep-keeping of the country. 

1802. Dutch Guiana, S. A., was re- 
stored to Holland by England. 

1803. April 30. The first Arlington 
sheep-shearing took place on the estate 
of George Washington Parke Custis, at 
a spring which was known as Arling- 
ton Spring. Mr. Custis had built a fine 
house on Arlington Heights, overlooking 
Washington, D. C, across the Potomac. 



THE A WAKENED CONTINENT. 



381 



He wished to promote the interests of the 
region. The Arlington sheep-shearing 
was held for a number of years on April 
30th, and became widely known. A 
banquet was usually spread by Mr. 
Custis, and prizes given for specimens of 
fine woolen, and other domestic manu- 
factures. 

1803, April 30. Louisiana was pur- 
chased from Napoleon I. for $15,000,000, 
by the United States. It comprised 
900,000 square miles, running from the 
Gulf of Mexico to the British Posses- 
sions, and from the Mississippi River to 
the Rocky Mountains. The purchase of 
this great tract was negoti- ^§(,3 
ated in secret. Napoleon Bank 0/ France. 
is said to have exclaimed upon com- 
pleting the bargain, " This accession 
of territory strengthens forever the 
power of the United States. I have 
just given England a maritime rival that 
will, sooner or later, humble her pride.'* 
By obtaining this territory the United 
States had a mountain barrier at the 
west, and could hold the gulf ports. The 
area of the original thirteen states was 
820,680 square miles. By the addition 
of Louisiana, containing 899,579 square 
miles, the area of the United States was 
more than doubled, becoming 1,720,259 
square miles. Louisiana had her first 
printing press immediately after this time. 

SAMUEL ADAMS. 

1803. Oct. 2. Samuel Adams, the in- 
corruptible patriot, died at the age of 
eighty-one years. He was born in Bos- 
ton, Sept. 27, 1722, and was a distant rela- 
tive of John Adams. In 1 740 he was 
graduated at Harvard, and at once began 
to take a great interest in political matters. 
He was an ardent patriot, and was ere 
long engaged in writing for the press. 



382 



REVOLUTION ART STRUGGLES. 



His father had had wealth, but lost it. 
The son had nothing save his own powers 
with which to aid his country. But well 
did he do it. In caucuses and clubs, and 
public meetings, he was of great influence. 
He served ten years in the assembly. 
The royalist Gov. Hutchinson said of 
him, " Such is the obstinacy and inflexible 
disposition of the man, that he can never 
be conciliated by any gift or oflice what- 
ever." Mr. Adams was a strong advo- 
cate of a continental congress, served in 
it for years, affixed his bold signature to 
the Declaration of Independence, was 
chosen lieutenant-governor, and after- 
ward governor of Massachusetts, and 
finally retired from service through in- 
creasing infirmities. He never entered 
military life, but w^ielded all his powers 
for his country's good, to such a degree 
that the British hated him more than 
they did almost any man in the Amer- 
ican army. 

1803. Nov. 30. The French army 

in San Domingo surrendered to an Eng- 
lish fleet, and left the blacks once more at 
liberty. 

1803. North African Difficulties. 
Commodore Preble took command of 
the American squadron in the Mediter- 
ranean. He first settled some diflSculties 
with the emperor of Morocco, and then 
appeared at Tripoli. During a cruise in 
the harbor of that place, the frigate 
Philadelphia struck on a rock, and was 
captured with her entire crew, by the 
Tripolitans. 

1803. Jerome Bonaparte, a brother 
of Napoleon I., while on a visit to the 
United States, married Miss Patterson, a 
Baltimore belle. The marriage was af- 
terward annulled by Napoleon. 

1803. The manufacture of pianos 



was begun at Boston by Adam and 
William Brent. 

1803. The first reaping machine in 
America was patented by Richard 
French and John J. Hawkins. It was 
not very successful. One wheel ran in 
the grain, and the cutting was done by a 
number of scythes which revolved on a 
pivot. 

1803. The Miami Exporting Com- 
pany was organized to provide better 
transportation for the produce of the 
great Northwest Territory. The farm- 
ers had no market for their crops. It 
was customary for several to load a flat 
boat, and descend with it to New Or- 
leans by floating down the Ohio and 
Mississippi. Having sold their cargo, 
they would abandon their boats, and re- 
turn on foot nearly a thousand miles. 
Others would go down in large canoes, 
which could be brought back by oars. 
It took about six months to make a trip, 
and was, therefore, little help to a farmer. 
There was no demand for coi'n and 
wheat, excejDt in one's own family, and 
the new families coming in during the 
season. Corn and oats were ten and 
twelve cents a bushel, wheat thirty or 
forty cents. Yet many of the farmers, 
while not making money, lived very com- 
fortably. In a short time they began to 
use boats with sails, which enabled them 
to return in them from market. The 
boats could also carry more freight, and 
thus reduce the cost. The Miami Com- 
pany, which now undertook to improve 
these things, was not a success, although 
it declai'ed dividends for a number of 
years. Many difliculties beset it, and 
a change for the better was due to other 
things. 

1803. Proposed Mississippi Steam, 
boat. Capt. James AIcKeever, of the 



1800-1824.] 

United States Navy, and M. Louis Val- 
cour, built a large boat with eighty feet 
keel, and eighteen feet beam, in Ken- 
tucky, and floated it to New Orleans on 
the current, in order that Oliver Evans 
might at the latter place put a steam 
engine into it. They intended to run it 
as a steamer between New Orleans and 
Natchez. The engine was ready, but 
the money of the owners v^^as gone. So, 
while waiting to get more, they let the 
engine be set up in a sawmill, by Wil- 
liam Donaldson, where it cut 3,000 feet 
■of boards every twelve hours, and did 
not get out of repair for a year. It was 
afterward fised in pressing cotton. The 
owners of it lost all their means, and 
could not go on with the steamboat. 

1803. Slavery was abolished this year 
in Canada. 

1803. Dutch Guiana was recaptured 
by the English. 

1803. St. Lucia, one of the Wind- 
ward Islands, was taken by the English 
after having been alternately held by 
Prance and England. It has since re- 
mained in the possession of the latter 
nation. 

1804. Jan. 1. An independent re- 
public was formed in San Domingo, and 
Dessalines was made governor for lite. 

1804. Feb. 15. The gradual aboli- 
tion of slavery was provided for in New 
Jersey by an act of the legislature. 

1804. Feb. 15. Decatur's Achieve- 
ment. The frigate Philadelphia was 
-destroyed in the harbor of Tripoli, where 
she had struck upon a rock and been 
seized by the Tripolitans, by Lieut. De- 
catur and seventy-five men, from the 
American squadron. They approached 
the Philadelphia in the evening, unde- 
tected, and springing on board, soon con- 
quered the enemy, who lost twenty or 



THE A WAKENED CONTINENT. 



383 



more men. After setting fire to the 
frigate, Lieut. Decatur retui-ned without 
losing a man, thus putting on record one 
of the most brilliant deeds of his time. 

1804. March 7. Humboldt sailed 
for Havana, Cuba, after having explored 
Mexico, visited its volcanoes and pre- 
historic mounds, and made a profile of 
the country from sea to sea, which had 
never been done for any other whole 
country. In Cuba he spent two months 
in preparing an essay upon the island, 
which was afterward published in Paris. 

1804. March. The Lewis and Clarke 
Expedition. Lieut. William Clarke and 
Capt. Meriwether Lewis, set out from 
St. Louis under the order of President 
Jefferson, to explore the Louisiana Pur- 
chase. They were accompanied by 
twenty-seven officers and soldiers, and 
some Indian interpreters. They spent 
the first season in ascending the Missouri 
River, and wintered among the Mandin 
Indians. Between this time and the 
autumn of 1S06, they made their famous 
journey complete from St. Louis to the 
Pacific Ocean and return, one of the 
most remarkable journeys on record. It 
was a pioneer enterprise. Much inesti- 
mable information was collected. 

1804. July 11. The duel between 
Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr 
occurred at Weehawken, N. Y. Burr, 
who was at the time vice-president of the 
United States, challenged Hamilton be- 
cause of some disrespectful remarks which 
the latter is said to have made concerning 
him. Hamilton fired into the air, and 
fell, mortally wounded. 

tLLEXAKDER HAMILTON. 

1804. July 12. Alexander Hamil- 
ton, the great statesman and able finan- 
cier, died of the wound received in the 



384 



REVOLUTIONART STRUGGLES. 



duel with Burr the day before, at the 
age of forty-seven years. He was born 
Jan. II, 1757, on the island of Nevis, in 
the West Indies, and was of French and 
Scotch descent. He was educated as far 
as was possible, and showed a great 
taste for reading. At twelve years of 
age he was employed as a clerk in a 
mercantile establishment. He occupied 
all his spare time in eagerly devouring 
every book he could find. At sixteen he 
came to the United States because of his 
earnest wish to secure a higher education, 
and entered King's, now Columbia, Col- 
lege. While an undergraduate he made, 
after considerable persuasion, a speech at 
the great " meeting in the fields " at 
New York, July 6, 1774, and there 
first displayed his wonderful gifts of 
thought and tongue, to the astonishment 
of those who heard him. He soon be- 
gan to write for the press, and afterward 
entered active service with Washington. 
He became confidential secretary and 
aid-de-camp of Washington till after the 
fall of Yorktown. In 1 7S0 he married 
the daughter of Gen. Schuyler. At the 
close of the war he began the study and 
practice of law in New York, after hav- 
ing served in the continental congress. 
In law he rapidly rose to distinction. 
He was a member of the convention that 
framed the federal constitution. When the 
constitution was before the states for ratifi- 
cation he wrote a large part of that series 
of papers which have since been such an 
authority in the interpretation of it, and 
known as " The Federalist." In 1789 
he was made secretary of the treasury at 
the organization of the national govern- 
ment, and for several years gave great 
labor to the development of a financial 
policy for the country. Daniel Webster 
says of him, " He smote the rock of 



public resources, and abundant streams 
of revenue burst forth. He touched the 
dead corpse of public credit, and it sprang 
upon its feet." In 1798 he was appointed 
tuider Washington to command the army 
raised for the expected war with France. 
Ultimately a political diflference arose 
between him and Aaron Burr, because 
the latter thought that Hamilton had not 
given him proper support for the presi- 
dency, and had depreciated his character. 
He was slight in personal appearance, 
but of goodly form. He was one of the 
very few ablest inen this country has- 
ever had in its service. His death was a 
sad sacrifice to the dueling code. 

1804. Aug. 3. The bombardment 

of Tripoli began under the orders of 
Commodore Preble, and continued at 
times for a month, with great effect. 

1804. Aug. 3. Humboldt arrived in 
France from his American tour. Upon 
leaving Cuba, he visited Philadelphia 
and Washington. He brought back to 
Europe from his five years' labor on the 
American continent, remarkable additions- 
to the scientific knowledge of the times. 
His journey remains a permanent posses- 
sion of American explora- isoi. Napoleon 
tion, the value of which 
nothing can lessen. Hum- 
boldt saw a great part of 
the world during his long 
life, for he was not quite thirty years of 
age when he arrived in America, and he 
lived to be ninety, dying at Berlin, May 
6, 1859. The "Cosmos" remains as his 
greatest work. 

1804. Sept. 2. A fire-ship laden 
with powder and iron, was sent into the 
harbor of Tripoli in the night, under the 
charge of two boats' crews from the 
American squadron, who were to light 



crov.'tied Empe- 
ror oj France. 
1804. First lo- 
comotive steam 
etigive used in 
Wales. 



1800-1824.] 

the fuse and escape. After awhile the 
fire-ship exploded with terrific power, 
and no one of the men accompanying it, 
was ever heard from. A monument to 
their memory stands in Washington, D. 
C, west of the capitol. 

1804. Sept. 25. The twelfth amend- 
ment to the constitution of the United 
States was declared in force. Its object 
is to arrange the presidential election so 
that votes should be cast for president 
and vice-president, as such. It was sug- 
gested by the undecided presidential 
election of iSoo. 

1804. Oct. 8. Dessalines, through 
false ambition, assumed the title " Em- 
peror of Hayti," thus proving untrue to 
his trust, and breaking the constitution of 
the new rejDublic. The island at once 
became a scene of discord and war. 

FIFTH PRESIDEXTML CAMPAIGX. 

1804. In the fifth presidential cam- 
paign during the autumn of this 
year, the democrat-republicans supported 
Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, for a sec- 
ond term as president, and George Clin- 
ton of New York, as vice-president. 
The federalists supported C. C. Pinck- 
ney of South Carolina, for president, and 
Rufus King of New Yoi-k, for vice- 
president. The method by which these 
persons were nominated is unknown. 
The result w^as an overwhelming defeat 
for the federalists. Jefferson and Clin- 
ton received 163 electoral votes; Pinckney 
and King 14 votes. 

1804. The first theological seminary 

in America was established by the As- 
sociate Reformed church. 

1804. The first agricultural fair in 
America was held at Washington, D. C. 
The city authorities established and man- 



THE A WAKENED CONTINENT. 



385 



aged it. At subsequent exhibitions the 
farmers were stimulated by the offering 
of premiums. 

1804. A steam dredge named the 
Oructor Amphibolis, was put on the 
Delaware by Oliver Evans, who em- 
ployed in it the first high-pressure engine 
ever used. The machinery was built in 
such a way as to run a land carriage 
with equal fiicility. The dredge was 
run to the river by steam, upon wheels 
which were put under it temporarily. 

1804. A steamboat with a screw 
propeller was exhibited on the Hudson 
River by John C. Stevens, who crossed 
with it from Hoboken to New York. 
He made use of a Watts engine, with a 
tubular boiler of his own make. The 
rnodel of this propellor is still at the In- 
stitute for Engineers, Hoboken, N. J. 

1804. The Middlesex canal which 
connected Boston harbor with the Con- 
cord River, was completed. It was 
twenty-seven miles long, and was fur- 
nished with twenty-two locks. It was 
the first work of the kind of much im- 
portance in America. 

1804. The first fine broadcloth made 
in America was produced at Pittsfield, 
Mass., by Arthur Scholfield, who had 
come to the United States in 1789, with 
Samuel Slater, and had made his own 
machinery, as Mr. Slater did at Prov- 
idence for cotton machinery. 

1804. " The Harmony Society." 
About twenty families from Wirtemberg 
settled in the village of Harmony, Butler 
Co., Penn., to live as a business commu- 
nity. They rapidly increased in num- 
bers, began the extensive cultivation of 
the soil, and undertook manufactures of 
different kinds, among which was the 
making of broadcloth. Mr. George 
Rapp was the leader of the enterprise. 



386 



RE VOL UTIONAR T STR UGGLES . 



1804. Fort Dearborn was built by 
the United States government upon the 
present site of Chicago. 

1804. The first artificial propagation 
of fish in the United States was attempted 
in South Carolina. 

1805. March 4. Thomas Jefierson 
of Virginia, v/as inaugurated president 
of the United States, and George Clin- 
ton of New York, vice-president. 

1805. April 7. Lewis and Clarke 
set out from their winter camp upon the 
Missouri, and started up the river. They 
crossed the mountain ridge on horseback, 
and pursued their way through many 
obstacles. 

1805. June 3. A treaty of peace 
was concluded with TrijDoli, which ar- 
ranged for an exchange of prisoners, 
man for man, and the payment of $6o,ooo 
for two hundred whom the Dey held in 
excess of the captures by the Americans. 
But it was stipulated that no further 
money should ever be paid as ransom 
money. 

WILLMM MOULTRIE. 

1805. Sept. 27. Gen. William Moul- 
trie, a patriot of incorruptible integrity, 
died at Charleston, S. C, at the age of 
seventy-four years. He was born in 
South Carolina, in 1731. He distin- 
guished himself during the Revolution 
by defending Fort Moultrie, contrary to 
the advice of his best military friends, 
against the violent attack of the enemy, 
with nearly two hundred cannon, while 
he had but thirty-one, and a force of men, 
some of whom had never seen a cannon. 
He was made of heroic stuff. During 
an imprisonment among the British, he 
was offered a command of a Jamaica 
regiment, together with some money, if 
he would become a British officer. " Not 
the fee simple to all Jamaica," the incor- 



ruptible man said, " should induce me to 
part with my integrity." 

1805. Nov. 15. Lewis and Clarke 
reached the mouth of the Columbia 
River on the Pacific coast, at a distance 
of four thousand miles from St. Louis. 
They passed the winter in camp. 

1805. England seized and condemned 
several American merchant vessels with 
their cargoes, for alleged violations of 
the neutral regulations. 

1805. A torpedo was devised by 
Robert Fulton, which w^as considered to 
be very effective for purposes of warfare. 

1805. Detroit was destroyed by an 
extensive fire. The place had been an 
important post of the fur trade, and the 
traders, subject to many privations while 
away upon their trips, lived luxuriously 
when at home. Wine suppers prevailed 
in rapid succession, and the 1759. iso5. 
host of the evening would Schiller. 
use every method to see how many in- 
toxicated guests he could have, without 
becoming intoxicated himself. At one 
supper, a person who was present says 
that the bottom of every wine glass was 
broken off to prevent " heel-taj^s," Each 
one was obliged to drain his glass before 
he could lay it down upon the table. 

1806. March 23. Lewis and Clarke 
began their homeward journey up the 
Columbia River. 

HORATIO GtLTES. 

1806. April 10. Gen. Horatio Gates, 
familiarly known as the conqueror of 
Burgoyne, died at New York at the age 
of seventy-eight years. He was born in 
England in 1728, and came to America 
in the French and Indian war. He was 
present at Braddock's defeat, and was 
severely wounded. After the war he 



1800-1824.] 



THE A WAKENED CONTINENT. 



387 



settled in Berkeley Co., Va., and at the 
beginning of the Revolution he received 
from congress the appointment of briga- 
dier-general. In 1776 he was placed 
over the northern army. He then went 
into New Jersey with Washington, and 
in 1777 ^^^'^ again placed in command at 
the north to supersede Schuyler. He was 
himself superseded in May, but was af- 
terward put in command there again 
when Burgoyne was making his way 
down through New York. Gen. Gates 
gained his extensive reputation by the 
surrender of Burgoyne, but it is doubtful 
whether he was not an obstacle to that 
event, rather than a help. The victory 
added force to a pride already excessive, 
and made him unfit to obey. He felt, 
and others flattered him in feeling, that 
he ought to be commander-in-chief, 
hence " Conway's Cabal," which was a 
conspiracy to undermine the position of 
Washington, and place Gates in his stead. 
The plan came to nothing, through the 
loyal adherence of Lafayette and others 
to their noble leader, who was misunder- 
stood by the would-be brilliant military 
geniuses. Gates was afterward sent 
south, but partially destroyed his reputa- 
tion by the mismanagement of the army 
in that quarter. The battle of Camden 
was an utter defeat for him. Gen. 
Greene was appointed in command to 
supersede Gates, who did little more 
service. He retired to his Virginia es- 
tate where he remained till 1790, and 
then moved to his estate on Manhattan 
Island. In 1792 he served one term in 
the New York legislature. It is said of 
him, " Gen. Gates possessed many excel- 
lent qualities, but he was deficient in the 
necessary qualifications for a successful 
commander, and his vanity generally 
misled his judgment." He was a gentle- 



man in his manners, humane and benev- 
olent, but he lacked intellectual cultiva- 
tion and true magnanimity. 



1806. April 18. A retaliation upon 
England for her numerous insults, was 
eflfected by the United States in the shape 
of a prohibition to take eflfect Nov. 15, 
forbidding the importation of any British 
manufactures. 

1806. Sept. 23. Lewis and Clarke 
reached St. Louis, having been gone 
upon their trip twenty-eight months. 
The men engaged in this expedition re- 
ceived grants of land from mi.isoe. 
the United States govern- Mungo Park. 
ment. Notes of the entire trip were 
kept by Lieut. Clarke, and were after- 
ward published, and sold widely. This 
was our first great United States explor- 
ing trip. 

1806. Oct. 17. Dessalines, « em- 
peror of Hayti," was assassinated in San 
Domingo, and half the island again came 
under Spanish authority. The western 
part remained under the control of several 
chiefs. 

GE.Y. HEKRY KKOX. 

1806. Oct. 25. Gen. Henry Knox 
died at Thomaston, Me., aged fifty-six 
years. He was born in Boston, July 25, 
1750, and began life for himself as a 
clerk in a bookstore. He was a great 
student, especially of military matters. 
In 1774 he married Miss Lucy Fluker, 
the daughter of the secretary of the prov- 
ince, who was a devoted royalist. In 
1775, on the anniversary of their mar- 
riage, June 16, the young people escaped 
from Boston to the patriot camp. Mrs. 
Knox carried out her husband's " gren- 
adier" sword, by quilting it into her pet- 
ticoat. During the Revolution Gen. 
Knox was an intimate friend of Wash- 



388 



REVOLUTION ART STRUGGLES. 



ington, who relied upon him in all mat- 
ters relating to artillery. After the war 
he served as Secretary of war, and was a 
leader in founding the U. S. navy. He 
finally retired to Thomaston, and died 
from the effects of a chicken bone which 
he swallowed, and which produced mor- 
tification. His physical appearance was 
fine. He w^as a great soldier, and an 
intellisrent statesman. 



1806. December. A Rejected Treaty. 

A treaty was made with England, but 
was rejected by President Jefferson, be- 
cause it gave England the right of search 
and seizure. This led to angry feelings 
in Great Britain, and helped to hasten 
the war of 1S12. 

1806. A lodge of Odd Fellows was 
established in New York city, under the 
name of the Shakespeare Lodge, but it 
did not exist for a long time. 

1806. Law Against Dueling. The 
congress of the United States enacted a 
law that " no ofiicer or soldier shall send 
a challenge to another officer or soldier to 
fight a duel, or accept a challenge, if sent, 
upon pain, if a cominissioned officer, of 
being cashiered, if a non-commissioned 
officer, of suffering corporal punishment, 
at the discretion of a court-martial." The 
practice of dueling was obtaining a pow- 
erful hold upon the army, and the false 
notions of honor made it Impossible for 
one to decline a challenge without ruining 
his character, and outlawing him from 
high society. 

1806. The "Burr War." It was 
during this year that Col. Aaron Burr 
made the western tour which excited sus- 
114,-isoo. For, Pi'^io^s «f treasonable de- 

the <rreat Eng- slgUS. Publlc notlcC WaS 

lish statesman. . \ c • i. \ ii 

taken ot it by the governor 
of Ohio in a communication to the legis- 



lature, and by the president of the United 
States in a proclamation, and In orders 
for Burr's arrest. Military preparations 
began to be made. 

1806, Party strife ran high, and a 
young man named Austin was shot in 
Boston by Selfridge, a lawyer, because 
of difference of opinion. Austin was a 
democrat-republican, and had first at- 
tempted to chastise Selfridge, who was a 
federalist. 

1806. The first cargo of ice exported 
from the United States, was a load of 
130 tons, shipped from Gray's wharf, 
Charlestown, Mass., on the brig Favorite^ 
and sent to Martinique, W. I., by Mr. 
Frederick Tudor of Boston. The ice 
was obtained from a pond In Saugus, 
now Lynn. Mr. Tudor lost money ujoon 
this enterprise, and not much more was 
sent abroad before the war of 1813. 

1806. Mexican Cotton. A quantity 
of the seed of Mexican cotton was in- 
troduced Into the United States, by Wal- 
ter Burling of Natchez. The seed was 
stuffed into a lot of Mexican dolls, be- 
cause a decree of the Spanish govern- 
ment forbade the exportation of it. The 
arrangement of the dolls was suggested 
to Mr. Burling by the viceroy, with a 
tacit understanding that they should be 
employed for that special purpose. 

1806. The National Road. Con- 
gress provided for a road from Cumber- 
land, Md., to the State of Ohio. In 1834 
the construction of It was given over to 
the states through which It passed, and 
more recently the building of railroads 
has destroyed the need of it. Portions 
of it still remain in use as a roadway. 
It was the first great internal Improve- 
ment made at the public expense. 

1806, First Trade Union Contest. 
A trial of eight persons was had before 



1800-1824] THE A WAKENED CONTINENT, 

the courts on the charge of combining to 
increase wages, to keep others from 



working, and to establish arbitrary rules 
over workmen. For twenty years or 
more it seems that this had been prac- 
ticed, and one or two remarkable cases of 
the pursuit of those who would not com- 
bine, came out upon the trial. The pris- 
oners were sentenced to pay eight dol- 
lars each, with costs of suits. Not much 
more is heard of trade-union in America 
for fifty years. 

1806. Buenos Ayres and Montevideo 
surrendered to English forces, but were 
speedily retaken by the Spanish citizens, 
who bravely drove off the invaders. 

1806. A plot to revolutionize Vene- 
zuela was laid by Francis Miranda, who 
had, in 1798, tried the same thing on a 
larger scale. An expedition was fitted 
out and sailed from New York, but met 
with no success after landing in South 
America. It soon disbanded. 

1807. Feb. 10. An accurate survey 
of the Atlantic coast was voted by con- 
gress at the suggestion of President Jef- 
ferson. An appropriation of $50,000 
was made for it, but work did not begin 
till 181 7. 

1807. February. Aaron Burr's Trial. 
Aaron Burr was arrested for supposed 
treasonable designs upon the government 
of the United States, and was tried upon 
several charges. The matter was made 
intensely partisan. The administration 
tried to convict, and the federalists to 
acquit. The trial ran through several 
months. An indictment was found by 
the grand jury in May, but the case was 
dismissed in August by the court, for 
want of jurisdiction. The prosecution 
hroke down in the production of proof, 
and as Burr's plans seemed to relate more 
to Mexico than to the United States, he 



IBOT. Abolition 
of slave trade 
through all 
British domin- 
ions. 



389 

was acquitted. Gen. William Eaton of 
Massachusetts, presented proofs that Burr 
intended to form a great southwestern 
empire, but this was all excluded by the 
court. Burr was tried simply for the 
course pursued on Blennerhassett Island. 

1807. March 2. The importation 
of slaves into the United States was 
forbidden by an act of con- 
gress, which was to become 
a law upon the first day of 
January, 1808. The British 
parliament passed a similar law a few 
days later. 

1807. June 22. The Leopard Affair. 
The British ship Leopard, under Capt. 
Humphries, attacked the United States 
frigate Chesapeake, under Commodore 
Barron, in an attempt to search the latter 
for alleged British deserters. The Ches- 
apeake was not prepared for action, and 
only one gun could be fired. Several 
broadsides were fired by the Leopard, 
killing and wounding a score of the 
Chesapeake's crew. Four men were 
afterward taken from the Chesapeake by 
an officer of the Leopard. The affair 
caused intense excitement. Commodore 
Barron was tried, and suspended for five 
years, without pay. The trouble arising 
from this greatly contributed to the war 
of 1812. 

1807. July 2. All English vessels 
were ordered to leave the ports and 
waters of the United States until satis- 
faction should be given for the Leopard's 
firing upon the Chesapeake. 

FULT0X8 TRIUMPH. 

1807. Aug. 7. The Clermont, a 
steamboat built by Robert Fulton, left 
New York city for Albany, making the 
trip to that place and return safely, in 
seventy-two hours. This was the six- 



390 



RE VOL UTIONAR T STR UGGLES. 



teenth steamboat in the order of construc- 
tion, but the first to be used permanently. 
The day of the trial was long to be re- 
membered. Crowds stood ready to sneer 
at the project, if failure settled down upon 
it. A few were praying for success. 
The charge for the round trip was $14. 
At last the moment came. The wheels 
were started. At first a little delay oc- 
curred, but after a while the boat moved 
out into the river, and went resolutely 
against wind and tide. The end which 
poor John Fitch and others had done so 
much to make possible, was at last 
reached. Steam navigation was an ac- 
complished fact. The Clermont excited 
varying emotions along the route. Many 
people feared her. Thousands viewed 
her course, and many rejoiced in her suc- 
cess. Other boats were speedily built. 
In these later years what may well be 
called "floating palaces " are increasing 
in number, beauty, and comfort. 



1807. Nov. 26. Oliver EUsworth, 
LL. D., an American jurist, and chief- 
justice of the supreme court of the 
United States from 1796 to iSoo, died at 
the age of sixty-two years. He served 
in the United States senate previous to 
his appointment as chief-justice, and in 
all the positions to which he was called 
was characterized by great ability and 
earnestness of purpose. 

1807. Dec. 27. Embargo Bill. The 
United States government laid an em- 
bargo upon all its own ports and vessels. 
This bill bore very heavily upon certain 
parts of the country, especially New 
England, which was increasing its ship- 
ping very rapidly. Congress gave the 
president power to suspend the bill when 
he thought it expedient. The commerce 
of all nations was interrupted by the 



succession of adverse decrees by France 
and England. 

1807. Buenos Ayres was unsuccess- 
fully assailed by an English force of 
10,000 men. Gen. Whitelocke was 
cashiered for incapacity, upon his return 
to England. 

1807. John VI. of Portugal, with 
his court, fled to Brazil to escape the hos- 
tility of Napoleon. This step led the 
way in opening Brazil to commerce, and 
in improving the government of that 
province. 

1807. The first newspaper in New- 
foundland \vas issued under the name of 
" The RoA-al Gazette and Newfoundland 
Advertiser." 

1808. Jan. 1. The prohibition of 
the slave trade under the act of congress 
of March 3, 1S07, went into effect. 

1808. The first temperance society 
in America was organized in Moreau, 
Saratoga Co., N. Y., by Dr. Billy J. 
Clarke, and Rev. Lebbeus Armstrong. 
Forty-seven male members signed the 
pledge under the name of " The Moreau 
and Northumberland Temperance So- 
ciety." A fine of twenty-five cents was 
imposed for every violation of the pledge. 
The pledge prohibited rum, gin, whisky, 
wine, or any distilled liquors whatever. 
It did not therefore go as far as a total 
abstinence pledge of the present day. 

1808. April 8. A report on public 
turnpikes was made by Mr. Gallatin, who 
stated that the cost varied from $1,000 
to $14,000 a mile. Many turnpike com- 
panies had been chartered in the eastern 
and middle states, especially in Connec- 
ticut, where fifty had been incorporated 
since 1S03. 

1808. Stone coal was first used as 
fuel in a fireplace by Judge Fell of 
Wilkesbarre, Penn. At about the same 



1800-1824.] 

time Obadiah Gore of Wyoming Valley, 
Penn., who had used it for forty years in 
a blacksmith's forge, made a similar suc- 
cessful attempt. 

1808. The first printing press be- 
yond the Mississippi River was set up at 
St. Louis, by Jacob Hinkle. 

1808. "The Colurabiad," by Joel 
Barlow, was issued, and received as a fine 
production. Robert Fulton designed a 
part of the engravings. The high price 
reduced the sale until it was put on the 
market in a cheaper form. 

1808. The first Bible society in 
America was organized at Philadelphia. 

1808. An aerolite weighing 1635 
pounds fell in Texas, and is now owned 
by Yale College. 

1808. A duel between Henry Clay 
and Humphrey Marshall w^as fought, 
and both were wounded. They w^ere 
at the time members of the legislature of 
Kentucky. 

1808. Prison-Ship Victims. The 
remains of the ten thousand soldiers who 
had died on board the British prison- 
ships in New York harbor during the 
Revolution, and had been buried in the 
sand on the shore, were taken up and 
placed in a vault near the end of Front 
St., Hudson Avenue, Brooklyn. 

1808. The first ocean steam naviga- 
tion in the world was by the steamboat 
Phoenix, built by John Stevens, and nav- 
igated froin Hoboken, N. Y., to Phila- 
delphia, by Robert L. Stevens. 

SIXTH PRESIBEWTML m.MP^IG.Y. 

1808. In the sixth presidential cam- 
paign the democrat-republicans supported 
James Madison of Virginia, for president, 
and George Clinton of INew York, for 
vice-president. Their nomination had 
been made by a congressional caucus 



THE A WAKENED CONTINENT. 



391 

early in the year. The federalists sup- 
ported C. C. Pinckney of South Car- 
olina, for president, and Rufus King of 
New York, for vice-president. The lat- 
ter had been supported in the previous 
campaign. Of the 176 electoral votes 
Madison received 122, and Clinton 113, 
and they were therefore triumphantly 
elected. Pinckney and King received 
47 votes, a great gain over the 14 votes 
which they had received in the fifth cam- 
paign. George Clinton received 6 votes 
for president, and there were 15 scatter- 
ing votes for vice-president. 



1808. Liberal Movements in Mexico. 

The deposition of Ferdinand VH. from 
the throne of Spain, and the establish- 
ment of Joseph Bonaparte on it by his 
brother. Napoleon I., agitated all Spanish 
colonies, and caused in Mexico and South 
America a great many liberal move- 
ments looking toward independence. 
The clergy generally adhered to the 
house of Bourbon. The viceroy of 
Mexico, named Don Jose de Iturrigaray, 
having caused suspicions that he was 
about to make an attempt to seize the 
government of Mexico, and make it an 
empire of his own, was arrested, and 
thrown into prison. A desire for free- 
dom was very sensibly growing among 
the people. 

1809. March 4. James Madison 
of Virginia, was inaugurated j^resident of 
the United States, and George Clinton 
of New York, vice-president, the latter 
upon his second term. Mr. Madison at 
his inauguration wore a suit of American 
broadcloth, the first which was ever worn 
by a president. 

1809. March 4, The embargo bill 
was repealed, so far as all countries, ex- 
cept France and England, were con- 



392 



RE VOL UTIONAR T S TR UGGL ES. 



cerned. No intercourse was to be jier- 
mitted with the latter till their obnoxious 
decrees were repealed. 

1809. Nov. 28. An agricultural 
society was organized at Georgetown, 
D. C, under the name of the " Colum- 
bian Society, for the promotion of Rural 
and Domestic Economy." It was the 
first one in America which was composed 
of practical farmers banded together to 
encourage home manufactures, and the 
rearing of domestic animals. 

1809. The Sisters of Charity were 
first founded in the United States at 
Emmettsburg, Md., by Mrs. Eliza Seton, 
who became their first Mother SujDerior. 

1809. "Disciples." An attempt to 
unite different Christian denominations 
and bring about greater outward union, 
was made by Thomas Campbell, with 
the assistance of his son, Alexander, and 
resulted in the organization of a sect 
since known as " Disciples," " Chris- 
tians," and " Church of Christ," or more 
commonly as " Campbellites." The 
Campbells were originally Presbyte- 
rians, and after their first societies were 
organized upon the new basis, they took 
steps to unite with a Baptist association, 
through the belief that immersion was 
the only baptism. They, however, in- 
sisted that they were to retain their 
fundamental tenet that the Bible was the 
only creed. 

1809. First Modern Sunday Schools. 
During this year the great change be- 
gan to take place which transferred 
Sunday Schools from the charge of paid 
teachers to those who volunteered to 
work without pay. The change in 
England took place at a much later day. 
A new idea also crept in with this altera- 
tion. It had been thought, before this 
date, under the reign of paid teachers, 



that Sunday Schools were chiefly for the 
low and ignorant children. Under the 
voluntary system it has come to be the 
main effort to enlist all for continued 
Bible study. 

1809. The first printing press in 
Mississippi was set up. 

1809. The revolutionary struggle 
began in Ecuador,and lasted till 1S22, be- 
fore independence was achieved. 

1809. French Guiana, S. A., was 
seized by the English. 

1810. March 23. The Rambouillet 
Decree was issued by Napoleon I., de- 
claring all American vessels in French 
ports confiscated, and ordering the sale of 
a large number, with cargoes worth sev- 
eral million dollars. 

1810. April 19. The revolution in 
Venezuela, S. A., broke out at Caraccas 
on the anniversary of the battles of Lex- 
ington and Concord. 

1810. On account of the insolence 
of the British minister to the United 
States government, congress voted that 
the president be requested not to recog- 
nize him any longer. 

FIRST MEXIC±y UPRISLYG. 

1810. Sept. 15. A great revolt against 
Spanish authority burst forth violently in 
Mexico, under Don Miguel Hidalgo y 
Costilla, a native Indian of learning and 
character, belonging to the priesthood. 
He had meditated upon the w^rongs of 
his country, and was freshly incited to an 
attempt for freedom because his vine- 
yards, which he had cultivated very as- 
siduouslv, had been destroyed, on the 
ground that no agricultural or manufact- 
uring interests were to be permitted to 
take precedence of those of Spain. He 
had large and prosjDcrous vineyards, and 
is said to have introduced the silkworm 



1800-1824] THE A WAKENED CONTINENT. 

into Mexico. A striking resemblance to 
the principle of the revolution in the 



393 



English colonies, betrays itself at once. 
Hidalgo had been serving as the curate 
of the village of Dolores. He is said to 
have been remarkable for his priestly 
fidelity. He was kin to the delicate 
minds which everywhere note oppression 
keenly, and fight against it devotedly. 
He was led to form a plan of revolt, and 
had set Nov. i, 1810, as the day of out- 
break. But his intentions became known, 
-and soine of his assistants were seized by 
the government. He therefore hastened 
his deed, and publicly declared his revolt 
this day. The natives began to rally 
around him, under the power of his 
burning ajopeals. 

1810. Sept. 29. Hidalgo captured 
Guanajuato, with twenty thousand fol- 
lowers, who received the victory wildly, 
and plundered the city ravenously, to the 
extent of $5,000,000. This victory was 
followed by others quite speedily, which 
caused his numbers to increase till he is 
said to have had a hundred thousand 
under his command, a number sufficient, 
had they been severely trained, to have 
.swept away Spanish power forever. 
But an excommunication was launched 
against him by the Catholic authorities, 
and his followers, weakly superstitious, 
w^ere frightened by this harmless opposi- 
tion. They began to leave him, or to 
give themselves up to disorder, and thus 
made the sky dark once more. Military 
supplies were entirely gone. 

1810. Nov. 7. Hidalgo was defeated 
at Aculco by Gen. Calleja. But still he 
kept his forces in the field. The devo- 
tion of some of them has never been 
excelled. Even the Mexican women 
went with the camp to cook for the 
soldiers, and zealously stimulate them to 



bravery. The Spanish forces soon took 
Guanajuato, with great loss to Hidalgo's 
force, and at the close of the year his 
power was rapidly weaning. 



1810. 



tain aid. for the struggling 



Bolivar visited England to ob- 
patriots of 
Venezuela. 

1810. The revolution in the Argen- 
tine Republic began and increased stead- 
ily in power, in the attempt to throw off 
the burden of Spanish tyranny. 

1810. A revolution in Chili began in 
the attempt to achieve independence by 
the deposition of the royal governor. 

1810. The ports of Brazil were 
opened to the commerce of the world, free 
from all restrictions. 

1810. The "Penn treaty tree" was 
blown down by a severe gale of wind. 

1810. The first printing of cotton 
goods by engraved rollers and water 
power was done by Thorp, Siddall & Co., 
near Philadelphia. All this work had 
previously been done b}' the slow block 
printing. 

1810. The first silk manufactured by 
machinery was made by Rodney and 
Horatio Hanks at Mansfield, Conn., in a 
little mill twelve feet square. Before this, 
silk had been made in families upon the 
same looms as were used in making other 
cloth. 

1810. A card making machine, the 
invention of Elizur Smith of Walpole, 
Mass., was patented by Thomas Whitte- 
more. It would insert the 

1810. First 

wire into the cards in such steamboat built 
a life-like way as to amaze ^" "'ope. 
the beholder. Daniel Webster said it 
was more nearly endowed with intelli- 
gence than any other machine ever in- 
vented. John Randolph exclaimed upon 
seeing it work, " All but the immortal 



394 



RE VOL UT I ON ART S TR UGGLES. 



soul." More complicated machines have 
since been made. 

1810. The first printing presses in 
Missouri and Michigan were set up this 
year. 

1810. Nail machines invented in 
America were patented in England by 
JosejDh C. Dyer of Boston, then living in 
London. In iSii he also patented the 
American card making machine which 
had been so successful. The American 
nail machines were now making the 
finest nails in the world. 

1810. The Celebrated Sheep-Shear- 
ing. Chancellor Robert R. Livingston 
having taken much pains to improve the 
sheep stock of the country, and having 
been one of the first two or three to in- 
troduce Merinoes, held a sheep-shearing 
at his place on the Hudson, v\^hich brought 
together a large number of prominent 
men from all parts of the country. It 
was a most elegant entertainment, and 
caused newspaper reports far and wide. 
He sold some of his stock at from $50 to 
$1,000 per head. These prices were 
afterward reduced when fine stock became 
more common. A sort of sheep mania 
arose for a few years. A buck was 
bought at this sale for $175, and was I'e- 
peatedly sought for by purchasers within 
a short time at $1,000, but was afterward, 
when the excitement passed, sold for $13. 

1810. The third census of the United 
States gave a population of 7,239,881 
persons. It was taken at a cost of $178,- 
444.67. Statistics of manufactures were 
for the first time taken in these returns, 
and were valuable, although imperfect. 
There had been an increase in the popu- 
lation since 1800 of 36.38 per cent. 

1811. Jan. 17. Hidalgo in Mexico 
was wholly overthrown by the Spanish 
authorities in a battle at the bridofe of 



Calderon. His prospects were now en- 
tirely darkened, except so far as he could 
hope to get assistance from the outside. 

1811. March 21. Hidalgo was be- 
trayed by Elizondo, who had been asso- 
ciated with him in his efforts. The 
former was on his way to the United 
States to seek encouragement and mate- 
rial aid. His plans were now ended. In 
a short time he was subjected to ecclesi- 
astical deposition, and afterward shot, July 
27. Thus perished Mexico's early leader,, 
the first martyr to Mexican liberty. His 
name has been cherished by the people 
of that country, and his example had a 
wide influence. He gave himself for his 
native land. 

1811. March. The Berlin and Milan 
decrees were proclaimed by Napoleon to 
be a part of the fundamental law of the 
realm. He declared that no payment 
would be made for American vessels 
which had been seized. 

1811, March. The first steamboat 
ever run upon western waters was 
launched at Pittsburg, Penn., and named 
"New Orleans." It was 138 feet long, 
30 feet wide, was of 300 tons burden, and 
cost $40,000. The boat was intended 
for the carrying trade between New 
Orleans and Natchez. An epoch in 
western navigation was created by this 
addition to the forces. The net profits on 
the trade done the first season by the boat, 
were $30,000. Livingston, Fulton and 
Rooseveldt were the chief owners. This 
steamer was lost on a snag near Baton 
Rouge in 18 14. 

1811. April. The first blood was 
shed in Chili in the attempt to secure in- 
dependence. The patriot forces which 
had gathered, attacked the royal troops 
at Santiago, and defeated them. The 
former were successful nearly every time 



1800-1824.] 

in the little conflicts, at first. Don Juan 
Jose Canera was appointed president and 
general -in-chief. 

1811. May 16. The Little Belt 
Affair. A naval action took place oflf 
the coast of Virginia between the British 
sloop Little Belt, under Capt. Bingham, 
and the U. S. frigate President, under 
Capt. Ludlow. The former replied to 
the hail of the latter by a cannon shot, 
and received a broadside in return. The 
Little Belt lost 32, killed and wounded, 
before finally making answer, and then 
sailed to Halifax. Great excitement was 
caused in both countries. 

1811. Julys. Colombia, S. A., then 
known as New Grenada, was declared 
independent. 

1811. Oct. 10. Slavery was abol- 
ished in Chili by declaring freedom to 
every child born after this date. 

1811, Nov. 7. The battle of Tippe- 
canoe was fought with the Indians by 
Gen. Harrison. The Indians under the 
lead of the Prophet attacked the camp of 
Gen. Harrison early in the morning, and 
a fierce contest lasted for an hour or two. 
The savages were finally driven off by 
repeated bayonet charges. The Ameri- 
can loss was 1 88 men. This defeat dis- 
couraged the Indians who had been form- 
ing a confederacy at the earnest solicitation 
of Tecumseh and his brother. 

1811. Dec. 16. A memorable series 
of earthquake shocks began in Missouri. 
The effects of them were especially felt 
in New Madrid upon the Mississippi. 
Boats were destroyed upon the "water, and 
houses upon the land. The ground rose 
and fell in undulations. Great terror pre- 
vailed during some of these scenes. 
Several lakes and swamps were formed 
in Tennessee. The ground quaked in- 
cessantly over large regions for months. 



THE AWAKENED CONTINENT. 



8U5 



1811. Dec. 24. A theater was burned 
in Richmond, Va., and the governor of 
the state, together with several prominent 
families, perished in the conflagration. 

1811. National Bank. The United 
States Bank established in 1791 for 
twenty years was not re-chartered, and ex- 
pired by limitation. A great effort was 
made in its favor, but it was finally de- 
feated by one vote in the House, and by 
the casting vote of the vice-president in 
the Senate. 

1811. Change of Policy. The dem- 
ocrat-republicans who had been a peace 
party up to this time, now exj^erienced a 
change of sentiments, and under the lead- 
ership of William H. Crawford of Geor- 
gia, and John C. Calhoun of South Car- 
olina, inaugurated a war movement. 
England and France continued the seizure 
of American vessels with their cargoes, 
and the impressment of seamen. Over 
900 American vessels had been taken 
since 1803. 

1811. The British government at 
last disavowed the act of the Leopard in 
firing upon and taking the U. S. frigate 
Chesapeake in 1807. 

1811. A school for deaf-mutes was 
attempted unsuccessfully in New York, 
and afterward in Virginia. 

1811. A breech-loading rifle was 
invented by John Hall of the United 
States, who inaugurated the whole sys- 
tem of breech instead of muzzle loading. 
He also suggested the idea of making 
the parts of a rifle interchangeable by 
machinery. The U. S. government or- 
dered some rifles made at Harper's 
Ferry under the direction of Mr. Hall. 
The idea of a breech-loader was not 
successfully put into practice for years. 

1811. Iron plates, for the protection 
of vessels, were first conceived by Rob- 



390 



RE VOL UTIONAR T S TR UGGLES. 



ert L. Stevens of Hoboken, N. J., though 
he did not bring out his idea till much later. 

1811. Astoria, near the mouth of the 
Columbia River, Oregon, w^as founded 
by the Pacific Fur Company, and was 
named for John Jacob Astor, the chief 
proprietor. This place was for many 
years the depot of all the fur trade west 
of the Rocky Mountains. 

1811. Political troubles in Canada 
appeared. The legislative assembly was 
considered by royal authorities to have 
been too independent in some of its bus- 
iness. A newspaper called " The Cana- 
dian," advocated the cause of the assem- 
bly, and was seized by government, 
its owner put into prison, and its stock 
destroyed. This was the beginning of 
dissensions which lasted thirty years or 
more. 

1811. The Red River Settlement 
was established by Thomas Douglass, 
the Earl of Selkirk, in what is now 
Manitoba, which had been sold by the 
Hudson Ba}^ Company. Two or three 
bodies of colonists came from the High- 
lands of Scotland. 

1811. Uruguay was attacked by the 
Portuguese. 

1811. The independence of Par- 
aguay was secured under a revolutionary 
council, of which Dr. Francia, afterward 
sole dictator, was a member. 

1812. March. The Henry Docu- 
ments. President Madison transmitted 
to congress a list of documents for which 
he had paid $50,000 to John Henry, who 
claimed to have been sent from Canada 
to induce leading New Englanders to re- 
nounce the U. S. government. Congress 
declared Henry's papers to be worthy of 
credence, in spite of the disclaimers of the 
British minister. A great indignation 
prevailed throughout New England. 



1812. April 4. An embargo for 

ninety days was laid on American ship- 
ping, as a war measure. 

1812. April 20. George Clinton of 
New York, vice-president of the United 
States, died at Washington, D. C, at the 
age of seventy-three years. He was 
born July 26, 1739, and was fully edu- 
cated. He rendered eminent services 
during the revolutionary war, both for 
New York and the country at large. 

1812. April 30. Louisiana was the 
eighteenth state to be received into the 
union. This state constitutes the lower 
portion of the great Louisiana purchase, 
and has a present area of 41,346 square 
miles, with a population in 1S70, of 
736,915 persons, of whom one-half are 
negroes. Its motto is " Union and Con- 
fidence." It is known as " The Creole 
State." 

1812. June 18. War was declared 
against England by the United States. 
Hundreds of American citizens, and 
others claiming to be such, were seized 
by the English government, and com- 
mitted to Dartmoor prison. 

1812. July 12. Gen. Hull, who was 
stationed at Detroit with 1,800 men, in 
obedience to orders, passed into Canada 
with the intention of capturing Fort 
Maiden, but owing to insuflicient meas- 
ures, nothing was accomplished. 

1812. July 17. A small garrison at 
Mackinaw, being ignorant of the decla- 
ration of war, was surprised by the Brit- 
ish, and forced to surrender. 

1812. July 19. The U. S. frigate 
Constitution, under Capt. Isaac Hull, fell 
in with the British squadron under Com- 
modore Brooks, and was chased for sixty- 
four hours, but managed to xf;^. Burning 
escape through the prodig- of Moscovi. 
ious efforts of the American sailors, who, 



1800-1824.] 

when the wind died away, got out the 
small boats and towed the Constitution 
away from her pursuers in triumph. 

1812. July. The U. S. brig Nau- 
tilus fell in with the same squadi'on, and 
was captured. The Nautilus was the 
first vessel taken on either side, after the 
declaration of war. 

1812, July 29. The British fleet 
on Lake Ontario was repulsed from 
Sackett's Harbor by the Oneida, and an 
old 33 pounder stationed on shore. In 
one or two instances a cannon ball from 
the fleet striking on shore, was sent back 
by the American gunners with effect. 

1812. July 31. A fight occurred 
among the " Thousand Islands " in the 
night, between two British vessels and 
two American boats. The latter accom- 
plished their object of getting to Ogdens- 
burg and taking away from that place 
six British merchant schooners to be 
converted into ships-of-war for American 
use. 

1812. Aug. 5. Major Van Home, 
who \vas sent out by Hull from Detroit 
River to meet a supply party, was sur- 
prised and defeated by a combined force 
of British and Indians. 

1812. Aug. 8. Col. Miller was sent 
out to the relief of the supply party, and 
having defeated a party of British and 
Indians, was pressing forward in pursuit, 
when recalled by Hull. 

1812. Aug. 13. The U. S. frigate 
Essex captured the British brig " Alert," 
off the grand banks of Newfoundland, 
after a contest of only eight minutes. 
This was the first British national war 
vessel that was captured. 

1812. Aug. 15. The evacuation of 
Fort Dearborn, which stood on the pres- 
ent site of Chicago took place, and was 
followed by a general massacre of the 



THE A WAKENED CONTINENT. 



397 



garrison upon their departure, by a body 
of Indians who had agreed to escort 
Capt. Heald and his followers in safety 
to Fort Wayne. The fort was destroved. 

1812. Aug. 16. The surrender of 
Detroit by Gen. Hull to Gen. Brock, in 
charge of the British force, was inade 
while the American forces stood expect- 
ing the command to fire upon the enemy. 
Both sides were equally surprised at the 
white flag which Gen. Hull ordered dis- 
played. The surrender included the 
whole territory of Michigan. Gen. Hull 
was afterward tried for cowardice and 
treason. He was acquitted on the last 
charge, but convicted upon the first, and 
sentenced to be shot. He was, however, 
recommended for mercy by the court, 
and was afterward pardoned by Pres- 
ident Madison. 

1812. Aug. 19. The U. S. frigate 
Constitution under Capt. Isaac Hull, 
captured the British frigate Guerriere, 
under Capt. Dacres. " Capt. Hull sent 
an officer to take possession of the 
Guerriere. When he arrived alongside, 
he demanded of the commander of the 
English frigate if he had struck. Dacres 
was extremely reluctant to make this 
concession in plain terms, but, with a 
shrewdness which would have done 
honor to a Yankee, endeavored to evade 
the question. ' I do not know that it 
would be prudent to continue the engage- 
ment any longer,' said he. 'Do I un- 
derstand you to say that you have struck?' 
inquired the American lieutenant. ' Not 
precisely,' returned Dacres, ' but I don't 
know that it will be worth while to fight 
any longer.' ' If you cannot decide, I 
will return aboard,' replied the Yankee, 
' and we will resume the engagement.' 
'Why, I am pretty much hors de combat 
already,' said Dacres; 'I have hardly men 



398 



REVOLUTION ART STRUGGLES. 



enough left to work a gun, and my ship 
is in a sinking condition.' ' I wish to 
know, sir,' peremptorily demanded the 
American officer, ' whether I am to con- 
sider you as a prisoner of war, or an 
enemy. I have no time for further 
parley.' ' I believe there is now no alter- 
native. If I could fight longer, I would, 
with pleasure; but I — must — surrender — 
myself — a prisoner of war! ' " 

1812. Sept. 24. William Henry 
Harrison took command of the army in 
the northwest, and at his call large num- 
bers of volunteers flocked together. 

1812. Oct. 8. Two British vessels 
were captured on Lake Erie by Lieut. 
Elliot. The navy yard was at Black 
Rock, near BufTalo, and the British ves- 
sels having anchored opposite, Elliot 
crossed the lake at midnight in small boats, 
and successfully surprised the unconscious 
enemy. 

1812. Oct. 13. The desperate bat- 
tle of Queenstown Heights was fought. 
The American forces vxnder Gen. Van 
Rensselaer crossed the Niagara River at 
Lewiston during the night, and were met 
by volleys from the enemy, but pressing 
bravely forward, the heroic Capt. Wool 
put the British to flight. Gen. Brock, 
the British commander, was killed, and 
after a fearful struggle Capt. Wool ob- 
tained the Heights. A band of savages 
now surrounded them, but Gen. Winfield 
Scott who had shortly before arrived, so 
inspired his men that the Indians fled in 
dismay, and had reinforcements arrived, 
the victory yyould have remained with 
the Americans. But the militia refused 
to cross to the aid of the American 
troops, who, being now overwhelmed with 
numbers, were forced to surrender, hav- 
ing lost in all i loo men. This closed the 
land campaign of 1S12, which was a 



failure on the part of the Americans, 
owing to lack of organization. 

1812. Oct. 18. The American sloop- 
of-war Wasp captured the British brig 
Frolic off North Carolina. In the after- 
noon of same day the Wasp and its prize 
were taken by the Poictiers, a British ship 
of y.^. guns. 

1812. Oct. 22. A British force at 
St. Regis was captured by the Ameri- 
cans. Lieut. William L. Marcy took 
the enemy's flag with his own hand. It 
was the first land trophy taken. 

1812. Oct. 25. The U. S. frigate 
United States, under Capt. Stephen De- 
catur, captured the British frigate Mace- 
donian, under Capt. Garden. 

1812. Nov. 8. Capt. Chauncey ap- 
peared on Lake Ontario with six armed 
schooners, blockaded Kingston Harbor, 
disabled the flag-ship of the enemy, and 
captured several merchant vessels. 

1812. Dec. 22. Joel Barlow, one of 
the earlier literary men of the United 
States, died near Cracow, Poland, at the 
age of fifty-seven years. He is chiefly 
known by his " Vision of Columbus," 
which, published in 17S7, brought him a 
wide reputation. He was born at Read- 
ing, Conn., in 1755. Studied law after 
graduation from college, but because of 
lack of chaplains in the army during the 
Revolution, he studied six weeks, was 
licensed in the Congregational ministry, 
and joined the army, where he did good 
service in inspiring the troops. He be- 
came somewhat of a politician after the 
war, upon the resumption of his law 
studies. A newspaper was established by 
him at Hartford, Conn. He prepared an 
edition of Watts' hymns for use in the 
churches of Connecticut, and added a few 
of his own. He afterward traveled 
abroad, and had some connection with 



1800-1824.] 



THE AWAKENED CONTINENT. 



399 



revolutionary movements on the conti- 
nent. His " Columbiad," upon which he 
had spent long labor, appeared in 1807. 
Its merit is not equal to that of the " Vi- 
sion of Columbus," though the idea was 
similar. His most popular poem was 
upon " Hasty Pudding," which he wrote 
in France. He died in Poland, upon his 
way to meet Napoleon, at the latter's re- 
quest, to arrange some negotiations, Bar- 
low having been appointed minister to 
France from the United States. He 
wrote a poem concerning Napoleon, upon 
his death bed. 

1812. Dec. 29. The American frig- 
ate Constitution, under Capt, Bainbridge, 
captured the British frigate Java off the 
coast of Brazil. American privateers 
had captured during the year 350 mer- 
chantmen, and 3,000 prisoners. 

1812. Algiers declared war upon the 
United States. 

SEVENTH PRESIDEKTML CAMPAIGN. 

1812. In the seventh presidential 
campaign, at the close of this year, the 
democrat-republicans re-nominated James 
Madison of Virginia, for president, and 
Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, for 
vice-president. These nominations were 
made at a congressional caucvis held at 
Washington, D. C, in May, iSi3. The 
re-nomination of Mr. Madison was due 
to the withdrawal of his opposition to the 
war. The opposition, in a convention at 
New York representing eleven states, 
the first of the kind ever held, nominated 
DeWitt Clinton of New York, for presi- 
dent, and Jared Ingersoll of Pennsyl- 
vania, for vice-president. The events of 
the year caused some re-arrangement of 
political parties in the new division 
caused by the war. Madison and Gerry 
were elected. Out of 218 electoral votes 



Madison received 128, and Gerry 131 
while Clinton received 89, and Ingersoll, 
'$16 votes. 

1812. The Philadelphia Company 
for Life Insurance, the first in the coun- 
try for the public generally, was estab- 
lished. A great prejudice had existed 
against putting insurance upon life. This 
company began v>^ith a capital of $500,- 
000, and used Dr. Price's tables, which are 
now discarded. 

"UNCLE SAMr 

1812. It was during this year that 
this phrase originated as a title for the 
United States. A large amount of pro- 
visions was bought at Troy, N. Y., by 
Elbert Anderson, a United States con- 
tractor. The goods were inspected at 
Troy by two brothers named Ebenezer 
and Samuel Wilson, the latter of whom 
was known among all the workmen as 
Uncle Sam. The packages of goods 
were marked, E. A. — U. S. A witty 
workman was asked what these letters 
meant, and jocosely said it must be El- 
bert Anderson and Uncle Sam. The 
latter term soon came to be in current 
use for the United States. 



1812. Two girls named Rebecca 
Bates and Sarah Winsor, frightened away 
a British expedition which was landing 
to destroy Scituate, Mass. They got a 
drum and a fife, and while making all the 
noise upon them they could, marched 
along behind a headland toward the old 
lighthouse. The British soldiers, who 
had already begun their work of destruc- 
tion, thought that an army was coming 
against them, and flying to their boats, 
tumbled into them, and pulled for the ship 
as fast as possible. Two girls had van- 



400 



RE VOL UTIONAR T STR UGGL ES. 



quished British regulars. The place was 
preserved from further harm. 

1812. Nine loads of anthracite coal 
were brought to Philadelphia by Geoi-ge 
Schoemaker, of Pottsville. He sold two 
loads of it to a Mr. White who owned a 
manufoctory and tried, with his workmen, 
for a half day to make the coal burn. He 
gave it up in disgust, shut the furnace 
door, and went home to dinner. When 
he returned he was amazed to find the 
furnace door red-hot, and the coal burn- 
ing finely. The secret was discovered. 
Other men who bought a part of Mr. 
Schoemaker's coal failed to make it burn 
and got out a writ for his arrest, upon the 
charge of selling them stones. 

1812. Perpetual motion was claimed 
to have been invented by a man named 
Redhiffer, but acute observers soon dis- 
covered a concealed motor. They sug- 
gested tests which the proprietor refused 
to permit. Robert Fulton visited the 
machine, charged the owner with fraud, 
and tearing down a part of the wall of 
the room, traced a string to the upper 
floor where an old man was found seated 
diligently at work turning the system of 
weights and wheels exhibited below. 
The crowd were so incensed that they 
destroyed the apparatus. 

1812. The Spanish surrendered 
Montevideo, and by so doing virtually 
insured the independence of the prov- 
ince which is now the Argentine Re- 
public. 

1812. The first newspaper in Span- 
ish America was established in Chili. 

1813. Jan. 1. Freedom was de- 
clared to every child born in Buenos 
Ay res after this date. 

1813. Jan. 22. River Raisin Massa- 
cre. A severe battle ^vas fought near 
the River Raisin at Frenchtown, south 



of Detroit, between a British force under 
Gen. Proctor, and an American force 
under Gen. Winchester. The American 
force was cut to pieces, and the most brutal 
atrocities committed by the savages with 
whom the woods thronged. Proctor 
was suspected of encouraging their bar- 
barities, and long afterward the war-cry 
of the Americans was " Remember the 
River Raisin." 

1813. January. A "sovereign as- 
sembly" was constituted over the prov- 
ince of Buenos Ayres, and held its session 
at Tucman. 

1813. Feb. 22. Ogdensburg was in- 
vaded by a British force of eight hun- 
dred men ^vho crossed the St. Lawrence 
on the ice. Major Forsythc's small 
force was overpowered in a short time, 
the place was plundered, and the bar- 
racks and several schooners were burned. 

1813. Feb. 24. The U. S. brig Hor- 
net under Capt. Lawrence, sunk the 
British brig Peacock off the mouth of the 
Demerara River. The battle had only 
raged fifteen minutes when the Peacock 
began to sink so rapidly that a numlier 
of the wounded were carried down with 
her. 

1813. March 4. James Madison of 
Virginia, was inaugurated president of 
the United States, and Elbridge Gerry of 
Massachusetts, vice-president. 

1813. The mediation of Russia was 
offered to the United States and accepted, 
but England refused to allow it. 

1813. April 27. The capture of 
York, now Toronto, was effected by an 
American force from Sackett's Harbor, 
under Gen. Zcbulon M. Pike. After a 
fierce contest the British, unable to hold 
the fort, fired a magazine of powder near 
the lake, causing a terrible loss of life. 
Gen. Pike was mortally wounded by the 



1800-1824] 

explosion, but lived long enough to recog- 
nize the British flag when it was brought 
to him, and requested that he might die 
with it under his head. The American 
loss was 2S6. The British was 140, be- 
sides prisoners. 

1813. May 1. Siege of Fort Meigs. 
Fort Meigs, which had been built at Mai- 
den by Gen. Harrison, was attacked by 
the British and Indians under Proctor 
and Tecumseh. An American reinforce- 
ment under Gen. Clay attacked the be- 
siegers, and although one detachment was 
cut off and captured, such was the bravery 
of the remaining troops that the Indians 
soon deserted, and the British gave up 
the siege. The Americans who had 
been taken prisoners were treated with 
great severity until Tecumseh interfered 
in their behalf. 

1813. May 27. The capture of Fort 
George on the Canada frontier was ef- 
fected by an American force under Gen- 
erals Chandler and Winder. 

1813. May 28. The British attacked 
Sackett's Harbor, knowing that a part 
of the troops had been withdrawn at the 
capture of Toronto, but were so success- 
fully i-epulsed that their retreat turned 
into a disorderly flight. 

1813. June 1. "Don't Give up the 
Ship." The U. S. frigate Chesapeake, 
under Capt. Lawrence, was captured in 
single combat by the British ship Shan- 
non, under Capt. Brookes, off Boston 
harbor. In a few minutes the Chesa- 
peake was terribly disabled, and the 
brave commander mortally wounded. 
As he was carried below he said, " Tell 
the men to fire faster, and don't give up 
the ship." This utterance became a 
watchword. 

1813. June 3. Two American 
schooners on Lake Champlain were 



THE A WAKENED CONTINENT. 



401 



captured by Bi'itish gunboats, aided by 
the garrison at Isle aux Noix. The con- 
trol of the lake was retained by the Brit- 
ish for the rest of the season. 

1813. June 6. The battle of Stony 
Creek near the west end of Lake Onta- 
rio was fought, and resulted in the rejDulse 
of the British. 

1813. June 22. An invasion of Nor- 
folk, Virginia, was attempted by the 
British who had been committing depre- 
dations all along the southern coast, 
hoping to draw away the American 
forces from the north. They were suc- 
cessfully repulsed, and gave up all hope of 
gaining Norfolk or the navy -yard. 

1813. June 24. The surrender of 
the American force of 600 men who had 
been sent out to capture the British post 
at Beaver Dams, was caused by a woman 
who walked nineteen miles to acquaint 
the British commander with the plan, who 
immediately secured the alliance of a 
force of Indians. 

1813. June 25. Admiral Cockburn, 
angered by his fiiilure at Norfolk, at- 
tacked Hampton village, and soon over- 
powered its defenders, who fought most 
bravely, at great odds. Upon the en- 
trance of the British, Admiral Cockburn 
allowed the soldiers to perform such bar- 
barities upon the unprotected inhabitants, 
that it has surrounded his name with 
jDcrpetual dishonor. 

1813. July 31. Plattsburg and Swan- 
ton were invaded by a British force from 
Canada. The barracks were burned, 
and a quantity of supplies taken. 

1813. Aug. 1. An assault upon 
Fort Stephenson at Lower Sandusky, 
was made by Proctor and his Indian 
allies. The garrison was commanded 
by Maj. George Croghan, who was but 
twenty-one years of age. He had 160 

26 



402 



RE VOL UTIONAR2' S TR UGGLES. 



men and one piece of artillery. Proctor 
denianded instant surrender, with threat 
of massacre if taken by assault. Crog- 
han sent back the brave reply, that 
when taken there would be nobody left 
alive to massacre. The enemy were re- 
pulsed with a loss of 120 men, while the 
Americans had but one killed. Great 
honor was bestowed upon the brave 
young commander. 

1813. Aug. 14. The U. S. brig Argus, 
after a successful cruise in which she had 
captured twenty British merchantmen, 
was herself taken by the British brig 
Pelican. 

1813. Aug. 30. The massacre of 
Fort Mimms, Alabama, was perpetrated 
by the Creek Indians under their chief 
Weatherford. About 300 persons per- 
ished. The British had offered $5.00 for 
every scalp. 

1813. Sept. 5. The U. S. brig En- 
terprise, under Lieut. Burrows, took the 
British brig Boxer, under Capt. Bl^-the, 
in Portland Harbor, Maine. The Boxer 
surrendered in four minutes. Both com- 
manders were mortally wounded, and 
were laid side by side after their deaths, 
in the cemetery at Portland. 

1813. Sept. 10. Perry's Victory. 
Capt. Perry, with a fleet of nine Ameri- 
can vessels, met the British fleet on Lake 
Erie, in deadly battle. For two hours 
the flag ship Lawrence received the force 
of the battle, until but one mast remained 
standing. The stars and stripes still 
hung at its top. Perry was set upon 
victory, and crossing in a small boat, 
under the incessant fire of the enemy, to 
the Niagara, which had been compara- 
tivelv uninjured, he assailed the British 
Avith such fresh force that in eight min- 
utes they surrendered. Perry went back 
to the battered decks of the Lawrence to 



receive the British commander. Honors 
and medals were showered upon the 
young hero. 

1813. Sept. 18. The American fleet 
on Lake Ontario, under Chauncey, at- 
tacked the British fleet under Sir James 
Yeo, who had boasted that he wished to 
" fight the Yankees." The British were 
soon so broken up that they made a re- 
treat toward Kingston. 

1813. Sept. 23. A stratagem of 
Com. Rodgers enabled him to take the 
British brig Highflyer without a shot. 
Rodgers was in command of the U. S. 
frigate President, and had been cruising 
for several weeks when he came near the 
Highflyer, and raising the British stand- 
ard he replied to signals from the High- 
flyer that his vessel was the Sea-Horse. 
The commander of the Highflyer then 
came on board, and finding his mistake, 
was obliged to surrender. In the entire 
cruise the President had taken eleven 
merchantmen and three hundred pris- 
oners. 

1813. Oct. 5. The battle of the 
Thames, near Detroit, was fought be- 
tween Proctor and Harrison. Harrison 
was encouraged to attempt the recovery 
of Detroit by Perry's victory on Lake 
Erie. The British forces were almost 
entirely taken captive. Proctor and his 
staff fled. Tecumseh was slain. This 
victory gained all that Hull had surren- 
dered at the opening of the war. 

TECUMSEH. 

1813. Oct. 5. Tecumseh, the Shawnee 
chief who \vas killed in the battle of the 
Thames, was forty-five years of age, 
having been born in 176S near Spring- 
field, Ohio. He was prominent in the 
hostilities at the close of the last century, 
but the idea of opposing the whites 



1800-1824.] 

seems to have taken deepest hold upon 
his mind after 1S05, in which yeai" his 
brother, Elskwatawa, began his career as 
" The Prophet." They labored together 
unceasingly to form a great union among 
all western Indians. They were making 
some headway, but the vigor of Gen. 
Harrison restrained their plans. The 
council at Vincennes, and the battle of 
Tippecanoe in iSi i, were alike discour- 
aging to the Indians. Tecumseh seized 
ujDon the war with England as a favora- 
ble opportunity, and steadily fought with 
the British forces. He w^as made a brig- 
adier-general by British authority, and 
■vvore the uniform of his rank. He had 
been a great aid to Proctor, and fell, 
^vhile fighting desperately. He had all 
the determination found in the greatest 
Indian leaders of our history, but was 
without many of the fiercer qualities. 
At one time he killed a Chippewa chief 
because he would not stop massacring 
the whites at the close of a battle. Gen. 
William Tecumseh Sherman was named 
because of his father's liking for this 
brave and kind-hearted Indian warrior. 



THE A WAKENED CONTINENT. 



403 



1813. Nov. 3. The Creek Indians 
were defeated near Jacksonville, Ala- 
bama, by an American force under Gen. 
Coffee, w^ho surrounded the savages and 
overwhelmed them completely. 

1813. Nov. 8. The Indians were 
defeated at Talladega, Alabama, by a 
force under Gen. Jackson. 

1813. Nov. 11. The battle of Chrys- 
ler's Field was fought near Williams- 
burg, Canada. At the end of five hours 
the Americans were driven from the 
field, benumbed with snow and sleet. 
They lost 339, killed and wounded. It 
was thought best to go into winter quar- 
ters at French Mills, on the Salmon 



River. Thus closed the attempted inva- 
sion of Canada. 

1813. Nov. 13. Mexico Declared 
Independent. A congress called by 
Gen. Morelos, who had taken up the 
struggle where Hidalgo had left it at his 
death, declared Mexico independent. 
Gen. Morelos was a devoted patriot, and 
like Hidalgo, had been a priest. There 
^\'as now another forward movement in 
that country. 

1813. Nov. 23. The Indians were 
defeated in Lowndes county, Alabama, 
by a thousand men under Gen. Claiborne. 

1813. Nov. 29. The Indians were 
defeated at Antossi, on the Tallapoosa 
River, by Gen. John Floyd, with nine 
hundred men. The savages had thought 
the spot they chose to be " holy ground," 
upon which no white man could stand 
and live. 

1813. Dec. 10. Newark, Canada, 
was burned by the Americans. The 
British in retaliation seized Fort Niagara, 
put part of the garrison to death, and 
burned many villages along the frontier. 
Buffiilo was wholly destroyed. These 
dark events closed the campaign of 18 13 
in the north, 

1813. A bomb-shell was devised by 
Robert L. Stevens, who sold it to the U. 
S. government for an annuity. 

1813. The first stereotyping in 
America was done at the foundry of D. 
and G. Bruce, William Street, New 
York, and also at the works of John 
Watts. The first work issued was by the 
latter, and was " The Assembly of Di- 
vines' Catechism." The first Bible ste- 
reotyped in America, v^^as by the Bruces 
in 181 5. 

1813. The first cloth weaving by 
power looms in America, was at a fac- 
tory built at Waltham, Mass., by Francis 



404 



RE VOL UTIONAR T STR UGGLES . 



C. Lowell and Patrick T. Jackson, of 
Boston. There was probably at the time 
no other mill in the world which could 
convert the raw cotton into finished 
fabric in the same factory. The power 
looms set up were the invention of the 
proprietors. The machine cost about 
$300, and was constructed by Paul 
Moody of Amesbury. The English 
power loom had been kept secret. No 
drawings of it had ever been seen. All 
weaving in America had previously been 
done by the hand loom. 

1813. A duel was fought between 
Gen. Andrew Jackson and Senator 
Thomas H. Benton. 

1813. Chili was invaded by a strong 
Spanish force under Gen. Paroja, who 
was twice defeated by patriots, but after- 
w\ard, with additional troops, gained the 
supremacy, and again reduced the prov- 
ince to subjection. 

1814. Feb. 13. A Mexican patriot 
named Mariano Matamoros, similar to 
Hidalgo in ability and sympathy, was 
executed at Valladolid, His memory is 
highly esteemed in jNIexico. 

1814. Feb. 14. The U. S. frigate 
Constitution, under Capt. Charles Stew- 
art, captured the British brig Pictou off 
the coast of Surinam, and returning 
north, was chased by two British men-of- 
war, but finally found refuge in the 
harbor of Marblehead, Mass. 

1814. March 27. Battle of Horse- 
Shoe Bend. The death blow to the 
Creek Indians \vas given bv Gen. Jack- 
son in the battle of Horse-Shoe Bend, 
on the Tallapoosa. The Indians en- 
trenched themselves on the peninsula, 
but their breastworks were carried, and 
as they refused to surrender, they were 
shot down mercilesslv, until nearly six 
hundred had perished. The remnant 



that escaped soon appeared in Fort 
Jackson, dejected, and broken in spirit. 
Weatherford, the old chief, told Jackson 
that he had done the Americans all the 
harm in his power, and had his support 
remained firm, he would have done more. 
Now, however, he gave himself up to be 
treated as the victors pleased. Jackson 
humanely spared his life, and treated him 
kindly. 

1814. March 28. A desperate naval 
battle was fought between the U. S. 
frigate Essex and two British vessels, in 
the harbor of Valparaiso, Chili. The 
Essex had been blockaded for nearly a 
year, and finally, in trying to run the 
blockade, was disabled by a squall, and 
then attacked by the Phoebe and Cherub. 
With his vessel almost a total wreck, and 
one hundred and fifty of his men lying 
dead around him, Capt. Porter at last 
drew down his flag. 

1814. April 29. The U. S. vessel 
Peacock, under Capt. Warrington, cap- 
tured the British vessel Epervier, which 
had on board $1 iS,ooo in specie. 

1814. May 1. The first steam 
ferry between New York and Long 
Island began running. It was the in- 
vention of Robert Fulton, and cost 
$33,000. It was named the " Nassau.'* 

1814. May 5. Oswego, which was 
guarded by a small garrison of three 
hundred men, was taken by the British,, 
whose object was to seize some supplies 
at the falls of the Oswego River. 

1814. June 28. The U. S. brig 
Wasp captured the British sloop Rein- 
deer, and Capt. Blakely ordered her to- 
be burned. 

1814. June. Extensive depreda- 
tions were carried on along the New 
England coast, by British vessels. Sea- 
port towns were destroyed, together 



1800-1824.] 

with much valuable property. Eastern 
Maine was for a time in British control. 

1814. July 3. Fort Erie, opposite 
Buffalo, surrendered to an American 
force under Gen. Scott and Gen. Ripley, 
who had crossed the river in the night. 

1814. July 5. The battle of Chip- 
pewa was fought between Gen. Riall 
of the British, and Gen. Scott of the 
American troop3. The enemy were 
entirely cut up and fled precipitately, 
tearing up the bridges over which they 
passed. The British lost 604 men, and 
the Americans 355. 

1814. July 25. The battle of Lun- 
dy's Lane, or Niagara Falls, resulted in 
the defeat of the British. After the vic- 
tory of Chippewa, which chafed the 
British, Drummond determined to drive 
the Americans from Canada, and accord- 
ingly landed at Lewiston. Gen. Brown 
sent out Gen. Scott to meet him. Sup- 
posing that a small portion only of the 
British army was near. Gen. Scott found 
himself confronted with a larger force 
than at Chippewa. He realized the peril 
of his men, and yet determined to fight. 
Sending a small detachment to the rear 
of the British, which kept back some re- 
inforcements, he maintained his position 
till Gen. Brown arrived, with the whole 
American army. The battery on the 
hill was taken, and after the enemy were 
repulsed, the Americans fell back to Chip- 
pewa, under Gen. Ripley. Generals 
Scott and Brown were each severely 
wounded. Had Ripley obeyed orders 
and been on the battle field in the morn- 
ing, the victory would have remained 
undisputed. He failed to appear, and 
the British retook their artillery. The 
British loss was 87S men, and the Amer- 
ican was 85 2. 

1814. Aug. 9-12, Stonington, Conn., 



THE A WAKENED CONTINENT. 



405 



was bombarded by the British. Sir 
Thomas Hardy first sent the inhabitants 
word of his intentions, and gave them an 
hour in which to leave. No one able 
to bear arms left, but so bravely defended 
the place that on the 12th the squadron 
retired. 

1814. Aug. 15. An unsuccessful 
assault upon Fort Erie was made by the 
British, who lost 962 men, while the 
Americans lost only 84. 

1814. Aug. 24. The battle of 
Bladensburg, four miles from Washing- 
ton, D. C, between an English force 
which had invaded the country by way 
of the seacoast, and an American force, 
resulted in the retreat of the latter, after 
which the victors pursued their way 
without obstruction toward Washington. 

1814. Aug. 24. Burning of Wash- 
ington. In the evening the British 
troojDS under Gen. Ross, entered Wash- 
ington, and at once began to plunder the 
city. The public buildings were almost 
entirely burned, and during the night the 
conflagration was very extensive. The 
capitol was sacked, and the library which 
was being accumulated, ruthlessly de- 
stroyed. Mrs. Madison, wife of the 
President, saved in her flight a portrait of 
Washington, and the Declaration of In- 
dependence. This wanton destruction 
of property was regretted by the greater 
part of the English nation. Late on the 
afternoon of the 35th, a terrible tempest 
swept over the place, and amid the roar 
of the fire and storm the British left the 
place. The national loss was estimated 
at $2,184,282. Several hundred thou- 
sands of doHars worth of private property 
were also destroyed. 

1814. Aug. 27. Alexandria was 
assailed by a part of the British fleet 
under Commodore Gordon. The city 



406 



RE VOL UTIONART S TR UGGLES. 



was without defence, and was obliged to 
submit to the plundering of the enemy. 

1814. August. Negotiations of 
peace were begun, but were interrupted 
during the autumn by the demands of 
England. 

1814. Sept. 1. The U. S. vessel 
Wasp captured the British vessel Avon, 
but was soon compelled to give it up 
again by the arrival of the Avon's con- 
voys. A few months later the Wasp 
disappeared, and was never heard from. 

1814. Sept. 6. The battle of the 
stone mill near Plattsburg, N. Y., re- 
sulted in the repulse of the British by a 
small company of musketmcn stationed 
in the mill. 

1814. Sept. 11. Macdonough's Vic- 
tory. IVIacdonough, who was anchored 
with a small fleet in Plattsburg Bay, 
gained the victory over the British squad- 
ron which came into it to destroy him. 
After two hours' conflict all the vessels 
were so shattered that Macdonough said 
there was not a sound mast in either 
squadron. The British loss much ex- 
ceeded the American. At the same time 
with this naval action the land forces 
were struggling together, and when the 
news of the surrender of the British fleet 
was spread, the British General Prevost 
lost all courage, and hastily organized a 
retreat which soon turned into a flight. 
This ended military movements on the 
north. 

1814. Sept. 12. Advance on Balti- 
more. The British vessels appeared off" 
Patapsco Bay, prepared for the capture 
of Baltimore. In a few hours the troops 
under Gen. Ross had landed, and taken 
up their march for the city. At the 
same time the fleet prepared to bombard 
Foil McHenry. Gen. Strieker was sent 
out to meet the British land force, and a 



shot from one of his men killed Ross at 
the head of his troops. A severe engage- 
ment followed, when Strieker fell back 
for reinforcements. The British were 
left on the field. 

1814. Sept. 13. A constant bom- 
bardment of Fort McHenry was kept 
up for twenty-five hours, but without ef- 
fect. The land troops were also foiled in 
their attempt on Baltimore, and on the 
next morning the firing ceased. 

THE ST>LR SP±yGLED B^LYXER. 

1814. Sept. 13. Our national lyric 
had its birth during this bombardment. 
Dr. Beans of Upper Marlborough, had 
been taken prisoner and carried on ship- 
board by the British when their troops 
had finished their raid upon Washington.. 
He was universally esteemed, and there 
was a great desire to obtain his release. 
It was finally arranged that Mr. Francis 
S. Key should visit the British vessels 
and make the request. Mr. Skinner of 
Baltimore, accompanied Mr. Key. The 
request was granted, but the three Amer- 
icans were detained on board because of 
the coming attack on Baltimore. It can 
be faintly imagined what their feelings 
were during the furious cannonade of 
Fort McHenrv. The darkness wore on 
interminably. The roar of guns made 
the night tremble, and the flashes at their 
discharge threw a lurid gleam across the 
water. The fort did not reply, and it 
could not be told whether the old flag 
was still flying in its place. The dawn 
was anxiously awaited. Mr. Key walked 
up and down the vessel's deck and com- 
posed the song which has had a national 
acceptance. When the light of morning 
was suflicient it I'evealed to his eyes the 
fact that " our flag was still there." The 
long suspense was passed, and the coun- 



1800-1834] 

try had a possession of great value. At 
the close of the ineffectual bombardinent 
the three friends went ashore, and the 
British sailed away. Since then, every 
part of our country has known and sung 
that 

"The Star Spangled Banner in triumph doth wave 
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave." 



THE A WAKENED CONTINENT. 



407 



1814. Sept. 15. The disappointed 
British withdrew from Baltimore by 
land and by sea, thwarted in what they 
had thought to be an easy achievement. 
At Montreal the proposed rejoicing over 
the capture of Washington had been 
postponed till the news of the fall of Bal- 
timore should also reach them. 

1814. Sept. 15. An attack on Fort 
Bowyer on the eastern shore of Mobile 
Bay, was made by land and water. The 
British were soon i"epulsed, with quite a 
serious loss. 

1814. Sept. 17. A battle near Fort 
Erie was fought, and resulted in the de- 
feat of the British. The fort for which 
the British had contended so long, still 
remained in American hands. 

FIRST MEXICAK CONSTITUTION. 

1814. Oct. 22. The national con- 
gress, which had been summoned in 
Mexico by Gen. Morelos, proclaimed a 
Constitution Apatzingan. In the mean- 
time, military movements were continued. 



1814. Oct. 29. The first steam war- 
vessel ever built, named Fulton the First, 
was launched at New York, and was the 
invention of Robert Fulton. It was 156 
feet long, 56 feet wide, and had an engine 
of 60 inch stroke. 

1814. Nov. 5. Fort Erie was blown 
up by Gen. Izard, who saw that further 
operations in Canada would be useless. 



The troops were withdrawn into New 
York. 

1814. Nov. 7. Gen. Jackson marched 
into Pensacola, Florida, and compelled 
its surrender, for the Spanish government 
had allowed the British to use the forts 
and harbor. When the surrender took 
place, the latter immediately sailed away. 

1814. Nov. 13. Elbridge Gerry, vice- 
president of the United States, and one 
of the signers of the Declaration of In- 
dependence, died in his carriage on his 
way to the capitol, at the age of seventy 
years. He was born at Marblehead, 
Mass., and graduated at Harvard College. 
He was connected closely with revolution- 
ary movements in Massachusetts, and in 
1776 "was sent to the continental congress. 
He did important service, and was an 
honored member of the national congress 
for four years. In 1797 he served on a 
mission to France with Pinckney and 
Marshall. His character and ability 
were every way honorable. 

1814. Dec. 15, The Hartford Con- 
vention, composed of twenty-six dele- 
gates, assembled in secret council at 
Hartford, Conn. The peace negotiations 
which were going on at Ghent were far 
from satisfactory. The raising of an 
army by conscription was proposed by 
some of the government officers. East- 
ern Maine was in the control of the 
British. New England had been practi- 
cally ignored by the general government 
in the question of coast defenses. There 
w^as also a great financial stress in New 
England. The legislature of Massa- 
chusetts requested the other New Eng- 
land States to join in a convention to be 
held at Hartford, " to confer upon the 
subject of their public grievances." The 
convention met according to nivitation, 
and was composed of delegates from 



408 



REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLES. 



Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecti- 
cut, and from some parts of New Hamp- 
shire and Vermont. The session contin- 
ued for three weeks, and resulted in a 
report to the legislatures of the several 
states represented. After considering the 
condition of affairs, this report proposed 
several amendments to the U. S. consti- 
tution. It also suggested that if these 
were not adopted it would be wise to 
hold another convention " to decide on 
the course which a crisis so momentous 
might seem to demand." Several ex- 
pressions in the report, taken in connec- 
tion with the secrecy of the deliberations, 
were attended by an evil impression, on 
the country at large. The convention 
had its origin in the feelings of the fed- 
eralists of New England, and their party 
had to suffer the burden of suggested 
disruption of the union. Such a design 
has been since disclaimed, but without 
ridding the public mind of the impression. 
The Hartford Convention has come 
down with an unfortunate reputation. 

1814. Dee. 24. A treaty of peace be- 
tween Great Britain and the United States 
was signed at Ghent, Belgium, where the 
commissioners had been in session several 
months. It did not touch upon the im- 
pressment of seamen, but the thing was 
never again attempted. It stipulated that 
each nation should try to arrest Indian 
hostilities and the slave trade. The treaty 
did not reach America till Feb. ii. 

1814. A financial panic was grow- 
ing upon the United States. The U. S. 
treasury notes were seventeen per cent, 
below par. It was claimed that the diffi- 
culty was heightened by the efforts of 
the peace party, the leaders of which in- 
duced the Boston banks to demand that 
the notes on southern banks then in their 
hands, be redeemed in specie. They also 



had arrangements with Canadian agents 
who devised means to buy up American 
specie. 

1814. The Columbiad, a long gun 
for throwing shells, was invented b}' Col. 
Bomford of the Ordnance Department, 
and received universal favor. It was 
afterward improved in France, with the 
name of Paixhans. 

1814. An iron-clad steam vessel was 
described in specifications which were 
patented by Thomas Gregg of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

1814. First Steel Engraving. The 
process of decarbonizing isu . steam car- 
steel so that it could be en- '''".•?'" '" ^V- 

. lajni. Streets of 

graved, was mtroduced to London lighted 
the world by Jacob Per- fnthgas. 
kins of Newburyport, Mass., who went 
to Philadelphia to perfect the new art. 

1814. The Harmony Society of But- 
ler county, Penn., sold out ISU. Napoleon 

and removed to Indiana, 
where they settled at what 
they called New Harmony, 
on the Wabash River. 
They were seeking for a climate more 
favorable to the jDroductions which they 
wished to cultivate. They erected a vil- 
lage including manufactories, but within 
ten years found that the climate would 
not permit them to stay there. Another 
removal was made to Economy, Penn. 

1814. An Isthmus Canal. A decree 
was passed by the Spanish Cortes, au- 
thorizing a canal to be opened across the 
isthmus of Tehuantepec. But the plan 
was never carried out because of the 
troubles into which Spain and Mexico 
were plunged. 

1814. Dr. Francia became sole dic- 
tator of Paraguay, and ruled the country 
by his own word, till his death in 1840. 

1814. French Guiana, S. A., was 



abdicated. House 
of Bourbon re- 
stored. 

1814-1824. Louis 
XVIII. King of 
Fra7tce. 



1800-1824.] 

restored to the French government by 
England. Dutch Guiana was given up 
to Holland, although certain settlements 
v\^ere retained by England. About 
10,000 Maroons, or fugitive slaves from 
the West Indies, live in this province. 
Curagoa was also restored to Holland, 
and is the principal Dutch West India 
island. Martinique was given up to 
France. St. Croix was soon restored to 
the Danes, and with St. Thomas and St. 
John make up the Danish possessions in 
the West Indies. 

1815. Jan. 8. Battle of New Or- 
leans. A great battle was fought at 
New Orleans between the Bi-itish, under 
Gen. Packenham, a brother-in-law of 
Wellington, and the Americans, under 
Gen. Jackson. The former were making 
an advance on the city. The American 
troops were entrenched, and poured a 
scathing fire upon the unprotected Bi^itish 
as they pressed on bravely in an assault 
of the works. Whole platoons were 
swept away, and Gen. Packenham fell, 
mortally wounded. After this the lines 
broke into confusion and fled, losing in 
dead, wounded, and prisoners, 2600 men. 
The American loss was 8 killed, and 13 
wounded. 

1815. Feb. 20. Old Ironsides. The 
U. vS. frigate Constitution captured off 
Lisbon two British war-sloops named 
« The Cyane " and " The Levant." It 
then sailed for Brazil, and her commander 
first heard of peace at Porto Rico. The 
Constitution has since been known as 
" Old Ironsides." 

1815. March 23. The U. S. vessel 
Hornet, under Capt. Biddle, captured the 
British sloop Penguin in the Southern 
Ocean, after a short but most desperate 
encounter. 

1815. April 6. A barbarous mas- 



THE A WAKENED CONTINENT. 



409 



sacre of American prisoners occurred at 
Dartmoor Prison, England. For some 
reason or other the guards deliberately 
shot down the captives. It seems, how- 
ever, to have been the result of some 
mistake. 

1815. May. The North African 
powers had again been capturing Amer- 
ican vessels, and Com. Decatur was sent 
to the Mediterranean with a squadron. 

1815. June 17. Two Algerine ves- 
sels, one of them a frigate ^^^5. Battu of 

of forty-four guns, were cap- Waterloo. Na- 
1 , c r^.-i poleoH banished 

tured at the straits of Gib- ^^ st. Helena. 
raltar by Com. Decatur. 

1815. June 28. Com. Decatur hav- 
ing reached Algiers, made a ^^^5. .5^^^^,, 
demand for the immediate ^"'"P mventedhy 

■I r \ • • Sir Humphrey 

surrender of American pris- jjavy. 
oners, remuneration for all property 
taken, and renunciation of all tribute for 
the future. 

1815. June 30. A treaty was signed 
by the Dey of Algiers, granting the 
demands of Decatur, who then sailed to 
Tunis and Tripoli, and secured similar 
humiliating conditions. The United 
States did what European powers had 
never dared to undertake, entirely abol- 
ished these piratical enterprises. 

1815. June 30. The last shot in the 
war with England was fired by the U. S. 
vessel Peacock, under Capt. Warrington, 
who captured the British vessel Nautilus 
in the Straits of Sunda. The next day 
he heard of the conclusion of peace, and 
gave up his prize. Sixteen hundred mer- 
chant vessels belonging to Great Britain 
were taken in the three years. The 
American navy had gained a high repu- 
tation, and England admitted that a new 
power had appeared on the seas. The 
American government expended for the 
war $180,000,000. 



410 



REVOLUTION ART STRUGGLES. 



1815. Sept. 23. A tremendous gale 

swept along the New England coast. 
The streets of Providence, R. I., and other 
coast cities were whirling torrents of 
water. Houses were utterly wrecked, 
shipping was destroyed, cattle killed, 
fruit trees rooted up, lives lost, and gen- 
eral havoc made. About eight inches of 
rain fell in thirty-five hours. 

1815. An anti- slavery organization 
called the " Union Humane " society, was 
formed at St. Clairsville, Va., by Ben- 
jamin Lundy. 

1815. American manufactures were 
fought by English traders who sent over 
to America large stocks of goods to be 
sold at auction, for any price. Lord 
Brougham declared in Parliament that 
" it was worth the while to incur a loss 
upon the first exportations in order to 
stifle the rising manutactures in the Unit- 
ed States, which the war had forced into 
existence, contrary to the usual order of 
things." The Americans fell into the 
trap, and for a time large sales of Eng- 
lish auction goods were made in some of 
the large cities. The men who entered 
into this business were soon met by re- 
verses. One purchaser lost $So,ooo by 
a single speculation. 

1815. Brazil was raised by Portugal 
to the rank of a kingdom. John VI. be- 
came King. of Portugal, Algarve, and 
Brazil. 

1815. Dec. 22. Gen. Morelos, the 
Mexican patriot, was executed in the Cit}^ 
of ISIcxico. He had been taken in battle 
after almost all his followers had fillen 
or deserted. For a time the Spaniards 
did not dare to advance upon him to cap- 
ture him, such was his personal bravery. 
He had been defeated in several battles, 
but clung to his country's cause. His 
piety was marked, and entered strongly 



into his patriotism. At his execution he 
offered this short prayer, " Lord, if I have 
done well, thou knowest it; if ill, to thy 
infinite inercy I commend my soul." He 
had great executive ability, and there was 
now no one to take his place. For the 
next few years the cause of Mexican in- 
dependence did not prosper much. A 
mere partisan warfare was the only out- 
ward sign. Victoria, Guerrero, Bravo, 
Rayon, Teran, were disposed of by de- 
feat which drove them into seclusion, or 
by execution. The cruel Gen. Calleja 
Avas a great instrument in the work of 
subjection. His butcheries were very 
many. He was greatly honored by the 
Spanish government. By iSzo the coun- 
try was comparatively quiet, and yet In- 
dependence was nearer than any one 
dreamed. 

1816. April. A second United States 
Bank was chartered. Its capital was to 
be $35,000,000, of which the government 
was to take $7,000,000. The charter 
was to run twenty-five years. 

1816. July 9. The United Prov- 
inces of La Plata, S. A., were declared 
independent, 

1816. November. The first savings 
bank In America, called "The Philadel- 
phia Savings Fund Society," was organ- 
ized. Andrew Bayard was chosen pres- 
ident of It. It opened for business Dec. 
2d. Another ^vas founded In Boston also, 
which was incorporated Dec. 13, under 
the name " The Provident Institution for 
Savings." The latter received any sum 
amounting to $1.00 or more, and paid In- 
terest on $5.00 or more. Another A\as 
soon established In New York, and in 
18 iS one was founded In Baltimore. 

1816. Dee. 11. Indiana was the 
nineteenth state to be received Into the 
union. It has an area of 33,809 square 



1800-1824.] 

miles, and a population in 1S70 of i,6So,- 
637 persons. It is known as the " Hoo- 
sier State." 

1816. December. The American 
Colonization Society was organized at 
Washington, D. C, by southern gentle- 
men. Its object was to colonize the 
free persons of color residing in the 
United States, in some country deemed 
expedient by congress. The society was 
favored by all pro-slavery men, and at 
first by anti-slavery men. But the latter 
soon found that the question of the moral 
character of slavery was not to be 
brought up for consideration at any time. 
Therefore, they fell off. The churches 
largely supported it. It was afterward 
greatly condemned by abolitionists. Libe- 
ria was founded on the west coast of 
Africa, but not very successfully at first. 

EIGHTH PRESIDEKTML C^MPtLIGX. 

1816. In the eighth presidential cam- 
paign during the autumn of this 3'ear, the 
democrat-republicans nominated by a con- 
gressional caucus, James Monroe of Vir- 
ginia, for president, and Daniel D. Tomp- 
kins of New York, for vice-president. 
The federalists nominated Rufus King 
of New York, for president, and John 
E. Hovv^ard, for vice-president. Out of 
221 electoral votes, Monroe and Tomp- 
kins received 183. Of the opposition, 
King received 34 votes, and Howard 22. 
The remaining votes for vice-president 
were scattering. The Federal party had 
-almost ceased to exist. 

1816. A lodge of Odd Fellows was 

instituted in New York city, under the 
name of Prince Regent Lodge, but this, 
like the attempt in 1S06, soon failed. 

1816. The first U. S. Ship-of-the- 
line ever launched, was built at Ports- 



THE AWAKENED CONTINENT. 



411 



mouth, N. H,, and was named " The 
Washington." It was of 2,000 tons bur- 
den, and carried 74 guns. 

1816. First Remington Rifle. Mr. 
Eliphalet Remington, who lived on 
SteePs Creek, near Rochester, N. Y., 
made a rifle barrel in an ordinary Ijlack- 
smith's shop, for his own use. A gun- 
maker in Utica was engaged to finish it, 
and he was so pleased with Mr. Reming- 
ton's skill and success, that he induced 
him to forge more. Very soon the 
blacksmith shops in the vicinity were 
busy making rifle barrels. From this a 
business grew \\^. In 1S29 Mr. Rem- 
ington erected a factory at Ilion, and 
since then he and his sons have greatly 
improved the firearms of the country. 
The Remington Breechloader is one of 
the leading rifles of the world. 

1816. Gas was introduced into several 
places as a means of illumination. A 
method of obtaming it from stone coal 
had been patented. A company was 
chartered in Baltimore, which was the 
first to put the new method into practice. 
An introduction of it in New York was 
made, and toward the close of the 3'ear 
the new theater at Philadelphia was 
lighted with it. It was proposed to light 
the streets of Cincinnati with it. This 
was not, however, the beginning of suc- 
cessful use of gas. The great start in it 
was a few years later, 

1816. An electric telegraph was 
proposed by Dr. John Rodman Coxe, 
professor of chemistry in the University 
of Pennsylvania, who suggested that 
signals be transmitted " by the decompo- 
sition of water and metallic salts, where- 
by a change of color would be produced." 

1816. The Red River colonists who 
had settled in Manitoba under the Hud- 
son Bay Company, were broken up and 



412 



REVOLUTIONART STRUGGLES. 



driven out, by the Northwest Company. 
Gov. Semple was murdered. The hos- 
tility between the two companies was 
very great. This was only one quarrel 
out of many. The Northwest Company 
ruled the entire Rocky Mountain region. 

1816. A negro insurrection occurred 
in Barhadoes. 

1816. Montevideo, the capital of 
Uruguay, was captured by the Portu- 
guese. 

1816. Simon Bolivar was publicly 
proclaimed commander-in-chief of the 
republics of Venezuela, and also New 
Grenada. 

1816. Guadeloupe, the most impor- 
tant of the French islands in the Leeward 
group, was finally restored to that nation. 

1817. Feb. 12. Struggle in Chili. 
Gen. San Martin, governor of a province 
of Buenos Ayres, having marched into 
Chili with an army which had been 
raised in La Plata, defeated at Chacabuco, 
the royalists who had governed the 
country since 1813. An elective govern- 
ment was organized, and Don Bernardo 
O'Higgins was made president. The 
patriots were afterward severely defeated. 

1817. Feb. 16. A severe battle was 
fought at Barcelona, in which Bolivar, 
with eleven hundred men, defeated the 
Spanish forces under Gen. Morillo, after 
three days' fighting. 

1817. March 4. James Monroe of 
Virginia, was inaugurated president of 
the United States, and Daniel D. Tomp- 
kins of New York, vice-president. 
Monroe soon made a tour through the 
country, and what has since been known 
as the " era of good feeling " began. 

1817. March 26. A provisional 
constitution was promulgated in the 
United Provinces of La Plata, by a con- 
gress. Gen. Puyerredon was named 



dictator. Buenos Ayres was made the 
seat of government. 

1817. April 15. The first asylum 
for deaf mutes in America was opened at 
Hartford, Conn., under the direction of 
Rev. T. H. Gallandet, who had traveled 
in Europe to obtain the necessary infor- 
mation. There were seven pupils at 
first, but the number soon increased. A 
charter for a school in New York was 
given on this same day of the opening of 
the Hartford school. Other institutions 
were started in several states before many 
years. 

1817. April 15. Erie Canal. The 
legislature of New York passed an act 
making an appropriation for the Erie 
canal. On July 4 work was begun at 
Rome. The estimated cost was $5,752,- 
73S. The actual cost was $8,401,394. 

1817. Nov. 11. Don Xavier Mina, 
a famous Spanish guerilla chief, was 
executed in Mexico at the age of twenty- 
eight years. He had landed in Mexico, 
and with about two hundred men had sev- 
eral times defeated the Spanish troops sent 
against him. Once he overcame a force 
of tv/o thousand men. Pushing on into 
the interior, he reached Guanajuato and 
took it by storm, but at a critical moment 
his troops refused to go beyond. In a 
few days Mina was taken, and executed. 

1817. Dec. 10. Mississippi was the 
twentieth state to be received into the 
union. It has an area of 47,156 square 
miles, and a population in 1870, of 829,- 
019 persons, of whom about fifty-six per 
cent, are negroes. 

1817. First Seminole War. Indian 
troubles began upon the Florida frontiers, 
with the Creeks and Seminoles of Geor- 
gia and Alabama. Generals Gaines and 
Jackson led troops into those regions. 
The Seminoles made a practice of raid- 



1800-1824.] 

ing on U. S. property, and then retreating 
to their hiding places in Florida. They 
had killed many victims, and once a force 
of U. S. trdops ■was massacred. It was 
a delicate matter, because Florida then 
belonged to Spain. At last the matter 
became so serious that the government 
deemed it necessary to pursue them. 

1817. United States Coast Survey. 
Ml". F. R. Hassler having been appointed 
to superintend the coast survey which 
had been ordered by congress ten years 
before, began his work by measuring a 
base line on the Hudson River, near 
New York city, for use in triangulating 
New York harbor. The work was soon 
discontinued for various reasons, and 
nothing more was done until 1832. 

1817. Slavery was to be abolished in 
New York state after July 4, 1827, ac- 
cording to an act which was passed by 
the legislature. 

1817. The Columbian Press, the first 
great improvement in printing presses, 
was invented by George 
Clymer of Philadelphia, 
It was a hand press upon 
the combination lever principle, and 
would print two hundred and fifty im- 
pressions an hour. 

1817. A body of patriots, under Piar, 
a man of colored blood, drove the Span- 
iards from Guiana. The Spaniards also 
evacuated New Grenada and Venezuela, 
but the provinces were not yet secure. 

1818. March. Gen. Jackson invaded 
Florida because it was thought that the 
Spanish had furnished the Indians with 
supplies. He took possession of St. 
Mark's and Pensacola. This was the 
only way the hostile Indians could be 
reached. Gen. Jackson seized and exe- 
cuted two Englishmen, named Arbuth- 
not and Ambrister, as being leaders of 



THE AWAKENED CONTINENT. 



1817. Public 
schools estab- 
lished in Russia 



413 

The 



the Indians in their depredations. 
Indians now sued for peace. 

1818. April 4. The United States 
Flag. A bill passed congress providing 
that the stripes upon the U. S. flag should 
be permanently reduced to thirteen, and 
that a new star should be added to the 
field at the admission of every state. 

1818. April 5. Independence of 
Chin. The battle of Maypu, in Chili, 
was fought, and the Spaniards were over- 
thrown by the patriots, with great loss. 
The independence of the province w^as 
obtained by this contest, after several 
years' severe struggle. This battle virtu- 
ally decided the independence of Buenos 
Ayres and Peru likewise. 

1818. Dec. 3. Illinois was the twen- 
ty-first state to be received into the union. 
It has an area of 55,410 square miles. 
In 1870 it had a joopulation of 2,539,891 
persons. Its motto is, " State Sover- 
eignty and National Union." It is 
known as the Sucker State. 

1818. Slavery was finally and fully 
abolished in Connecticut. 

1818. The slave trade was declared 
to be piracy, by congress. 

1818. The instruction of idiot chil- 
dren was attempted at the American 
asylum for the deaf and dumb at Hart- 
ford, Conn. 

1818. The first newspaper for the 
promotion of agriculture, named " The 
American Farmer," was established by 
John S. Skinner of Baltimore. 

1818. The first steamer for trade on 
the great lakes, was " The Walk in the 
Water," of 360 tons, built at Black Rock, 
N. Y. It was lost in a gale in 1822. It 
was the first steamer to enter Lake 
Michigan. 

1818. Arctic Voyage. Two vessels 
were sent out by the English govern- 



414 



REVOLUTION ART STRUGGLES. 



ment to search for the Northwest passage. 
The Isabella was commanded by Capt. 
John Ross, and the Alexander by Lieut. 
William E. Parry. They were ordered 
to go up Davis' Straits, and sail west in 
the hope of reaching Behring's Strait. 
The proposed course was followed, but 
at a certain point on Lancaster Sound, 
Capt. Ross was deceived by an appar- 
ent range of mountains closing up the 
passage in the far off distance ahead, and 
ordered a return, much to the displeasure 
of some of his officers, who felt sure that 
it was what it has since been proved to 
have been, an atmospheric delusion. 
They were ujDon the right track, and if 
they had gone on, they might perhaps 
have solved the problem, even at that 
early day. 

1818. The shoe peg was invented by 
Joseph Walker of Ilopkinton, Mass. Its 
1818. Percussion "sc had not been known be- 
/oci invented. fore this date, and the intro- 
duction of it gave a great impulse to the 
manufacture of boots and shoes. Noth- 
ing but sewed work had been previously 
made. The price and quantity were both 
much affected by this little thing. Pegs 
were at first made by hand, and after- 
ward by machinery, except in the case 
of country shoemakers, who followed up 
the former practice till within recent 
years. It may be that some still do it. 
There is a tradition in New England that 
designing speculators tried to sell pegs to 
the farmers as a new kind of oats for seed. 
This will do to put with the story about 
the fortunes which peddlers have made 
from the sale of the Connecticut wooden 
nutmeg. The invention of the peg has 
been followed by the invention of the 
*' P^&o^'^S niachine." 

1818. An improved organ was pat- 
ented by A. M. Peasley. This is the 



foundation of American invention in that 
direction. It did not at first make the in- 
strument popular. It was about a third 
of a century before the art of voicing reeds 
was discovered by Mr. Emmons Hamlin, 
who was at work in the organ factory of 
Prince & Co., Buffalo, N. Y. Mr. Ham- 
lin afterward formed a partnership with 
Henry Mason, son of Dr. Lowell Mason, 
and founded the house of jVIason & 
Hamlin. 

1818. The first public horse-race in 
America was trotted as the result of an 
assertion in New York that there was no 
horse which could trot a mile in three 
minutes. The opposite was maintained 
by Major William Jones of Long Island, 
and Col. Bond of Maryland, and they 
brought forward a horse which did it, and 
became widely known as " Boston Blue." 
Races and trotting courses soon multi- 
plied. Most of the horses put forward 
were those which had been noted in their 
ordinary work for superior qualities. The 
practice of breeding for speed is of more 
recent date. 

1818. Foreign trade was for the first 
time allowed to Cuba, and opened to her 
a new prosperity. 

1819. Feb. 15. Simon Bolivar called 
a congress at Angostura, and soon found 
himself at the head of an army of 14,000 
men, with aid and soldiers from England, 
France, Germany, and Poland. 

FLORID:i PURCHASE. 

1819. Feb. 22. Florida and the ad- 
jacent islands were ceded by Spain to the 
United States for the svun of $5,000,000. 
The United States agreed to abandon all 
territory beyond the Sabine River, now^ 
the state of Texas, and Spain agreed to 
relinquish all territory north of latitude 
42^, from the source of the Arkansas to 



1800-1824] 

the Pacific. This purchase added nom- 
inally 66,900 square miles to the 1,730,- 
359 already secured, making 1,787,159 
square miles in all. The abandonment of 
Texas, which had been in the Louisiana 
Purchase from France, diminished the 
total somewhat. 

1819. Feb. 24. Bolivar began his 
great march across the Andes, after which 
he gained the supremacy in New Gre- 
nada, and secured the independence of that 
province. 

1819. April 26. The first perma- 
nent lodge of Odd Fellows in the United 
States was formed at Baltimore, Md., by 
Thomas Wildey and four friends, who 
had been members in England. The 
•organization was called Washington 
Lodge, No. I. 

1819. June 26. A velocipede was 
patented by William K. Clarkson, Jr., of 
New York. It was propelled by push- 
ing the feet against the ground. 

1819. July. The first lithographic 
printing in America was exhibited in the 
Analectic Magazine, and was the work 
of a Mr. Otis of Philadelphia. The stone 
used was from Munich, where the art 
originated. 

1819. Aug. 30. A great land trip 
was undertaken through the northern por- 
tions of the American continent, by I^ieut. 
Franklin and Dr. Richardson, accom- 
panied by some Canadians and Indians. 
The object was to explore the shores of 
the Polar Sea. The first winter was 
spent at Fort Cumberland, and the next 
i^t Fort Enterprise, seven hundred miles 
beyond. In the summer of 1821 the 
party reached the mouth of the Copper- 
mine River, and in boats explored several 
hundred miles of the coast to the east. 
Their provisions and canoes at last failed, 



THE A WAKENED CONTINENT. 



415 



and they were obliged to return over- 
land. During the horrors of this journey 
they ate the bones of animals which had 
been left by the wolves, and even old 
shoes. From the Coppermine they pushed 
on to Fort Enterprise, where they ex- 
pected to meet some supplies. In this they 
were disappointed, and it was not till 
after several weeks of suflTering and 
famine, during which some of the party 
died, that they obtained relief at last. 
The next year they returned to England. 

1819. Dec. 17. The republic of 
Colombia, S. A., was formed by the 
union of Venezuela, Ecuador, and New 
Grenada. Bolivar, who had secured the 
independence of these provinces, was 
now made president. 

1819. Dec. 14. Alabama was the 
twenty-second state to be admitted into 
the union. It lies on the Gulf of Mexi- 
co with a territory of 50,722 square miles, 
and a population in 1870 of 996,992 per- 
sons. The name signifies " Here we 
rest." 

1819. A polar expedition, composed 
of the Hecla, under the command of 
William E. Parry, and the Grijoer, under 
Lieut. Matthew Liddon, was directed to 
explore Lancaster Sound. They passed 
along where Ross thought the mountains 
were, discovered Wellington channel, 
and by reaching iio^ west longitude, 
were entitled to the royal bounty of 
£5,000, offered to any one who would 
penetrate that distance. They settled 
down for cold weather at Winter Harbor, 
and housed themselves so that they lived 
very comfortably. They suffered some- 
what, however, from the intense cold 
during the ten months while they were 
imprisoned. They held a school, and 
Parry established a " North Georgian 
theater" and a "North Georsfian Ga- 



416 



RE VOL UTIONAR T STR UGGLES . 



zette," each of which gave much hfe to 
their efforts at entertainment, and helped 
everybody to retain healthful spirits. In 
the spring, their attempts to go west 
were prevented by the ice, and they 
therefore sailed for England, where they 
arrived in November, 1820. They were 
highly honored in England, for this was 
the first really brilliant voyage in Arctic 
discovery. Parry afterward made two 
voyages to the same I'egion, but without 
finding the long-sought passage. 

1819. The first foot-path to the sum- 
mit of Mt. Washington, was cut through 
by Abel Crawford and his son Ethan. 
The latter was the first to build after- 
ward a little hut on the summit, in which 
visitors could be sheltered. It was made 
of stones, and was supplied with moss 
and hemlock boughs upon which to 
sleep, a small stove to warm the place, 
and a sheet of lead on which visitors 
could inscribe their names. These were 
all swept away in the terrible Willey 
storm of 1826. 

1819. First Steam Voyage Across 
the Atlantic. The Savannah, an Amer- 
ican vessel built at Corlear's Hook, 
N. Y., by Crocker and Fickitt, of 380 
tons burden, with side wheels, made the 
first trip by steam across the Atlantic, 
sailing from the United States to Eng- 
land, and thence to St. Petersburgh. She 
started from New York, and went to 
Savannah, Ga. At Liverpool she made 
a great sensation, being mistaken at one 
time for a vessel on fire. Canvas was 
used during the last part of the voyage, 
because the engine had consumed all 
the coal which could be carried, in about 
twelve days out. There was no room 
for cargo when she was stored with coal. 
She was sent across to be sold to the 
Czar of Russia, but it was not accom- 



plished. $50,000 were lost on this voy- 
age. Capt. Moses Rogers, who had 
commanded the Clermont, was in charge 
of her. Lord Lyndock gave Capt. 
Rogers an inscribed silver tea-kettle. 
The Savannah was afterward turned into 
a sailing vessel. 

1819. The first apprentice's library 
in America was founded in Philadelphia 
by voluntary contribution. 

1819. An improved plow was pat- 
ented by Jethro Wood, whose invention 
was so valuable that it rapidly came into 
use, and has served as the basis of mod- 
ern plows. Mr. Wood had patented an 
improvement five years before, and is in 
fact the one to whom the world is in- 
debted for modern plows. 

1819. A duel was fought on an island 
in Boston harbor, between Lieut. Fran- 
cis B. White of the marine corps, and 
Lieut. William B. Finch of the U. S. 
navy. Lieut. White was killed, and Lieut. 
Finch afterward assumed the name of 
Bolton. 

1819. A duel was fought near Wash- 
ington, D. C, between Gen. Armistead 
T. Mason, U. S. senator from Virginia^ 
and John M. McCarty. The dispute 
was a political one. Muskets were used 
in the encounter. Gen. Mason was 
killed, and Mr. McCarty's arm was 
broken. 

1819. Com. Perry was sent into 
West India waters to break up the expe- 
ditions of pirates. The death of Perry 
prevented success. 

1819. The island of Cape Breton 
was re-annexed to the government of 
Nova Scotia. 

1819. The financial distress of the 
country was now very great. It resulted 
from various causes. Money was taken 
out of the country by the excess of im- 



1800-1824.] 

portations over cxportations. The paper 
currency had depreciated in value fifty- 
nine per cent. American staples began 
to decline in foreign markets. Cot- 
ton and breadstuffs declined fifty per 
cent. A general business stagnation 
followed, bearing very heavily upon man- 
ufactures in Rhode Island, New York, 
and Pennsylvania. Rents and real es- 
tate suffered enormously. Persons were 
thrown out of employment, and had little 
to live upon. Congress began to be pe- 
titioned and memorialized very exten- 
sively in regard to tarifFand trade matters. 
1820. Jan. 20. Irregular rorm 
Lathe. Thomas Blanchard patented his 
celebrated lathe for turning irregular 
forms of any kind, such as shoe-lasts, 
spokes, and mould blocks of all kinds. 
This is one of the great inventions of 
the century. 

MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 

1820. The slavery question of recent 
years had been brought up in congress 
by the application of Missouri during 
"i8i8 to be made a state. The petition 
was then refused by the vote of the free 
states against the slave states, on an 
amendment forbidding slaveiy within it. 
During this year the application was re- 
newed, and was at once connected with 
a similar application made by Maine, in 
order that both might stand or fall to- 
gether. This was especially so in the 
senate. The house had voted to admit 
Maine and Missouri, with a prohibition 
of slavery. The house rejected the 
senate bill which admitted Maine and 
Missouri with slavery. Then came the 
famous tug of war in which Henry Clay 
and others used all their power to secure 
the compromise which was adopted. It 
was determined that Maine and Mis- 



THE A WAKENED CONTINENT. 



417 



souri should be voted on separately; also 
that slavery should be permitted in Mis- 
souri, but forever prohibited in all U. S. 
territory north of latitude 36"^, 30'. Both 
states were then admitted. This was 
the first great legislative struggle over 
slavery. 

1820. Doughfaces. This name was ap- 
plied by Edmund Randolph of Virginia, 
to those slavery supporters who voted for 
the Missouri Compromise. Thirty-five 
southerners voted against it, claiming 
that congress had no power to prohibit 
slavery in the territories. The term has 
since been applied to northern men with 
southern principles. 

1820. March 15. Maine was the 
twenty-third state to be admitted to the 
union. It has an area of 31,766 square 
miles, and a population in 1870, of 626,- 
915 persons. It is known as the Pine 
Tree State, and its motto is " Dirigo," 
" I direct," 

1820. March 22. Stephen Decatur, 
Jr., an American naval officer of great 
repute, because of his gallantry in the 
operations against the North African 
states, was killed in a duel at Bladens- 
burg, Md., by Com. James Barron. He 
was born Jan. 5, 1779, and was conse- 
quently forty-one years of age. The 
terrible crime of dueling, upheld by a 
false sense of honor, received in him 
another shining victim. Decatur had a 
splendid mansion in Washington, within 
whose walls he had begun to live in 
great happiness since his naval life 
closed. The swords which had been 
bestowed upon him by congress, by the 
states of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and 
by the city of Philadelphia ; the services 
of plate from the citizens of Baltimore 
and Philadelphia; the medal received 

27 



418 



REVOLUTIONART STRUGGLES. 



bravery 

many. 

brilliant 



from congress; the box containing the 
freedom of the city of New York, and 
the medal of the Order of the Cincin- 
nati, were all there to attest his bravery. 
Yet he must foil in a duel, else that 
would be forever doubted by 
The night before the duel a 
gathering took place at his 
home, in which Mrs. Decatur, all uncon- 
scious of her coming woe, delighted the 
guests by her playing on the harp. De- 
catur himself joined in the festivities with 
great apparent joy. The next morning- 
he was brought back to his devoted wife 
mortally wounded, and died at night. 
Com. Barron was severely, but not 
fatally wounded. The duel had its ori- 
gin in a discussion about the Chesapeake 
and Leopard affixir, Barron having been 
commander of the former at the time 
when she was fired upon by the Leopard. 

D±yiEL BOOXE. 

1820. Sept. 26. Daniel Boone, the 
noted explorer, hunter and pioneer, died 
at Charette, Mo., at the age of eighty- 
five years. He was born in Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, Feb. 1 1, 1735, and 
lived a life full of romantic adventure. 
His parents came from England and 
settled in Pennsylvania, where Daniel 
received only the skeleton of an educa- 
tion. They then removed to the province 
of North Carolina, where they settled 
near the Yadkin. Little was then known 
of the " Dark and Bloody Ground." 
Some years afterward Boone, with his 
comrades, penetrated the eastern part of 
Kentucky, and in 1769 he made a three 
years' adventure into the western wilder- 
ness. It was indeed an adventure, as he 
and his companions, among whom was his 
brother, were captured several times by 
the Lidians. At one time Boone was 



left in the forest with only his rifle as a 
means of support. But his rifle was his 
delight. In 1773 he attempted a settle- 
ment on the Kentucky River, but was 
compelled to abandon it, on account of 
the hostility of the Indians. In 1775, 
just at the outbreak of the Revolution, he 
took his family and a few friends, and 
went forward to found Boonesborough, 
the first settlement in Kentucky. He 
had been engaged by the Transylvania 
company to lay out lands in Kentucky. 
In a mission for the settlement he was 
captured by the Indians, and carried to 
Detroit. Thence he escaped after a time, 
and by a rapid journey reached Boones- 
borough in time to warn them of an in- 
tended Indian attack. During this cap- 
tivity he was given up for dead by his 
family. Within twenty years from the 
founding of Boonesborough, Kentucky 
was admitted to the union as a state. His 
neglect to conform to the laws concerning 
titles in some sections of the new common- 
wealth, caused him to forfeit his beautiful 
estate. With some of his old followers he 
again started out for the west, and removed 
beyond the Mississippi. In Missouri he 
failed also to make his title good to the 
land he had been appointed. He ex- 
plored the Arkansas, and in 18 14, at about 
eighty years of age, trapped beavers on 
the Gieat Osage. Congress now con- 
firmed his claim to a tract of land, because 
of his great value as an explorer. His 
remains now lie at Frankfort, Ky.* 
whither they were publicly removed in 
1S45. His name is that of the represent- 
ative pioneer of his tune. 



1820. Nov. 13. The whaleship Essex 
of Nantucket was lost by a collision with 
an immense whale. A young whale had 
been killed by the boats of the ship, and 



1800-1824.] 

a large one, apparently its dam, soon 
made an entrance on the scene. At first 
it dashed for the ship and rushed against 
it, breaking off a portion of the false keel. 
After endeavoring to grip the ship in its 
jaws it swam off a great distance, and 
then turning, dashed with wonderful 
power and velocity against the bows of 
the Essex. Every man on board was 
knocked down, the ship was pushed 
astern, the bows was stove in, and the 
vessel soon filled and keeled over. 

mKTH PRESIDEXTML C^VP^IG.Y. 

1820. In the ninth presidential cam- 
paign, during the autumn of this year, 
there were no nominations made. No 
opposition was made to the election of 
Monroe and Tompkins, except in a very 
1820-1830. slight way. They carried 

Georgeiv. every state. The readjust- 

KingofEiig- 

i^j^j ment or parties was now on 

the point of taking place. Out of 235 
electoral votes Monroe received 231. 
One elector refused to vote for him, but 
threw his ballot for John Q. Adams, and 
three electors had died. Tompkins re- 
ceived for vice-president 218 votes. The 
other fourteen were scatterinsf. 



THE A WAKENED CONTINENT. 



419 



1820. The fourth census of the 
United States gave a population of 9,633,- 
823 persons, and was taken at a cost of 
$208,525.99. There was an attempt to 
obtain some industrial statistics, but with- 
out much success. There had been an 
increase in the population since 1810 of 
33.06 per cent. 

1820. William Bennett was hung in 
Illinois for having shot Alphonso Stewart 
in a duel in Belleville, St. Clair county. 
" The seconds agreed to inake it up as a 
shain affaii", and leave balls out of the 
weapons to be used. They did so. 



Stewart was supposed to be in the secret, 
but Bennett thought it to be a reality. 
When Bennett took his gun he rolled a 
real ball into it, and when he fired 
Stewart fell, mortally wounded. Bennett 
was convicted of murder. Great effort 
was made to procure a jDardon, but Gov, 
Bond would not listen to it. This case 
made dueling forever discreditable in 
Illinois." It is the only case in the coun- 
try where a man has been hung for kill- 
ing another in a duel. 

1820. Frances Wright, a Scotch 
woman, visited the U nited States and lec- 
tured extensively ujDon political cjuestions, 
slavery, and woman. 

1820. Petroleum was discovered by 
men who were boring for salt in Ohio. 
They made no use of it except in a small 
way, although it was known to burn 
well. 

1820. Improved Rotary Sawing 
Machine. A patent for a circular saw 
which would cut clapboards out of the 
log, was given to Robert Eastman and 
J. Jaquith of Brunswick, Me. The in- 
vention soon came into general use. "It 
was the first application of the circular 
saw to the dressing of large sized timber, 
and the cutting of clapboards, shingles, 
etc." 

1820. Ice began to be sent to New 
Orleans by Frederick Tudor of Boston, 
and it is said that the inhabitants were so 
alarmed by the strange material that a 
mob collected and threw one entire cargo 
into the water. Yellow fever was raging 
at the time. 

1820. The Chilians defeated the 
Spaniards in a naval battle in the harbor 
of Callao. 

1820. The port of Valdivia, Chili, 
was surrendered by the Spaniards. 

1821. Feb. 24. Second Mexican 



420 



REVOLUTIONART STRUGGLES. 



Revolution. Under the influence of af- 
fairs in Spain, Don Augustin Iturbide, a 
native Mexican officer, having made 
efforts to begin a revolution, proclaimed 
Mexico independent, with a plan of gov- 
ernment which would make it a constitu- 
tional monarchy. His work was success- 
ful in arousing the people, and he shortly 
had the whole country at his command. 
The plan contemplated the offer of the 
throne to a Spaniard, and has been known 
iis the « Plan of Iguala." 

1821. Feb. 26. A constitution for 
Brazil was proclaimed by John VI. 

1821. March 4. James Monroe of 
Virginia, was inaugurated president of 
the United States, and Daniel D. Tomp- 
kins of New York, vice-president. 

1821. April. A revolution in Brazil 
began after the departure of the King of 
Portugal for Europe. 

1821. May. Troy Female Institute. 
Mrs, Emma Willard removed the school 
which she had opened two years before 
for girls, at Waterford, N. Y., to Troy, 
where she could have the free use of a 
building. The institution afterward be- 
came very successful. 

1821. July 19. All slaves bearing 
arms in the war for the freedom of the 
province, were emancipated by Colom- 
bia, S. A., and steps were taken to pro- 
vide for the liberation of the others, 
amounting to 280,000. 

1821. July 21. Peru was declared 
independent, as the result of an invasion 
by Gen. San Martin, with a force from 
Chili and the Argentine Republic. He 
had liberated Chili, and was now made 
dictator of Peru. 

1821. Aug. 10. 
twenty-fourth state 
the union. It has 
square miles, and a population in 1S70, of 



Missouri was the 
to be received into 
an area of 65,350 



1,731,295 inhabitants. The motto of the 
state is " Salus populi suprema lex esto." 
" Let the safety of the people be the 
supreme law." 

1821. Aug. 24. Treaty of Cordova. 
A treaty was concluded by Iturbide with 
the new Spanish viceroy, by which the 
independence of Mexico was to be ac- 
knowledged by Spain. 

1821. Sept. 27. The City of Mexico 
was received by Iturbide from the Span- 
ish viceroy in accordance with the treaty, 
and a regency was established with Itur- 
bide at its head, and the viceroy, Don 
Juan O'Donoju, a member of it. Itur- 
bide had gained considerable power, but 
without really harmonizing the different 
elements. He v^^as elected generalissimo, 
with a salary of $120,000. 

1821. Nov. 30. Spanish authority 
was again thrown off by the eastern half 
of Hayti. 

1821. November. The provinces of 
Central America threw off the authority 
of Spain, and were annexed to Mexico, 
except San Salvador and a part of Nica- 
ragua, which i^esisted Mexican authority. 
In a great part of Central America the 
revolution was effected without much 
bloodshed. The greatest convulsion was 
in Nicaragua. Leon was nearly de- 
stroyed. 

1821. Uruguay was seized by the 
Portuguese this year, and annexed to 
Brazil. 

1821. A democratic form of govern- 
ment ^vas instituted in Buenos Ayres, 
upon the ruins of the directory, which 
had been overthrown. 

1821. An anti- slavery periodical 
called the " Genius of Universal Eman- 
cipation," was issued as a monthly at 
Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, by Benjamin Lundy, 
who, about this time, began his long 



1800-1824.] 



THE A WAKENED CONTINENT. 



421 



course of opposition to slave-holding. 
1821. Napoleon ^6 issucd his paper at 
/. died at St. Joncsboro, Tcnn., and at 

Helena. t-> i • ■» «- i t rr- 

Baltmiore, Md., at different 
times. At one time he edited it as he 
traveled through the north to lecture, 
and hired printers in the tow^ns where he 
happened to be stopping, to strike off" his 
edition. He was one of the pioneers in 
issuing anti-slavery periodicals, and in 
lecturing against slavery. The doctrine 
of immediate and unconditional emanci- 
pation began now to be proclaimed far 
and wide. The prevalent idea among 
all thinkers previous to this, was that 
emancipation must be gradual. 

1821. The remains of Major Andre 
were removed from the United States to 
Westminster Abbey, and an elegant 
monument was erected to his memor3\ 

1821. A duel occurred between Geo. 
L. Wetmore and George F. Street, in 
New Brunswick, near Fredericton, the 
capital. Both w^ere lawyers, and had had 
some difficulty in court. Wetmore was 
killed, and Street was afterward tried for 
murder, but was acquitted. 

1821. Union of Rival Fur Compa- 
nies. After much competition and a 
great many quarrels, the Hudson Bay 
Company and the Northwest Company 
of Canada, were united under the former 
name. They had been unable to pay 
dividends for several years, and therefore 
were obliged to give up their warfare. 
• In a few years the}^ now began payments 
again. 

1821. A grass which grew in the 
Connecticut valley was first used for hats 
and bonnets by Miss Sophia Woodhouse 
of Wethersfield, Conn. She sent speci- 
mens of the grass to the Society of Arts 
at London, where it was received with 
great favor on account of its similarity to 



leghorn. The society advised the cul- 
ture of the grass. 

1821. Morgan Horses. Justin Mor- 
gan, the ancestor of the celebrated breed 
of Morgan horses in America, died from 
a kick received from another horse in a 
barnyard. He was twenty-nine years 
old. 

1821. An improvement in railways 
was patented by Charles Williams of 
Boston. This was the first of the kind, 
Mr. Williams published an article in 
I S45, claiming that in 1S17 he had in- 
vented a railway for removing dirt, and 
about the same time had "planned a small 
engine in Boston to use steam, and there- 
fore to have been the first to apply steam 
to railroads, the first locomotive of 
Stephenson having been copied from his 
invention." 

1821. The great financial distress 
prevailed very severely, west of the Alle- 
gheny Mountains. Banks had suspended 
or failed, and all kinds of business were 
suffering. Farmers were unable to pay 
their debts. They were mostly indebted 
to the U. S. government under the land 
laws of 1800. The farmers had been 
unable to make ready money beyond 
their family expenses, to secure their title. 
The debts from these men and from spec- 
ulators who had bought large tracts of 
land and been unable to pay for them, 
had been increasing for twenty years. 
Money was not to be had, even by sale. 
The debt due the government at western 
land offices in 1820 was over $23,000,000. 
Relief was granted by an action on the 
part of congress allowing portions of 
land to be given up, and the money paid 
over to be applied on the remainder to 
save it. The price of land was also re- 
duced to $1.25, and lots of eighty acres 
were offered, which still further brought 



422 -ff^ VOL UTIONAR 

relief. The whole season was one of 
great distress, and threatened bankrui^tcy. 
1822. February. A Mexican con- 
gress assembled in the City of Mexico to 
consider the national affairs. But differ- 
ences were at once apparent, and trouble 
resulted, especially because the plan of 
Iguala had not met with favor in Spain. 

JOHX smRK. 

1822. May 8. John vStark, who is 
inost popularly known as the hero of 
the battle of Bennington, which set a 
very stern limit to Burgoyne's invasion, 
died at Manchester, N. H., aged ninety- 
three years. He was born at London- 
<lerry, N. H., Aug. 28, 1728. His 
younger years were spent in j^m'si^iits 
which toughened him to hardships. 
Hunting and Indian warfare w^ere his 
educators. In 1756 he was made captain 
of a band of rangers, under Maj. Rogers. 
In this capacity his great physical strength 
and untiring spirit made him a great bur- 
den to the Indians. He walked one hun- 
dred and twenty miles with messages 
which he would not trust to his men. 
He fought two battles within thirty-six 
houi-s, in snow four feet deep. 

Within ten minutes after he heard of 
the battle of Lexington and Concord, he 
was starting off from his New Hamp- 
shire saw-mill, on horseback, for Boston. 
In 1776 and 1777 he did good service 
with his regiment around New York, 
and in the New Jersey campaign. He 
then returned to New Hampshire to raise 
a new regiment, but in the meantime 
congress made some promotions with 
seeming neglect of him, and he withdrew 
from the continental service. But he 
had a nobler heart than Arnold, and sent 
all his sons off to battle for the right. At 
BenniuGfton he took the field himself. 



r STRUGGLES. 

Men fought that day with a desperation 
seldom seen. Gen. Stark was subse- 
quently put in command of the northern 
department, and afterward served in 
Rhode Island and New Jersey. He did 
not have a particle of cowardice in his 
heart, or of impurity in his character. 



1822. May 19. Empire of Mexico. 

On account of the reaction from the idea 
of a foreign sovereign to that of a native 
on the throne, the adherents of Iturbide 
proclaimed him emperor, with great ex- 
citement, under the title of Augustin I. 
He soon began the exercise of arbitrary 
power, and excited great opposition. 

1822. May 22. The province of 
Ecuador, S. A., after years of apjDar- 
ently useless effort, obtained indepen- 
dence by the decisive battle of Pichincha. 
The territory became a part of the re- 
public of Colombia till 1831. 

1822. Oct. 12. Brazil was declared 
an independent empire. 

1822. Dec. 1. Dom Pedro, son of 
King John of' Portugal, was crowned 
Emperor of Brazil. 

1822. Dec. 2. Republic of Mexico. 
On account of the usurpa- n^is-is-is. sir 

, Wil/iam 

tion of iturbide, the patriots Herschel. 

who had been in retirement ^^22. Greek Rex- 

, , . olution, 

gathered together and pro- 
claimed the Republic of Mexico at Vera 
Cruz, under the leadership of Santa 
Anna. Bravo, Guerrero and others, came 
forward to renew the struggle. The 
followers of Iturbide began to grow dis- 
affected, 

1822. Dec. 2. The congress of San 
Salvador, one of the provinces of Central 
America, formally decreed that province 
annexed to the United States. But Itur- 
bide, the Mexican emperor, fell before 
the U. S. congress could act on it, and al- 



1800-1824.] 

most immediately the Central American 
confederation was formed, with the city of 
San Salvador as capital. Hence the 
other plan came to nothing. 

1822. The independence of Mexico 
and the South American republics was 
formally recognized by the United States. 

1822. The whole of Hayti, W. I., 
was now united under one government 
by Boyer, a chieftain of the western 
portion. 

1822. A destructive earthquake 
visited Chili, permanently elevating a 
hundred thousand square miles of land 
from two to seven feet above its old level. 

1822. A public library was founded 
in Lima, Peru, under the independent 
government. 

1822. The process of lithography 
was for the first time carried on as a busi- 
ness in the United States by Barnet and 
Doolittlc, in New York, They did not 
accomplish much for several years, owing 
to the lack of competent artists. 

1822. The introduction of gas which 
was first permanently successful for light- 
ing purposes, was made at Boston. 

1822. The Champlain canal was 
finished, and connected the Hudson at 
Albany with Lake Champlain, 

1822. The east coast of Greenland 
was examined quite thoroughly by 
Scoresby. The rugged surface seemed 
to him to be majestic, and he named the 
mountains Roscoe. He found a few 
species of small plants among the rocks. 
Insects were also discovered, but no birds 
on the land. 

1823. Feb. 1. Act of Casa Mata. 
Iturbide signed an agreement to call to- 
gether the old Mexican national repre- 
sentative congress which he had dispersed 
since his assumption of extreme power. 

1823. March 19. Iturbide abdicated 



THE AWAKENED CONTINENT. 



423 



the position of emperor of 'Mexico be- 
cause he saw that unless he did so, there 
would be a terrible civil war. The old 
congress was now in session, and would 
not allow him to have any right in the 
government. They intimated, however, 
that he would be allowed to depart from 
the country, and he soon left for Europe. 
Congress appointed an executive power 
of four generals. 

1823. June 7. The Bunker Hill 
Monument Association was established 
by an act of the Massachusetts legislature. 
It was composed of celebrated citizens of 
Boston, and other places, who thought 
that some enduring memorial should be 
erected. The idea originated chiefly 
with William Tudor. Twenty-six per- 
sons composed the society at its organiza- 
tion. 

1823. October. A mahogany tree 
was cut in British Honduras, weighing 
over seven tons. It was sent to Liverpool 
and had cost when landed, c£375. It sold 
for X525, and cost for sawing, £750 more. 
Its total cost to last owner was £1,375. 

MO.YROE DOCTRIKE. 

1823. December. President Monroe 
enunciated the famous doctrine since 
known by his name. The United States 
had now^ recognized the independence of 
South American states, and did not wish 
to have European powers longer attempt- 
ing to subdue portions of the American 
continent. The doctrine is as follows: 
" That we should consider any attempt 
on the part of European powers to extend 
their system to any portion of this hemi- 
sphere as dangerous to our peace and 
safety," and " that we could not view any 
interposition for the purpose of oppress- 
ing or controlling American governments 
or pi'ovinces in any other light than as a 



424 



RE VOL UTIONART S TR UGGL ES. 



manifestation by European powers of an 
unfriendly disposition toward the United 
States." This doctrine immediately af- 
fected the course of foreign governments, 
and has become the approved sentiment 
of the United States. 

1823. A federal union was formed 
by the provinces of Central America. 
The confederation Avas not completed 
for some months, during which a consti- 
tution very similar to that of the United 
States, was adopted. The title taken was 
" The United Provinces of Central 
isn. First man- America." But two parties 
ufactoiy in Speedily appeared, as in the 

' exiDcrience of the United 
States, the one in favor of a centralized 
government, and the other in favor of 
delegating no power to the central gov- 
ernment. Difficulties, collisions, and 
even bloodshed, began to appear. The 
five Central American states, Honduras, 
Nicaragua, Guatemala, San Salvador 
and Costa Rica, have never yet been 
able to form any permanently united 
government. 

1823. The independence of Colom- 
bia, S. A., was recognized by vSpain, 

1823. Gen. O'Higgins, dictator of 
Chili, resigned because of popular move- 
ments which seemed to threaten the 
peace of the country. 

1823. Great Conspiracy in Cuba. 
An attempt was made to organize an 
uprising in Cuba, under the name Soles 
de Bolivar, from the fact that Bolivar had 
agreed to engage in it. It failed through 
the treachery of a leader. Arrests were 
speedily made, and many banishments 
and imprisonments took place. 

1823. The West India pirates were 
successfully overwhelmed by a fleet 
under Com. Perry. This was a work 



which was done once for all. The 
United States added greatly by it to their 
naval renown. 

1823. The first teachers' seminary 
in the United States was opened at Con- 
cord, Vt., by Rev. S. R. Hill. 

1823. The " Society for the Refor- 
mation of Juvenile Delinquents," the first 
of the kind in America, was incorporated 
by the state of New York. 

1824. Jan. 8. " Mrs. Adams' Ball " 
was given in Washington, D. C, by 
Airs. John Q. Adams, whose husband was 
secretary of state, in commemoration of 
Gen. Jackson's victory at New Orleans. 
The occasion is said to have had a bear- 
ing on the political fortunes of candidates 
for the presidency. It was long remem- 
bered in Washington. 

1824. Feb. 10. Bolivar was made 
dictator of Peru in j^lace of Gen. San 
jVIartin, who had resigned. 

1824. July 13. The importation of 
slaves was forbidden by the Mexican 
congress, and all who should land in the 
republic were declared free. 

1824. July 19. Execution of Itur- 
bide. Iturbide, having returned to Mex- 
ico in disguise, was detected, arrested, 
and shot this day at Padilla. His end was 
speedier than he had ventured to think. 
• His widow resided for a long time in 
Philadelphia, and one of his sons was 
adopted as heir to the throne by Max- 
imilian during the latter's sad and foolish 
attempt to establish a monarchy in 
Mexico. 

1824. Aug. 6. The Spaniards were 
defeated at Junin, in Peru, by Generals 
Bolivar and vSucre. 

1824. Aug. 15. Marquis de Lafay- 
ette arrived in New York on a visit to 
the United States, at the request of con- 
gress. He spent about one year in the 



1800-1824.] 

country, and was everywhere received 
with great demonstrations of respect and 
affection. He visited and entered the 
tomb of Washington, where he was 
overcome with emotion. He passed 
hastily through all the states of the union, 
and visited the largest cities. 

1824. Aug. 16. Charles Thomson, 
LL. D., of Philadelphia, who served as 
secretary of the continental congress 
from its organization in 1774 till its expi- 
ration in 17S9, died at Lower Merion at 
the age of ninety-five years. He caine 
to America from Ireland when a mere 
1824-1830. boy, and acquired a good 

Charles X.King education. His heart beat 
in accord with the resist- 
ance to parliamentary power, and by his 
influential efforts in behalf of liberty, he 
has been called the " Samuel Adams of 
Philadelphia." He was an efficient sec- 
retary, and was the only one which the 
continental congress appointed during its 
fifteen years of existence. He also had 
literary tendencies and ability, being 
widely known as the author of several 
works. 

1824. Oct. 4. First Keal Mexican 
Constitution. The Mexican congress 
promulgated a constitution very similar 
to that of the United States, establishing 
the republic of Mexico, which was to 
consist of nineteen states and five terri- 
tories. This was the first constitution 
adopted by the whole country. The 
constitution of Morelos, in 1814, was re- 
ceived by only a pai't. The constitution 
of 1S24 was in substance re-adopted in 
1857. The eminent patriot, Guadeloupe 
Victoria, was chosen president, and Gen. 
Bravo vice-president. 

1824. Nov. 18. The fortress of 
San Juan de UUoa, in the harbor of Vera 
Cruz, Mexico, surrendered to the repub- 



THE AWAKENED CONTINENT. 



425 



lie. It was the last spot in Mexico where 
the Spanish flag waved. 

SOUTH AMERICAK IKDEPEKDEXCE. 

1824. Dec. 9. The battle of Aya- 
cucho was fought in Peru, between a 
Spanish force of 9,310, under Gen. La- 
serna, and a patriot force of 5,780, under 
Gen. Sucre. The fomner were totally 
routed, and lost 2,600 men. The Ameri- 
can loss was 1,000. This was the deci- 
sive battle in all the contest of South 
American republics with Spain, and vir- 
tually secured them in their independence. 



1824. December. Gift to Lafayette. 
Congress voted Lafayette $200,000 and 
a township of land as some slight return 
for his efforts in behalf of American 
liberty. 

1824. The first manufacture of pins 
by machinery was begun in England 
under a patent obtained by Wellman 
Wright of the United States. 

TEXTH PRE8IDEXTML CAMPAIGN. 

1824. The famous scrub race for the 
presidency has made the tenth presiden- 
tial campaign of the United States a 
marked event in political history. Divis- 
ions appeared among the people, and 
the unity of the last election was no 
longer apparent. A congressional caucus 
was called by the friends of William H. 
Crawford of Georgia. Out of the 216 
democrat-republicans in congress, only 
66 attended, and all but two voted for 
Mr. Crawford. The other members of 
congress refused to abide by this nomina- 
tion, or by any other that could be pre- 
sented. It became a personal contest. 
Four candidates for president were in the 
field : William H. Crawford of Georgia, 
John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, 



426 



REVOLUTION AR2' STRUGGLES. 



Henry Clay of Kentucky, and Andrew 
Jackson of Tennessee. These were all 
democrat-republicans. The result was 
that no choice was made. We have in 
this campaign our first recorded popular 
vote, which, with the electoral vote, stood 
as follows: Andrew Jackson, 155,872 
popular votes, and 99 electoral; John Q. 
Adams, 105,331 popular votes, and 84 
electoral; William PI. Crawford, 44,282 
popular votes, and 41 electoral; Ilenrv 
Clay, 46,587 popular votes, and 37 
electoral. 

The House of Representatives, in ac- 
cordance with the constitution, elected 
John Q. Adams president uj^on the first 
ballot. He received the vote of 13 
states, Andrew Jackson, of 7 states, and 
William H. Crawford, of 4 states. John 



C. Calhoun was elected vice-presi- 
dent by the electors, he having received 
183 votes. There were 7S scattering 
votes for the vice-president. The method 
of nomination by congressional caucus 
was forever dead. 



1824. A constitution was adopted in 

Brazil. 

1824. The United Provinces of the 
La Plata were organized as a republic 
under Las Hcras. 

1824. Russia made an agreement 
with the United States by which she 
gave up all claim to land south of lat. 54'' 
40', and afterward made the same treaty 
with England, leaving the United States 
and England to quarrel over the settle- 
ment of the question. 





PART V. 



POIilTie^Ii DEVEIiOPn]El]T. 



4825-1859. 




[427] 



*' ^TIs as easy to be heroes as to sit the idle slaves 
Of a legendary virtue carved upon o?ir fathers'' graves^ 
Worshippers of light ancestral make the present light 

a crime ; 
Was the Ma)fio-Joer launched by cotvards^ steered by 

men behind their time? 
Turn those tracks toivard Past or Future^ that make 

Ply7nouth Rock stiblime P 

'■'■New occasions teach nezv duties; Time ?nakcs ancient 
good tincouth ; 

They must upvcard still, and otiward, zuho zvould keep 
abreast of Truth ; 

Lo, before us gleam her campfircs I ive ourselves must 
Pilgrims be. 

Launch our Mayflower, and steer boldly through the 
desperate winter sea, 

Nor attempt the Future's portal with the Pasfs blood- 
rusted key,''"' 

—LOWELL. 



[428] 



SECTION XVII. 



TMU G^O WTM O^ TASTIUS, /825-/8J^4.. 



/m^CENES of war give place to scenes 
"V, of legislative combat. In the United 
'\\ States the " Era of Good Feeling" 
^y\y was followed by the rise of ques- 
tions which have been arbitrated in more 
recent years by the sword. Great debates 
between the giants of congress, revealed 
the character of opposing ideas of national 
government. In the meantime several 
experimental parties were formed, the 
forerunners of the great Republican 
party of later times. The tariff was an 
issue which caused great agitation. In- 
ventions were multiplying. Some of our 
great recent improvements originated in 
this period. In the other parts of Amer- 
ica the lessons of self-government had 
not yet been learned, and there was more 
of military opei'ation. What the English 
colonists had learned in their town-meet- 
ings, the colonists of Spanish America 
w^ere totally ignorant of. Hence their 
ascent was slower. Great obstacles yet 
remained within the body politic of the 
southern provinces of the continent. 
Parties resorted to arms more freely, be- 
cause there were forces opposed to them 
w^hich seemed incapable of being met in 
any other way. One day the life of those 
sections will be far higher. 

[429] 



1825. January. The first " Reform 
School " in the United States was opened 
in New York by the " Society for the 
Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents," 
upon what is now Madison Square. It is 
now situated upon Randall's Island. 

1825. March 4. John Quincy Adams 
of Massachusetts, was inaugurated presi- 
dent of the United States, and John C. 
Calhoun of South Carolina, became vice- 
president. 

1825. April 27. Owenism. Robert 
Owen instituted a provisional government 
over his new community at New Har- 
mony, Ind., where he had bought the 
village with its buildings and 30,000 
acres of land from the Rappites, in order 
to try his social experiment. Many 
changes were made in the regulations of 
the community, all failing to secure 
success. Nine hundred persons started 
out in the attempt. Mr. Owen had come 
from England. In a few years the 
community broke up, and relapsed into 
individual property. The reaction was 
very great. Mr. Owen afterward tried 
other experiments at other places, but 
none of them resulted in anything. 

1825. June 17. The corner stone 
of Bunker Hill monument was laid with 



430 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT, 



imposing ceremonies in the presence of a 
large concourse of people to whom Dan- 
iel Webster delivered a remarkable ora- 
tion, Lafayette added honor to the 
occasion. The grand tent covered 
38,400 square feet. The tables were set 
with 4,000 plates. 

1825. Aug. 11. Bolivia was formed 
from the upper provinces of Peru, and 
made an independent state. It was 
named in honor of Siinon Bolivar, who, 
more than any other man, secured South 
American liberty. Gen. Sucre was made 
president under a republican form of 
government. Bolivia has an area of 
677,288 square, miles, and about 2,oSi,- 
58^ inhabitants. 

1825. Sept. 7. The independence 
of the Empire of Brazil from Portugal 
was recognized by the Portuguese crown, 
Brazil is the largest country in South 
America, and the only empire in the New 
World. It has an area of 3,200,000 
square niiles, and a population of 9,913,- 
000 inhabitants. 

1825. Sept. 7. Lafayette sailed from 
Wasiiington, D. C, for France. All 
business was suspended, and the United 
States authorities bade Lafayette an 
affecting farewell in the president's house. 
A vast multitude watched the embarka- 
tion, and lingered to catch a last glimpse 
of the now aged hero. 

1825. Dee. 12. War was declared 
upon the Argentine Republic by the 
emperor of Brazil, who immediately 
proclaimed the port of Buenos Ayres to 
be in a state of blockade. 

1825. A canal association was formed 
in London, for the object of constructing 
a ship canal across the isthmus between 
North and South America. 

1825. The Erie Canal, the largest 
in America, being 363 miles long, was 



completed after several years of labor, 
and an expense of about ^^,5 ^v«;7/<,./^ 
$8,000,000, It was opened «'« Pmssia. 

•,i • • . steam on the 

With miposmg ceremonies, ^/,j„^ Finan- 
during which Gov, Clinton, dai panic in 
who had been conveyed '^^ "" ' 

over the route by the first boat, poured a 
keg of water which was brought from 
Lake Erie, into the ocean at New York 
city. 

1825. The first railway charter in 
America was given to the Alohawk and 
Hudson Company, New York. 

1825. The first iron boat in Amer- 
ica was built at York, Penn,, and 
was named " The Codorus," It had a 
wooden frame, and drew twelve inches 
of water, but not being able to ply on the 
Susquehanna, it was taken south, and 
used a long time. 

1825. " Babbit Metal." The manu- 
facture of Brittania, or white metal,, 
which has since been extensively used as 
a base for silver j^lated goods, was begun 
by Isaac Babbit at Taunton, Mass. He 
introduced it as a substance for shaft boxes,, 
in which use it has had a great run. 

1825. "The Well- Conducted Farm," 
an essay issued by Dr. Justin Edwards,, 
detailed the experiment of a large farm 
in Worcester Co., Mass., and the great 
superiority of labor without stimu- 
lants in the shape of intoxicating drink. 
It made a profound impression. 

1826. January. Callao, the last foot- 
hold of the Spaniards in Peru, was sur- 
rendered. 

1826. April 8. A duel was fought 
on the bank of the Potomac, near Little 
Falls bridge, between Henry Clay of 
Kentucky, Secretary of State in the 
United States, and John Randolph of 
Virginia, United States senator. The 
latter, in a speech upon the floor of the 



1825-1844] 

senate, had grossly insulted Mr. Clay, 
who, after demanding satisfaction and 
obtaining none, challenged Mr. Ran- 
dolph. The parties met and exchanged 
fire, without any effect. At a second call 
Mr. Clay fired without hitting Mr. Ran- 
dolph, who fired into the air. A recon- 
ciliation immediately took place between 
them. 

"KEW h^vejY blue Ldwsr 

1826. April 19. Samuel A. Peters, 
the author of a " History of Connecti- 
cut," and an Episcopalian clergyman, 
died in New York, at the age of ninety 
years. He was a tory at the breaking 
out of the Revolution, and published his 
history in England, whither he had fled 
in 1774 to jorotect himself. His work 
has been called " the most unscrupulous 
and malicious of lying narratives." He 
gives a series of enactments which he 
says were made in the "Dominion of 
New Haven." These so-called laws 
have been thought by many to have been 
genuine, but they were very largely fab- 
ricated. They, in some respects, resem- 
ble enactments actually made in New 
England, but by their wording are full 
of misrepresentations. Among them are 
the following: " No one shall travel, cook 
victuals, make beds, sweep house, cut 
hair, or shave, on the Sabbath day." " No 
woman shall kiss her children on the 
Sabbath, or fasting day." Mr. Peters 
was very poor during his last days. 
Trumbull in his " McFingall " makes 
him stand for " Parson Peter." 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



431 



1826. June 22. A convention of 

delegates from the South American states 
was held at Panama, to which the United 
States sent commissioners. No impor- 
tant results followed. 



TH0M:1S JEFFERSOK. 
1826. July 4. The fiftieth anniver- 
sary of the independence of the United 
States was hailed with joy throughout 
the nation ; yet, before the close of that 
day two of the most illustrious men of 
the Revolution had passed away. 
Thomas Jefferson, author of the Decla- 
ration of Independence, and third presi- 
dent of the United States, died not long 
after noon. He was born April 2, i 743j o^i 
the slope of the Blue Ridge, in Shadwell, 
Albemarle Co., Va. When he was four- 
teen years of age his father died. He 
entered an advanced class in William and 
Mary College at the age of seventeen, 
and remained two years, then commenced 
the study of law in the office of Mr. 
Wythe, one of the most distinguished 
lawyers in the state. For five years he 
spent fifteen hours each day in study, in- 
cluding three hours of practice on the 
violin, upon which he became a skillful 
player. 

In 1769 he was chosen a member of 
the Virginia House of Burgesses, where 
he took a prominent stand against parlia- 
mentary encroachments. The next yeai* 
he removed his residence from Shadwell 
to a new home which he had built and 
named Monticello, where, two years later, 
he brought his bride, formerly a Mrs. 
Martha Skelton. 

In 1775 he was sent to the continental 
congress, where, though a silent man, his 
abilities as a writer and reasoner soon 
became known, and he was placed on a 
number of important committees, being 
made chairman of that for drawing up 
the Declaration of Independence. This,, 
with but few verbal changes, was the 
work of his pen. 

Jefferson next addressed himself to the 
reform of the organic laws of his own 



432 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



state, in order for which he declined the 
appointment of commissioner to negotiate 
treaties of commerce with France. In 
1779 he was made governor of Virginia. 
While occupying this position he gave 
his hearty support to Washington in 
sujDplying his army, though it left his own 
state in very poor condition to meet the 
encroachments of the British, who had 
about this time commenced their ravages 
in the south. His own estates were not 
exempt from these depredations, and him- 
self barely escaped falling into their hands. 
His wife''s health, never very good, was 
much injured by this excitement, and in 
the summer of 17S3 she died. During 
the four months preceding her death Mr. 
Jefferson was her constant and tender 
nurse, scarcely ever out of calling. His 
grief at her death was painful to witness, 
and he was to the end of his life faithful 
to her memory, treasuring as his most 
sacred relics, locks of her hair and other 
mementoes. By her death the dream of 
his life was broken; having intended to 
live in retirement, engaged in literary 
pursuits, he was now easily persuaded 
again to enter the public service. 

Elected to congress in 17S3, Mr. Jeffer- 
son secured the adoption by that body of 
the pi"esent system of currency. Two 
years later he was aj^pointed minister 
plenipotentiary to France, to succeed Dr. 
Franklin, who had resigned on account of 
his age. Mr. Jefferson's affid^ility and 
jDolish of manner soon won him a high 
position in the esteem of the French 
peojDle, whose unvarying politeness was 
a constant source of pleasure to him. 
Returning to the United States in Sep- 
tember of 1789, he became secretary of 
state in Washington's cabinet. Wash- 
ington was not mistaken in Jefferson's fit- 
ness for that position. He discharged the 



duties of the office with great credit; yet 
on account of difference of opinion in re- 
gard to several important political and 
financial measures with Mr. Hamilton, 
Washington's able secretary of the treas- 
vny, he determined to resign. He accord- 
ingly sent in his resignation at the com- 
mencement of Washington's second term, 
but at his urgent solicitation was induced 
to remain until Jan. i, 1794, when his 
final resignation was accepted, and he re- 
tired to Monticello. During his retire- 
ment, while spending the greater part of 
his time in setting in order his private af- 
fairs which had become greatly deranged, 
his occasional communications to the 
papers, and political leaders, swayed the 
party whose sentiments he represented, 
so that in the election of 1797 he was 
chosen vice-president, John Adams hav- 
ing received a small majority of the 
votes, being president. At the next elec- 
tion, in I So I, Jefferson was chosen presi- 
dent. His two terms passed smoothly, 
very unlike the storm v terms of his pred- 
ecessors. Popular at the beginning, by 
his simple republican dress and manners 
he became daily more popular, while in 
more important matters his administra- 
tion was " among the wisest and purest 
the world has ever seen." 

On retiring from the presidency he 
spent the remainder of his days at Monti- 
cello, his house open to all who desired to 
visit him; it is said that his home for 
years resembled a fashionable watering 
place. Such hospitality would in a short 
time consume a much larger estate than 
Mr. Jefferson's, and the last years of his 
life were rendered very unhajjpy by 
debts, increased by an indorsement of 
twenty thousand dollars for a friend. 

In 1836 he applied to the legislature for 
permission to dispose of his estates by 



1825-1844.] 

lottery. His petition was granted, and 
the plan commenced, but, interrupted by 
his death, was never carried out. When 
his embarrassments became known, testi- 
monials of esteem and gratitude were 
sent him, amounting in all to about 
eighteen thousand dollars. This relieved 
his immediate need, and brightened his 
closing days. After his death, his estates 
were sold; and the whole amount re- 
ceived from them did not cover his 
indebtedness. 

Mr. Jefferson was a democrat from 
principle, and heartily believed in a gov- 
ernment by the people. Believing also 
that all men are created equal, he, like 
Washington, although the owner of many 
slaves, could not countenance the institu- 
tion of slavery. While belonging to the 
most wealthy class of Virginia landhold- 
ers, he never, even in his youth, was ad- 
dicted to the vices so common to young 
men of this class ; his language was pure, 
and free from oaths; he did not use to- 
bacco ; he was opposed to gambling ; and, 
though fond of horses, and a fine horse- 
man himself, he never but once put one 
on the course. In college and in his 
after studies Mr. Jefferson became both 
a good mathematician and a fine classical 
scholar. He was not a public speaker, 
but was a clear thinker, a fine conversa- 
tionalist, and a ready and careful writer. 
His disposition was kind and affectionate, 
easily winning the love, not only of his 
relatives and personal friends, but of all 
with whom he came in contact. His 
domestic affections, shown in his tender 
care of his wife during her last illness, 
were bestowed after her death upon his 
daughters, over whom he exercised a 
mother's care and watchfulness. " His 
moral character," says his nephew, T. J. 
Randolph, " was of the highest order. 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



433 



founded upon the purest and sternest 
models of antiquity, softened, chastened, 
and developed by the influence of the all- 
pervading benevolence of the doctrines of 
Christ, which he had earnestly and ad- 
miringly studied." Yet he never avowed 
any religious faith, and was unwilling 
that any should be taught in the univer- 
sity which he founded. 

We see, then, in Mr. Jefferson an 
original thinker and reformer, an accom- 
plished scholar and gentleman, a tender 
husband and father, and a warm friend, 
with the added charm of a thoroughly 
pure life governed by Christian principles. 

JOHK ADAMS. 

1826. July 4. John Adams, the sec- 
ond president of the United States, died 
near sunset, a few hours later than 
Thomas Jefferson. He was born at 
Braintree — that part now called Quincy 
— Massachusetts, Oct. 19, 1735. He was 
fitted for college in his native town, and 
graduated at Harvard, in 1755. His 
parents had hoped that he might study 
for the ministry, but not being able to 
agree with the orthodox views of the 
time, he decided for the law instead, and 
commenced the study of it at Worcester, 
teaching at the same time. The latter 
occujDation was somewhat irksome to 
him, and he was glad to enter for the 
final year of his course, the office of Jer- 
emy Gridley. He was admitted to the 
bar in 1759, and commenced practice in 
his native town. Mr. Adams was mar- 
ried, in 1764, to Abigail Smith, a lady of 
fine natural endowments, and well edu- 
cated. Four years later he removed to 
Boston, hoping to find there a wider field 
of labor. In 177^ '""^ was chosen repre- 
sentative to the general court, being at 
the same time engaged in the defense of 

38 



434 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



the British soldiers under Capt. Preston, 
who were on trial for the disturbance 
known as the Boston Alassacre. In this 
suit, though Mr. Adams was engaged on 
the unpopular side, he was successful. 

Mr. Adams was elected one of the 
five delegates from Massachusetts to the 
first General Congress at Philadelphia, 
and was recognized as one of the ablest 
in that able assembly. In the important 
business of congress for 1776, Mr. 
Adams took an active part. For the 
work of reorganizing state governments, 
he was, by his early reading and thinking, 
better fitted than any other man in con- 
gress, and to him the leaders of move- 
ments for reorganization applied for 
advice, and plans of constitutions. It is 
noticeable that those which followed his 
plans, most nearly, have been the most 
satisfactory, and least changed. Mr. 
Adams was also one of the prime movers 
in the Declaration of Independence. He 
is called by Mr. Jefferson, the " colossus 
of independence," As Jefferson wrote 
the paper, so Adams, in the three days' 
debate which followed its presentation to 
congress, " fought fearlessly for every 
word of it." 

After serving his country and his own 
state, he was sent by congress to Europe, 
commissioned with authority to make a 
treaty of peace and commerce with Great 
Britain, when the opportunity should 
present itself. With his two sons he 
arrived at Paris after a perilous voyage, 
on the 5th of February, 1780. During 
the interval between this time and the 
treaty in January, 1783, Mr. Adams oc- 
cupied himself with disseminating in 
France and Holland, information con- 
cerning the United States, and in the 
very important business of negotiating 
the loans with Holland, which in all 



probability saved our nation from bank- 
ruptcy. The latter, accompanied as it 
was by the recognition of the indepen- 
dence of the United States, and followed 
by a treaty of amity and commerce, 
being exclusively the result of his own 
labor, Mr. Adams regarded as the great- 
est triumph of his life. 

Not long after the treaty of peace 
with Great Britain was signed, Mr. 
Adams was advised by his physician on 
his partial recovery from a very severe 
illness, to go to England and try the 
waters of Bath. While in London he 
had the gratification of hearing George 
the Third announce to Parliament and 
the people that he had made a treaty of 
peace with the States of North America. 
He had been in Bath but a few days 
when he received very urgent dispatches 
from home, announcing that the previous 
loans had been exhausted, and new bills 
presented, which made it of the greatest 
importance that he make attempts for 
new loans. Though a journey to Hol- 
land in the winter seemed likely to prove 
disastrous to him in his feeble state of 
health, and though he thought it doubt- 
ful if he should succeed in procuring the 
loan, yet he determined to make the 
attempt; and after a very rough journey 
by boat, on foot, in ice boats, and boors' 
wagons, he finally reached Amsterdam, 
and succeeded beyond his hopes. 

Finding that, by a new commission, he 
was likely to remain some time longer 
from home, Mr. Adams, in 1 784, sent for 
his wife and daughter. On their arrival 
he engaged a house at Auteuil, near 
Paris, where, for a year, they enjoyed all 
the benefits of the most refined, brilliant, 
and intellectual society in the world. In 
May, 1 785, having been appointed envoy 
to the court of St. James, he removed 



1825-1844.] 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



435 



with his family to England. He was re- 
ceived coldly by George the Third and 
his court, and was unable to accomplish 
the object of his mission; he therefore 
asked to be recalled, and letters of recall 
being sent, on the 2d of April, 17SS, 
after an active service of nearly nine 
years abroad, Mr. Adams bade farewell 
to Eui'ope. 

The next year Mr, Adams was chosen 
vice-president, the fii^st under the new 
constitution, and was re-elected in 1793. 

At the third election Mr. Adams was 
chosen president hy a majority of but 
three votes. His trials in this position 
were very great. Entering upon the 
office immediately after Washington, 
who himself, though so popular, did not 
escape the calumny of the party leaders; 
taking up the business at so critical a 
time in our history, with party feeling 
never more bitter, a powerful faction of 
his own party under Mr. Hamilton op- 
posing him, the members of his cabinet 
hostile or indifferent, the war with France 
pending, it is not strange that his presi- 
dential career should have been under a 
ban, until more careful investigations 
have brought it out in its true light. It 
is beginning to be considered that he did 
indeed redeem the pledge with which he 
entered upon the administration, to " act 
a fearless, intrepid, undaunted part," not 
forgetting " likewise to act a prudent, 
cautious, and considerate part." 

At the expiration of his term of office 
he retired at once to his farm at Quincy, 
spending there the remaining years of 
his life in pursuits which, according to 
Cicero, are the most agreeable to old age. 
During these years he wrote much, both 
letters to his friends, and articles for pub- 
lication. As a writer Mr. Adams always 
paid more attention to the sentiment than 



to the style, and disliked that finishing 
labor which makes an article readable 
when the sentiment is no longer felt. 
He was much greater as a thinker, and 
reasoner, and talker, than as a writer. 

During these years his former friendly 
relations with Thomas Jefferson, inter- 
rupted for a time by politics, were re- 
newed through the interposition of a 
mutual friend, and a correspondence 
commenced, which was kept up through- 
out the remainder of their lives. 

In 18 1 8 Mr. Adams lost his wife, who 
had been a sympathizer, comforter, and 
counsellor, in all vicissitudes. 

His last years were passed serenely. 
Once a year he was visited by his son, 
John Quincy, daily becoming more pop- 
ular. In 1825, as if to recompense him 
for his previous trials, he was permitted 
to be congratulated on the election of his 
son to the highest seat of honor in the 
nation. 

It was his to witness the dawn of the 
fiftieth anniversary of American Inde- 
pendence, and his spirit, with its passing, 
also passed away. Having lived into 
his ninety-first year, he could not be 
mourned as those who pass in the ma- 
turity of their powers. The nation could 
but say: How fitting that he, who had 
done so much to secure national inde- 
pendence, should depart on the day com- 
memorating the event, giving with 
almost his last words, that sentiment to 
which he had devoted his life, " Inde- 
pendence Forever." 

THE WILLEY DISASTER. 

1826. Aug. 28. Samuel Willey, Jr., 
had moved into the recesses of Crawford 
Notch, in the White Mountains, to keep 
a little inn for teamsters. The road 
through the Notch was beginning to be 



436 



POLITIC A L DE VEL OPMENT. 



used considerably by Vermont and New 
Hampshire men in making their way to 
the coast. Mr. Willey's family had one 
or two frights from falling avalanches, 
but had so far escaped harm. On this 
occasion a fearful storm came on. The 
earth was dry as powder. By evening 
the tempest was raging in power. The 
whole region was black and terrible. 
The Saco rose to a rushing torrent. The 
earth shook. The moiuitains seemed to 
tremble. There was great destruction in 
every blast. The Notch was torn and 
rent in every direction. The Willey 
family apparently heard the sound of an 
avalanche far up in the rear of the house, 
and left in haste, to escape destruction. 
The house was found safe with open 
doors, a few days afterward, and a Bible 
open at the eighteenth Psalm was found 
lying on the table. The avalanche had 
been split by a large outstanding ledge 
or boulder in the rear of the house, one 
portion going one side, and the other the 
other side, of the frail dwelling. The 
remains of the family were found be- 
neath the sand and debris on the bank of 
the Saco, where they were suddenly 
overwhelmed. In the house they would 
have been safe from harm. The spot is 
now visited by hundreds of tourists. 



1826. Temperance Reformation. The 

American Temperance Union was or- 
ganized at Boston, on the principles of 
Micajah Pendleton's Pledge. It per- 
mitted the use of cider, wines, and malt 
liquors in moderation, but required total 
abstinence from distilled liquors. In six 
years over 4,000 societies were organized, 
and distillation ceased to a great extent, 
for merchants gave up the trade. 
Twenty thousand families became con- 
nected with the society. This was the 



beginning of the modern movements in 
favor of temperance. 

1826. Eclectic Medical School. Dr. 
Wooster Beach of New York, founded a 
college for teaching the principles of the 
American Eclectic, or New School of 
Medicine. Institutions have since grown 
up in other parts of the country, and the 
Eclectic School is now thoroughly or- 
ganized, and numbers thousands of 
members. 

POLITICAL ±XTI-MASOXR Y. 

1826. Abduction of William Mor- 
gan. A great excitement arose this fall 
over the supposed abduction of William 
Morgan, a Freemason who was preparing 
a book revealing the secrets of the order. 
Morgan lived in Batavia, N. Y. An in- 
vestigation was held which established in 
the minds of those who had conducted it, 
the conviction that Morgan had been 
taken out into Lake Ontario, and 
drowned. Long trials were held, but no 
one was ever condemned. The excite- 
ment gave rise to the Anti-Mason party 
which controlled over 30,000 votes in New 
York, and obtained the electoral votes of 
Vermont in 1832. The party subse- 
quently faded away. It may be interest- 
ing to give the reminiscences of Thurlow 
Weed, who served upon the committee of 
investigation, and who wrote the follow- 
ing in the N. Y. Herald, Aug. 6, 1875 : 

"I did not personally know Wm. 
Morgan, who was for more than two 
months writing his book in a house ad- 
joining my residence, in Rochester, N. Y.. 
When applied to by Mr. Dyer — my 
next door neighbor, where Morgan 
boarded — to print the book, purporting 
to disclose the secrets of Masonry, I de- 
clined to do so, believing that a man ^vho 
had taken an oath to keep a secret, had 
no risfht to disclose it. Althoucrh not a 



1825-1844.] 

Freemason I had favorable opinions of 
an institution to which Washington, 
Franklin, and Lafayette, belonged. On 
my refusal to print the book Morgan re- 
moved to Batavia, where he made the 
acquaintance of David C. Miller, editor 
of the Advocate^ also a Mason, who be- 
came his publisher. I pass briefly over a 
series of facts which were judicially es- 
tablished, embracing the arrest of Mor- 
gan, his conveyance to and confinement 
in the county jail at Canandaigua, from 
which he was released and conveyed by 
night, in close carriages, through Roches- 
ter, Clarkson, and along the Ridge Road 
to Fort Niagara, in the magazine of 
which he was confined. While thus con- 
fined a Knight Templar Encampment 
was installed at Lewiston; when at sup- 
per, the zeal and enthusiasm of the 
Templars having been aroused by the 
speeches and wine, Col. Wm. King of 
Lockport, invited four men (Whitney, 
Howard, Chubbuck and Garside) from 
the seats at the banqueting table, into an 
adjoining room, where he informed them 
that he had an order from the Grand 
Master, De Witt Clinton, the execution 
of which required their assistance. This 
party was then driven to Niagara, reach- 
ing the fort a little before I3 o'clock. 
Upon entering the magazine. Col. King 
informed Morgan that his friends had 
completed their arrangements for his re- 
moval to, and residence upon, a farm in 
Canada. Morgan walked with them to 
the wharf where a boat was held in readi- 
ness for them by Elisha Adams, an inva- 
lid soldier, into which the party passed, 
and rowed away, Adams remaining to 
warn the boat oflf by signal, if on its re- 
turn, any alarm had been given. It was 
nearly two o'clock in the morning when 
the boat returned, having, as Adams ex- 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



437 



pressed it, lost 07ie man., only five of the 
six being on board when the boat re- 
turned. When the boat reached the 
point where the Niagara River empties 
into Lake Ontario, a rope being wound 
around Morgan's body, to either end of 
which a sinker was attached, he was 
thrown overboard. It is due to the mem- 
oiy of Gov. Clinton to say that Col. 
King had no such order, and no authori- 
ty to make use of his name. It is proper, 
also, to add, that none of these men sur- 
vive, John Whitney of Rochester, whom 
I knew so well, related all the circum- 
stances connected with the last act in the 
tragedy, to me at Albany, in 1831, in 
the presence of Simeon B. Jewett of 
Clarkson, and Samuel Barton of 
Lewiston." 

A body was found a year later, but, 
though it was identified at one time as 
Morgan, at another it was identified as 
the body of Timothy Monroe. 

1826. An improved Paris fire-proof 
safe was patented by Jesse Deland of 
New York. This was the first safe in 
the country intended to withstand fire. 
Previous strong boxes were strapped 
with iron. This safe was also plated with 
iron. 

1826. The manufacture of axes and 
other edge tools was begun in America 
by Samuel W. and D. C. Collins, at 
Collinsville, Conn. They turned out at 
first eight broad axes a day. The Collins 
company is now one of the largest in the 
world, and uses 600 tons of grindstones 
every year. This was the first company 
organized for the purpose, although pre- 
viously axes had been made by black- 
smiths from before the Revolution. 

1826. Dom Pedro, Emperor of Bra- 
zil, became King of Portugal by the 



438 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



death of his father, but bestowed the Por- 
tuguese crown upon his infant daughter. 

1826. Uruguay was declared an inde- 
pendent republic, and in a couple of years 
was recognized as such, with a guaran- 
tee from Great Britain, Brazil, and the 
Argentine Republic. It has a popula- 
tion of 454,478 persons, and an area of 
63,300 square miles. 

1827. July 30. The " protection- 
ists " of the country held a national con- 
vention at Harrisburg, Penn., which was 
filled with discussions. A tariff not only 
for revenue, but for protection, was 
strongly urged by this assembly. 

1827. Slavery was finally abolished 
in New York, under the statute of 1S17. 
Nearly 10,000 slaves were freed without 
compensation to their owners. 

1827. First Railway in America. A 
railway was completed at Quincy, Mass., 
1745-1827. by Gridley Bryant and T. 

Aies.andro ^ Perkius, for the trans- 

Vol la, discoverer ' 

of Voltaic i'at- portation of the granite of 
'"'-''■ which Bunker Hill Monu- 

1770-1827. 

Beethoven, incut was to be built. This 
was the first in the United States, and 
was operated by horse power. The 
switch was invented by Mr. Bryant; 
also the first eight-wheeled car. The 
wooden rails of the track were plated 
with iron to make them more durable. 

1827. A daring expedition to reach 
the North Pole over the ice was under- 
taken by Parry, in boats which had a 
runner on each side of the keel, so as to 
be suited for either mode of traveling. 
The ice-fields north of Spitzbergen were 
rough and jagged, with pools of water, so 
that they were obliged to constantly un- 
load and load the boats. After thirty-five 
days of travel, sometimes through deep, 
half-melted snow, and sometimes over 
sharp ice, they found that the whole field 



was floating south, and their toil was In 
vain. They had reached a higher lati- 
tude than any previous expedition, 82° 
40^'. This was the last Arctic voyage 
that Parry made. He was a daring 
navigator, and when twenty-eight years 
old, discovered Melville's Island. He 
was born in 1790, and died in 1855 at 
Erns. 

1827. A telegraph two miles in 
length was operated on the race course 
on Long Island, N. Y., by Harrison Dyar, 
and transmitted signals by means of the 
chemical action of electricity on litmus 
paper. 

1827. Peru adopted a new constitu- 
tion similar to the constitution of the 
United States. Its area is computed at 
500,000 square miles, and the population 
is about 3,000,000 persons. 

1828. July 4. The corner stone of 
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was set 
by Charles Carroll of Carrollton,the last 
surviving signer of the Declaration of In- 
dependence, at more than ninety years of 
age. This road at the beginning was 
planned for horse cars only. The steam 
engine made by Peter CoojDcr in 1S30, 
was run upon this road. 

1828. Nov. 1. The ruins of Uxmal 
were discovered by Don Pancho Yegros,. 
a Yucatan planter, and Dr. Lewis 
Mitchell, a Scotch surgeon, who had 
been off hunting together and were forced 
by a rainstorm to take shelter for the 
night in an old ruin to which their Indian 
guide took them. He told them of other 
and greater ruins, and afterward took 
them where the extensive and amazing" 
ruins of Uxmal were revealed to their 
view, hidden already for generations and 
but for this accident, still longer. 

1828. Dec. 10. The first patent for 
a locomotive steam engine, recorded in 



1825-1844.] 

the United States, was to William 
Howard of Baltimore. 

1828. Webster's Dictionary was 
first issued in two quarto volumes. 

1828. The first advertising agency 
in America, was established by Mr. 
Orlando Bourne, and for a number of 
years it was the only one in the United 
States. 

1828. The first successful planing 
machine was invented and patented by 
William Woodworth of New York. 

1828. The first locomotive trip made 
in America was upon the Carbondale and 
Honesdale R. R., by Mr, Horatio Allen 
of New York, engineer, in an engine 
brought from England. It was named 
" Lion," and was built by Foster, Rastick 
& Co., England. The road ran from 
the Lackawaxen Canal to the Lacka- 
wanna River, thus affording transporta- 
tion for the coal from Luzerne County, 
Penn. The engine was afterward found 
to be heavier than the road needed. 

1828. " Bill of Abominations." A 
tariff bill which was quite strongly pro- 
tective, passed congress, and pleased the 
manufacturing, but displeased the agri- 
cultural interests of the country. Some 
called it the <■<■ Bill of Abominations." It 
helped bring nullification to the front a 
few years later. 

ELEVENTH PRE8IDEKTML CtLMPAIGK. 

1828. In the eleventh presidential 
campaign Andrew Jackson, who had 
been nominated by the legislature of 
Tennessee soon after the last election, 
was supported by the democrat-republi- 
cans, or democrats as they now began to 
be called, for president, and John C. Cal- 
houn of South Carolina, for vice-presi- 
dent. This party was also known at 
times as "Jackson men," because, since 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



439 



the election of 1S34, the Clay and Adams 
factions had separated from the old party, 
and now took public stand as the national 
republicans. They were in some sense 
the successors of the federalists, and after- 
ward became the great Whig party. 
They are known by their advocacy of a 
protective tariff, and internal improve- 
ments at national expense. In this elec- 
tion they supported John Q. Adams of 
Massachusetts, for president, and Richard 
Rush of Pennsylvania, for vice-president. 
Out of 261 electoral votes, Gen. Jackson 
received 178 for president, and Calhoun 
171 for vice-president. Adams and Rush 
received each 83 votes. Seven votes 
were cast for William Smith for vice- 
president. The popular vote for Gen. 
Jackson was 647,231. That for Adams 
was 509,097. 

1828. The "Prohibition of Peru" 

shutout of that country all articles which 
paid ninety per cent, duties, such as 
American cottons, hats, shoes, soaps, to- 
bacco, etc. The next year, however, it 
was annulled. 

1828. A constitution was adopted in 
Chili. 

1828. Gen. Sucre was driven from 
Bolivia by Gamarra, and was afterward 
assassinated. 

1829. Jan. 4. Gen. Pedraza, who 
had been elected president of Mexico to 
succeed Victoria, was overthrown, and 
compelled to flee the country. Guerrero 
was placed in power by the congress. 

1829. March 4. Gen. Andrew Jack- 
son of Tennessee, was inaugurated pres- 
ident of the United States, with John C. 
Calhoun of South Carolina, as vice-pres- 
ident. It was a stormy administration in 
foreign and home relations. The diffi- 
culties with Engfland over the line be- 



440 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



tween Maine and British America were 
settled, as were also the spoliation claims 
of France. 

1829. May 17. John Jay, LL. D., 

of New York, an eminent jurist, and the 
first chief-justice of the supreme court of 
the United States, died at Bedford, West- 
chester Co., N. Y., in his eighty-fourth 
year. He was boi-n in New York, of 
Huguenot parentage, Dec. 12, 1745, and 
graduated at Columbia College in 1764. 
He was admitted to the bar and entered 
into practice as a partner of Robert R. 
Livingston. When the agitation over 
colonial affairs increased, the mind of 
Jay became deeply interested, and he 
was prominent at the very first in the 
organizations of effort in his native state. 
Though thoroughly patriotic in senti- 
ment, he yet ranked with the conserva- 
tive element in the colonies, which dep- 
recated any undue haste, and especially 
any precipitation of the question of inde- 
pendence. He drew up the address to 
the people of Great Britain, which was 
adopted by the first Continental Con- 
gress, and the address to the people of 
Canada, adopted by the second Congress. 
He became president of congress, Dec. 
10, 1778, and in 17S0 became minister to 
Spain. With Franklin and Adams he 
negotiated peace with Great Britain, in 
1783, and became secretary for foreign 
affairs in the United States government. 
He contributed largely to the " Federal- 
ist," with Hamilton and Madison, in de- 
fence of the Constitution. In 1789, under 
the new constitution, he was appointed 
chief-justice, and held the position till 
1795. In iSoo he was re-appointed 
chief-justice, but declined the position, 
and retired from public life. In 1794 he 
negotiated what is known as "Jav's 
treaty " with Great Britain, which warded 



ofT war. The eastern boundary of Maine 
was fixed, and $10,000,000 were paid 
American citizens because of illegal cap- 
tures by British cruisers. He served six 
years as governor of New York. He 
was deeply interested in the abolition of 
slavery, and in the support of all humane 
movements. His niind was one of great 
ability, and his life one of great purity 
and integrity. The record of his deeds 
and service to the country, is one of which 
any land might be proud. His nature 
was deeply religious. The Bible was a 
constant study with him. Among secu- 
lar authors Cicero was his favorite. 

1829. July. Four thousand Span- 
ish troops, under Gen. Barradas, landed 
in Mexico near Tampico, in an attempt 
to regain the government of that country 
for vSpain. 

1829. Sept. 11. Barradas surren- 
dered, and his troops were sent to Cuba. 
His surrender was brought about by 
Santa Anna. 

1829. Sept. 15. Mexico proclaimed 
the complete and immediate abolition of 
slavery by emancipation. 

1829. The Postmaster- General of 
the United States became a member of 
the president's cabinet for the first time. 
William T. Barry of Kentucky, was ap- 
jDointed to that position by President 
Jackson, and invited to a seat in the 
cabinet. Each Postmaster-General has 
since retained the seat. 

1829. Rotation in Office. Gen. Jack- 
son was the first to remove office-holders 
for political reasons, to any great extent. 
William L. Marcy's statement now came 
into extensive application. Nearly five 
hundred postmasters were removed in 
Jackson's first year of service. 

1829. The first Horticultural Society 
in the United States was founded. 



1825-1844.] 

1829. Chicago was laid out, and the 
first building lots were sold. 

1829. Silk Mania. The " Mansfield 
Silk Company " was formed in Mans- 
field, Conn., and an excitement in silk 
culture began. Reports were published 
to show that the silkworms were more 
profitable in America than in any other 
country, and that suitable machinery was 
the only thing needed to produce silk 
fabrics of the first quality. Many ex- 
periments were tried, and for the next 
ten or twelve years, speculation was rife. 

1829. The first tin found in America 
was a crystal of the oxide of tin found 
in granite at Goshen, Conn., by Prof. 
Hitchcock, of Amherst College. 

1829. The first institution for the 
blind arranged for in America, was the 
Perkins Institute, of Boston. It was in- 
corporated as the " New England Asy- 
lum for the Blind." For certain reasons 
it was not opened till 1833. In 1S31 an 
institution was founded in New York. 
These are the oldest in the country. 

1829. The first power looms in the 
world for the manufacture of diaper 
linen were made and run at Cantei'bury, 
Conn., by William Mason, since of 
Taunton, the great inventor and manu- 
facturer. 

1829. A boating expedition by Capt. 
W. A. Graah, of the Danish Royal 
Navy, proved that the eastern side of 
Greenland had never been colonized. 
Attempts had been made before to learn 
about it, in the hope that the eastern set- 
tlements, if made, had survived the 
calamities of the western. 

1829. Arctic Expedition. Capt. 
John Ross, with his nephew, Commander 
James Ross, set out in the small steamer 
" Victory," on an Arctic expedition, 
which was 23rotracted through five years. 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



441 



In August they reached the place where 
Parry had abandoned the " Fury." All 
the stores and provisions which were left 
on land were found in good condition 
after the four years. The tin cases pre- 
served them. The second spring Ross 
planted the flag of his nation on the 
Northern Magnetic Pole. In the sum- 
mer of 1832 the " Victory " was aban- 
doned, it being impossible to extricate her 
from the ice. It was the first vessel in 
forty-two years of sea-life that Ross had 
been obliged to leave. At Fury Beach 
they found some boats, and by using 
every efl^ort to advance a little in the 
summers, and bravely enduring the 
hardships of the long, dreary winters, in 
August, 1833, they entered Navy Broad 
Inlet, and the next day were taken on 
board the " Isabella," the same in which 
Ross had made his first Arctic voyage. 
Here the officers of the " Isabella " told 
him that he was dead, and could scarcely 
believe his assertions to the contrary. 
After finishing her fishing, the " Isa- 
bella" took them to England, where 
they were received with joy and surprise. 

1829. The Welland Ship Canal was 
opened, it being five years since work 
upon it was commenced. Two schooners 
ascended the entire length of it, from 
Lake Ontario to the Welland River. 
Subsequently the distance was increased. 

1829. "The Loyal Orange Institu- 
tion " of Irishmen, which is exclusively 
and tenaciously Protestant, was intro> 
duced into British America. 

1829. Venezuela, S. A., withdrew 
from the republic of Colombia, and 
adopted a constitution. Its area is about 
400,000 square miles, and its population 
1,784,194 persons. 

1829. The independence of Mexico 
was recognized by the United States. 



442 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



1830. Jan. 11. Gen. Bustamente 

having deposed Guerrero, was himself 
elected president of Mexico. The coun- 
try was now deeply agitated over politi- 
cal matters. 

1830. Jan. 26. Great Debate in the 
Senate. Daniel Webster made his great 
reply to Robert Y. Hayne of South Caro- 
lina, ^vho, during two days in the senate, 
had been supporting the doctrine that the 
states had power to suspend the United 
States constitution, and had in his speech 
directed his eloquence chiefly against Mr. 
Webster. The crowds which gathered 
during these days in the senate chamber 
were immense, and on the morning when 
it \vas expected that Mr. Webster would 
reply, scarcely room for breathing could 
be found. The great contest has never 
been equalled in brilliance and power 
upon this side of the Atlantic. Two rep- 
resentative ideas of government met in 
solid collision, and the shock was terrible. 
The traditions of it will linger in the na- 
tion for many years. Two extracts arc 
given from Mr. Webster's oration, the 
first from near the beginning, the last 
from the very close of it. 

" Matches and over-matches ! Those 
terms are more applicable elsewhere than 
here, and fitter for other assemblies than 
this. Sir, the gentleman seems to forget 
where and what we are. This is a 
Senate, a Senate of equals, of men of in- 
dividual honor and personal character, 
and of absolute independence. We know 
no masters, we acknowledge no dictators. 
This is a hall for mutual consultation and 
discussion ; not an arena forthe exhibition 
of champions. I offer myself, sir, as a 
match for no man; I throw the challenge 
of debate at no man's feet. But then, 
sir, since the honorable member has put 
the question in a manner that calls for an 
answer, I will give him an answer; and 
I tell him, that, holding myself to be the 
humblest of the members here, I vet know 



nothing in the arm of his friend from 
Missouri, either alone, or when aided by 
the arm of his friend from South Caro- 
lina, that iieed deter even me from espous- 
ing whatever opinions I may choose to 
espouse, from debating whatever I may 
choose to debate, or from speaking what- 
ever I may see fit to say, on the floor of 
the Senate. Sir, when uttered as matter 
of commendation or compliment, I should 
dissent from nothing which the honor- 
able member might say of his friend. 
Still less do I put forth anv pretensions of 
my own. But when put to me as 
matter of taunt, I throw it back, and say 
to the gentleman that he could possibly 
say nothing less likely than such a com- 
parison to wound my pride of personal 
character. The anger of its tone rescued 
the remark from intentional iron}^, which 
otherwise probalily would have been its 
general acceptation. But, sir, if it be 
imagined that by this mutual quotation 
and commendation; if it be supposed that, ^ 
by casting the characters of the drama, 
assigning to each his part, to one the at- 
tack; to another the cry of onset; or if it 
be thought that by a loud and empty vaunt 
of anticipated victory, any laurels are to be 
won here; if it be imagined, especially, 
that any or all these things will shake any 
purpose of mine, I can tell the honorable 
member, once for all, that he is greatly 
mistaken, and that he is dealing w^ith one 
of whose temper and character he has 
much yet to learn. Sir, I shall not allow 
myself, on this occasion, I hope on no 
occasion, to be betrayed into any loss of 
temper; but if provoked, as I trust I never 
shall be, into crimination and recrimina- 
tion, the honorable member may perhaps 
find that in that contest, there will be 
blows to take as w^ell as blows to give;, 
that others can state comparisons as signif- 
icant at least as his own, and that his im- 
punity may possibly demand of him 
whatever powers of taunt and sarcasm he 
may possess. I commend him to a j^ru- 
dent husbandry of his resources." * * 
"I have not allowed myself, sir, to look 
beyond the Union, to see what might lie. 
hidden in the dark recess behind. I have 
not coolly weighed the chances of pre- 



1825-1844] 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



443 



serving liberty when the bonds that unite 
us together shall be broken asunder. I 
have not accustomed myself to hang over 
the precipice of disunion to see whether, 
with my short sight, I can fathom the 
depth of the abyss below; nor could I re- 
gard him as a safe counsellor in the af- 
fairs of this government, whose thoughts 
should be mainly bent on considering not 
how the Union may be best preserved, 
but how tolerable might be the condition 
of the people when it should be broken 
up and destroyed. While the Union 
lasts we have high, exciting, gratifying, 
prospects spread out before us, for us and 
for our children. Beyond that I seek not 
to penetrate the veil. God grant that, in 
my day at least, that curtain may not 



afterwards'; but everywhere, spread all 
over in characters of living light, blazing 
on all its ample folds, as they float over 
the sea and over the land, and in every 
wind under the whole heavens, that other 
sentiment, dear to every true American 
heart, — Liberty o'Wfl^ Union, now and for- 
ever, one and inseparable!" 

1830. April 6. The first regular 
Mormon church was organized at Man- 
chester, N. Y. Joseph Smith became 
the leading spirit in this new and terrible 
evil which has blotted the United States 
so long. He claimed to have found the 
Book of Mormon, an appendix to the 
New Testament, in a place described to 




^XC^Gt/\U^}('h'A?U^ *^3 



QautmiLJAtW^'hMve::^ tS^)) >W^f<^^^ 



)\m'^T^'^l'^^t ^L ni^MMii^ltf 



MORMON CHARACTERS. 



rise. God grant that on my vision never 
may be opened what lies behind! When 
my eyes shall be turned to behold for the 
last time the sun in heaven, may I not 
see him shining on the broken and dis- 
honored fragments of a once glorious 
Union ; on States dissevered, discordant, 
belligerent; on a land rent with, civil 
feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal 
blood ! Let their last feeble and linger- 
ing glance rather behold the gorgeous 
ensign of the republic, now known and 
honored throughout the earth, still full 
high advanced, its arms and trophies 
streaming in their original luster, not a 
stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star 
obscured, bearing for its motto, no such 
miserable interrogatory as, ' What is all 
this worth?' nor those other words of de- 
lusion and folly, ' Liberty first, and Union 



him by an angel who appeared one 
night when he was religiously exercised. 
Upon searching the place he found a 
stone box containing a series of gold 
plates, eight inches long and seven inches 
wide, fastened to one another by three 
gold rings. He also found the " Ui'im 
and Thummim " by looking through 
which he was enabled to read the un- 
known tongues upon the plates in Eng- 
lish. In order that this book might be 
published, he sat behind a curtain and 
dictated the translation to Oliver Cow- 
dery, because no other human eye was to 
be permitted to gaze upon the gold plates. 
It has since been proved that the Book 
of Mormon is a plagiarism from an un- 



444 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT, 



published manuscript written by Solomon 
Spalding, and lost in a printing house in 
Pittsburg, in which Sidney Rigdon was 
an apprentice. When the Mormon 
church was founded, Rigdon was a friend 
of Smith, and upon the publication of 
the Book of Mormon, the true origin of 
it was recognized by Mrs. Spalding and 
others. It contained a pretended history 
of America fi'om the dispersion of the 
nations at the tower of Babel. With 
such a foundation did the impostor Smith 
oriofinate the srreat movement which is 
sucli a problem at the present time. Im- 
moral and low, he soon gained followers, 
and began that career which afterward 
ended in a violent death. 

1830. May 31. Pocket Veto. Sev- 
eral bills were passed by congress and 
sent to President Jackson, and as he could 
keep them ten days legally, he did so. 
The time of adjournment came within 
ten days, and the bills were practically 
vetoed. It made some politicians angry, 
but it was a new and real method, which 
they could not dispute. 

1830. September. The first political 
national convention in the country, 
with the exception of the one held by 
the federalists in New York in 1S12 for 
the nomination of DeWitt Clinton, was 
held in Philadelphia, and was styled the 
United .States Anti-Masonic Convention. 
Ninety-six delegates were present, and 
Francis Granger of New York, was 
presiding officer. The convention ad- 
journed after having decided to hold 
another, one year from that time, for the 
purpose of nominating presidential can- 
didates. 

1830. Dec. 9. The first steam loco- 
motive made in America was success- 
fully tried on the South Carolina Rail- 
road, which was the first road in the 



country built for exclusive use with loco- 
motives. The engine was designed by 
E. L. Miller, Esq. of Charleston, and 
was built at the West Point foundry, on 
the Hudson. It was named at first " The 
Best Friend," but afterward became 
known as the " Phoenix." It ran suc- 
cessfully until, within a couple of years, 
an explosion was caused by the closing 
of the safety valve by the fireman. At 
nearly this same time a locomotive was 
constructed by Peter Cooper, the eminent 
philanthropist of New York, at his iron 
works at Canton, Md. It was tried 
successfully on the Baltimore and Ohio 
R. R. It was now only a few years be- 
fore Mr. M. W. Baldwin and other 
makers attained considerable success in 
their efforts at developing the steam 
locomotive. 

1830. Dec. 17. Simon Bolivar, the 
South American patriot, died at San 
Pedro, at the age of forty-seven years. 
He was a native of Caraccas, where he 
was born July 24, 17S3. His family 
was among the better class, and therefore 
his education was provided for by sending 
him to Madrid. His whole active life 
was spent in the effort to free his country. 
To him is to be ascribed much of the 
success of the attempt. He was fol- 
lowed by enemies all his life, but he sac- 
rificed himself and his property willingly. 
He had defects which were noticeable, 
but he stands high in the list of Ameri- 
can worthies. 

1830. The fifth census of the United 
States gave a population of 12,866,020. 
It was taken at a cost of $378,543.13. 
The fruit crop of the country was for the 
first time taken notice of in this census. 
The increase in population from 1820 
had been 32.51 per cent. 

1830. Geological Surveys. Mas- 



revolution in 
France. Charles 
X. abdicated. 
1830- 1848. Louis 
Philippe 1. King 
of France. 



1830- 1837. 
William IV. 
King of Eng- 
land. 

1830. Liverpool 
ajid Manchester 
Railroad opened. 



1825-1844.] 

sachusetts was the first state in the union 

1830. Three days' to appoint a completc sur- 
vey of its territory. Dr. 
Edward Hitchcock was put 
in charge of the work, and 
made his first report in 

1 83 1. Since then numerous similar sur- 
veys have been instituted to make known 
the mineral, forest, and zoological re- 
sources of different states. Measures 
w^ere introduced into congress within a 
few years, looking forward to the United 
States surveys for a geological and 
mineralogical map of the United States. 

1830. Hand Labor against Machin- 
ery. The fancied opposition between 
inventions and hand labor 
was illustrated by the at- 
tempt of the hand weavers 
of Manayunk, Penn., to 
destroy a power loom for 
weaving checks, invented this year by 
Mr. Alfred Jenks. The meditated as- 
sault was prevented by an armed force. 

1830. The first omnibus in America 
was built and used in New York. Car- 
riage manufacture had not previously 
extended to this branch. 

1830. The first cylinder printing 
press in America w^as made by Richard 
M. Hoe. 

1830. " Baffin's Fair." A great dis- 
aster occurred to a whaling fleet in Mel- 
ville Bay. A number of ships were 
broken to pieces, and cast away. Some 
were ground to atoms. The crews only 
had time to leap out of some of them 
while they were being crushed. The 
wind drove the ice very powerfully 
against them. Afterward a thousand 
men were left on the ice in tents. In 
spite of all the difficulties, it was a jolly 
scene. 

1830. Ecuador withdrew from the re- 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



445 



public of Colombia, and became a state 
by itself. It has a population of about 
3,000,000 inhabitants, and an area of 
250,000 square miles. 

1831. January. The provinces of 
Buenos Ayres, Corrientes, Entre Rios, 
and Santa Fe, formed a confederation or 
voluntary alliance for government. But 
it did not last long, as the elements of 
weakness were too many. 

1831. January. The Mormons, un- 
der Joseph Smith, settled in Kirtlandj 
Ohio, where they lived about seven years. 
At the same time some of them began 
to settle in Missouri, but difficulties and 
bloodshed occurred in both states before 
very long, between the Mormons and the 
citizens. 

1831. January. The " Liberator,'* 
devoted to the interests of the slave, was 
established in Boston by William Lloyd 
Garrison. 

1831. Feb. 14. Gen. Guerrero, one 
of the patriot leaders of Mexico, was ex- 
ecuted by his opponents. 

1831. April 7. Dom Pedro I., em- 
peror of Brazil, abdicated in favor of his 
son, five years old, who became Dom 
Pedro II. A regency was instituted till 
1 84 1. 

1831. April 11. Waterproof. The 
first patent for fluid caoutchouc to render 
articles waterproof, was given to Geo. H. 
Richards, Washington, D. C. 

1831. April 31. " Scourge of the 
Ocean." Charles Gibbs, the pirate, to- 
gether with Wansley, one of his associ- 
ates, was executed by the United States 
government. For about 18 years he had 
been a terror to the world, and had com- 
mitted many of the most cruel seizures 
and murders ever known in ocean annals. 
He was truly represented as the " Scourge 
of the Ocean." 



446 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



1831. June 13. Fairbanks' Scales. 
E. and T. Fairbanks of St, Johnsbury, 
Vermont, patented their scales for weigh- 
ing heavy bodies. This was the origin 
of their vast works at the present day. 
These scales have sold in all parts of the 
world. Thaddeus Fairbanks was the 
inventor by whom the manner of weigh- 
ing was revolutionized. 

MMES MOXROE. 

1831. July 4. James Monroe, the 
fifth president of the United States, died 
in New York, whither he had gone to 
live with a daughter since the death of 
his wife, the previous year. He was born 
in Westmoreland county, Va., April 28, 
1758, and was therefore seventy-three 
years of age. His ancestors, who emi- 
grated to America in the preceding cen- 
tury, were people of influence in Eng- 
land, and from them he inherited the 
integrity and honesty of purpose 
which caused Thomas Jefferson to say 
years later, "James Monroe is so 
honest that if his soul were turned inside 
out, not a spot would be found upon it." 
His early education was cut short by the 
Revolution, for when but eighteen years 
old he left William and Mary College, 
and enlisted among the patriots. He was 
noticeable in the battles along the Hud- 
son, and for his bravery at Trenton was 
raised to the rank of captain. In the 
campaigns of 1777 and 1778 he was 
prominent, serving as aid to Lord Stirling. 
But the acceptance of this position caused 
the forfeiture of his rank in the regular 
army, and at the close of 1778, failing in 
his attempts to regain his commission, he 
returned to his native state and entered 
the law office of Thomas Jefferson. At 
twenty-three years of age he was elected 
to the Virginia assemblv, and the next 



year was sent to the continental congress, 
where he i-emained till 17S6. He soon 
desired a change in the Articles of Con- 
federation, and was a delegate to the 
national convention in 17S7. Here his 
influence was thrown against the Federal 
jDarty, and being unwilling to adopt the 
new constitution without amendment, his 
vote was "nay." In 1790 Mr. Monroe 
was elected to the U. S. senate, of which 
he was a member for four years. From 
this time till his election to the presidency, 
he filled many important places. As 
envoy extraordinary to France he partici- 
pated in the negotiations for the purchase 
of Louisiana. He was afterward sent to 
England to attempt the adjustment of 
the increasing unfriendliness of that na- 
tion. We find him again in Madrid 
under orders from his government to 
settle \vith Spain the boundaries of the 
recently acquired territory of Louisiana. 
After his return he filled various positions 
in his own country, and in 181 1 was ap- 
pointed secretary of state by President 
Madison. Two years later the war de- 
partment was also given him, and by his 
patriotism and energy he helped largely to 
overcome the financial difficulties of the 
time. He even pledged his own credit 
for the supplies needed at New Orleans 
in 1 8 14. In 1817 Mr. Monroe was 
elected president, and four years later was 
re-elected for a second term. His admin- 
istration is known as the " era of good 
feeling." The old federal party was 
dead, and the new parties which grew 
out of the national issues had not yet taken 
shape. Among the important measures 
of his presidency were the cession of 
Florida to the United States; the Mis- 
souri Compromise, and the " Monroe 
doctrine." He made a tour of the states, 
and bestowed personal attention upon the 



1825-1844.] 

defences of the country. Enthusiasm 
everywhere attended his journey. At 
the end of his second term he retired to 
his home in Virginia, where he lived till 
1830. His wife, whom he married early 
in his career, was a Miss Kortwright of 
New York, a lady of great attractions. 
Mr. Monroe was a tall man, but well 
proportioned. His complexion was light, 
and his eyes blue. He was thoroughly 
genuine in all his characteristics, and able 
in all his judgments. His service to the 
country has been equaled by few 
presidents. 

1831. Aug. 11. A fearful hurricane 

in Barbadoes destroyed several thousand 
lives, and £1,602,800 property. The 
island was completely desolated. 

1831. Aug. 21. A slave insurrection 
numbering about sixty persons, broke 
out in Southampton, Va., under Nat. 
Turner, who had served as a Baptist 
preacher. It was soon quelled by United 
States troops, although not before con- 
siderable blood had been shed. The 
blacks finally were subdued, or fled. 
They started on their work of destruction 
in the night. Nat. Turner had arranged 
with only five other slaves to meet him 
and begin their depredations. But find- 
ing at the place of waiting a sixth, he 
asked with surprise what he was there 
for. The man said, " My life is worth 
no more than that of others, and my 
liberty is dear to me." By morning a 
regular massacre was in progress. This 
affair frightened the South, and agitated 
the whole slave question. 

1831. Sept. 8. Color Prejudice. A 
mass meeting -was held in New Haven, 
Conn., to resist the establishment of a 
school for the education of colored peo- 
ple, which a convention of colored people 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



447 



at Philadelphia a short time before had 
decided to establish, and for which they 
had appealed for funds. Great excite- 
ment prevailed. Rev. S. S. Jocelyn was 
the only one who protested against a re- 
fusal to allow the school to be established. 
The meeting was summoned by the 
mayor of the city. 

1831. The National Anti-Masonic 
Convention was held at Baltimore, as had 
been decided at the convention the pre- 
vious year. William Wirt of Maryland, 
was nominated for president, and Amos 
Ellmaker of Pennsylvania, for vice-pres- 
ident. This party had arisen since the 
abduction of Morgan in 1826. Its prin- 
cipal tenet was to oppose every man who 
was a Mason. It was strong for a time 
in a few sections, but never spread over 
the country. 

1831. Nov. 21. The Republic of 
New Grenada, S. A., was formally or- 
ganized after the withdrawal of Vene- 
zuela and Ecuador. In later years it has 
adopted the title. United States of Colom- 
bia. It has an area of about 500,000 
square miles, and a population of 2,880,- 
633 inhabitants. 

1831. Dec. 12. The national re- 
publicans held a nominating convention 
at Baltimore, at which ,„,, ^. , 

' 1831. First nezvs- 

Henry Clay of Kentucky, paper in Con-' 

1 . 1 stantinople. 

was unannnously presented 
to the country as candidate for president. 
John Sergeant of Pennsylvania, was 
nominated for vice-president. 

1831. Dec. 26. Rewards for Seiz- 
ures of Abolitionists. Five thousand 
dollars were oflfered by Gov. Lumpkin of 
Georgia, to any one who could arrest 
and bring to trial under the laws of 
Georgia, William L. Garrison, editor of 
the Boston Liberator. This was one of 
the earliest attempts to secure the abduc- 



448 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



tion of prominent northern abolitionlstSo 
The example was followed at a later 
day when Arthur Tappan was put up at 
a reward of $30,ooo; and Rev, Amos A. 
Phelps of $10,000. The offering of 
these sums became at one time quite a 
common matter. 

1831. Dec. 27. Charles Darwin sailed 
from England in the ship Beagle, to ac- 
company Capt. Fitzroy inhistinp around 
the world, as naturalist. The voyage 
extended over five years. Among the 
explorations of the expedition was that 
of the South American coast, which was 
very extensively exainined. The records 
of this trip have been a great source of 
scientific knowledge. 

1831. December. Mt. Chimborazo 
was ascended by J. B. Boussingault to an 
elevation of 19,695 feet, a higher point 
than Humboldt had reached. 

1831. " Kitchen Cabinet." There 
had arisen a division of feeling in the 
cabinet of President Jackson, who, 
through his distrust of Calhoun, had 
come to confer with Van Buren, Secretary 
of State, and several private fiiends. 
The cabinet soon after broke up by the 
resignation of Van Buren and others. 
It has been said that the families of mem- 
bers were in trouble with one another, 
and thus precipitated the dissolution. 

1831. Duel. Mr. Thomas Biddle and 
Mr. Spencer Pettis fought a duel in 
Missouri, in which both were killed. 
They fought with pistols at a distance of 
five feet, which was chosen by Mr. Bid- 
die on account of near-sightedness. Their 
pistols, w^hen in position, overlapped one 
another. The quarrel was political. 
Pettis lived one day, and Biddle three 
days. 

1831. Friction matches were first 
introduced into America. 



1831. The only successful type- 
casting machine ever invented was 
patented by David Bruce, Jr. It has 
since been improved in speed, and has 
gone into very general use. It was the 
result of much thought on the part of 
Mr. Bruce. 

1831. The slave trade was prohibited 
by a law passed in Brazil. 

1831. The Dutch colonies in Guiana, 
S. A., which had been retained by the 
English at the peace of 18 14, were erected 
into one province as British Guiana. Its 
area is 99,925 square miles, 'and its popu- 
lation is 193,491 j^ersons. 

1831. A treaty with France was ef- 
fected by the United States minister, 
Wm. C. Rives, by which 25,000,000 
francs were to be paid the American gov- 
ernment in installments for spoliation on 
American commerce while Napoleon I. 
was reigning. There were some diffi- 
culties over this treaty afterward, but they 
were adjusted amicably, though at one 
time President Jackson seemed inclined to 
push the country into war. 

1831. The Neapolitan government 
agreed to jDay the United States $1,720,- 
000 for sequestration of American prop- 
erty during the reign of Joachim Murat. 
The result which that government had 
the year before refused to consider, was 
brought about by the presence of United 
States war vessels. 

1831. Morazan was elected president 
of Central America, and during his two 
terms of four years each, great quiet pre- 
vailed ; but after a while at the end of his 
second term, factions appeared. 

1832. Jan. 30. The New England 
Anti-slavery Society was organized in 
Boston, but did not have great resources. 
William L. Garrison, Arnold Buffum, 
the Quaker, and others, joined in it. It 



1825-1844.] 

was the first society in America organized 
on the basis of immediate emancipation. 

1832. Feb. 6. Quallah Batoo, a 
town in Sumatra, was destroyed by Com- 
modore Jolm Downes in the United 
States frigate Potomac. He landed 
nearly 300 men and reduced the Malayan 
forts with considerable slaughter. The 
reason for this severity was that the 
natives had seized the ship Friendship, of 
Salem, Mass., massacred her crew and 
appropriated her property to themselves, 
and denied all knowledge of the transac- 
tion. The Friendship was accustomed 
to trade on the coast. 

1832. May. A democratic conven- 
tion met at Baltimore to nominate a 
candidate for vice-president. There was 
a unanimous desire among the democrats 
to have Gen. Jackson serve a second term 
as president, hence no vote was taken in 
convention upon that office. There was 
dissatisfaction with Mr. Calhoun, how- 
ever, and Mr. Van Buren was nominated 
in his place. 

1832, June 27. The Asiatic cholera 
made its first appearance in New York 
city, where there were nearly 3,500 deaths 
in two months. It attacked Albany, Phila- 
1771-1832. Sir dclphia, Baltimore, Wash- 
Waiier Scott. ington, Cincinnati, the cities 

1832. Iiisurrec- 

tion in Poland ^\o\\^ the great lakes, and 
crushed. Five the great southern cities, 

thousand . i i • i ^ i 

families exiled to whcrc it workcd With awtul 
Siberia. powcr. Busiiicss was pros- 

trated, and universal gloom covered the 
land. Days of fasting were appointed 
through the country. It was a terrible 
scourge. The expedition under Gen. 
Scott against Black Hawk was broken 
up. The soldiers died in great numbers. 
The disease was brought to Quebec in 
the first of the month by some emigrants, 
and spread with great rapidity. 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



449 



1832. June. A new protective tariff 

upon imported cloths was voted by con- 
gress and greatly enraged the cotton- 
growers of the South, who said it was 
hostile to their interests. The excitement 
took the most violent form in vSouth 
Carolina. 

1832. Sept. 9. Mrs. Mareia Van 
Ness, wife of D, P. Van Ness mayor of 
Washington, and daughter of David 
Burns, the proprietor of most of the land 
uj^on which Washington stands, at the 
time the government selected it as the 
site of the National Capital, died in that 
city at the age of fifty years. Born and 
brought up in the little " Burns " cottage 
till she was nearly fifteen years of age, 
she was then sent to Baltimore, where, 
in the family of the distinguished Luther 
Martin, she was educated in the best 
methods of the time. Returning to the 
home of her father, who was now the 
millionaire of Washington, she met under 
his roof all the most noted men of the 
day, and was sought in marriage by many 
senators. She married Mr. Van Ness, 
and well did she show her worth in the 
position of wife and mother. She lost a 
young married daughter in November, 
1822. Her heart, which had always been 
full of love for the poor, now overflowed 
still more with works of benevolence. 
She founded the City Orphan Asylum 
of Washington, and sought out many of 
the children who were placed within it. 
No other American woman had been at 
that time buried with public honors. The 
costly mausoleum which the vs^ealth of 
her husband had reared, received her re- 
mains. She was one of the noblest 
women of her time. 

1832. November. Nullification. A 
state convention ^vas held in South 
Carolina which pronounced the tariffs of 



450 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



1S33. Suffz-age 
extended in Eng- 
land tinder Re- 
form Bill. 
1S32. Kingdom 
of Greece found- 
ed under Otko I. 



1828 and 1S33 null and void, and declared 
that no duties could be collected in the 
2")ort of Charleston. The state legislature 
soon afterward took the same steps, and 
proclaimed that the law would be re- 
sisted forcibly, if necessary. The Ordi- 
nance of Nullification was to take effect 
Feb. I, 1833. • 

1832. Nov. 14. Charles Carroll of 
CarroUton, Md., the last surviving signer 
of the Declaration of Independence, died 
at the age of ninety-five years. He was 
born at Annapolis, Md., Sept. 20, 1737, 
was educated abroad from 1 745 until 
1764, when he returned to America. He 
became very rich by inher- 
itance, and was thought at 
the breaking out of the 
Revolution to be worth 
$2,000,000. He became 
prominent in provincial af- 
fairs in Maryland, and was afterward 
elected to the colonial congress. He 
remained in public affairs till 1810, after 
which time he devoted himself to his 
estate. In signing the Declaration of 
Independence he affixed " of CarroUton " 
to his name, to i-emedy the jocose suggest- 
ion of some member near him that 
" there were many Charles Carrolls, and 
that the British would not know which 
one it was." His last years were passed 
in quiet pursuits. 

1832. Dec. 16. Nulliflcation Crushed. 
A proclamation, declaring that military' 
power would be used by the United 
States in enforcing the laws, and that no 
state could make any law null, was issued 
by President Jackson. He also W'rote to 
the collector of the port at Charleston to 
use the revenue cutters and other means 
in enforcing the tariff. These energetic 
measures crushed what is known in his- 
tory as the " Nullification Scheme," in 



advocating which, John C. Calhoun took 
the prominent part. 

TWELFTH PRESIDRXTML C±MP^IGX. 

1832. In the twelfth presidential cam- 
paign the democrats supported Andrew 
Jackson of Tennessee, and Martin Van 
Buren of New Vork. A small demo- 
cratic element, chiefly in South Carolina, 
supported John Floyd of Virginia, and 
Henry Lee of Massachusetts. The na- 
tional republicans supported Henry Clay 
of Kentucky, and John Sergeant of 
Pennsylvania. The Anti-AIasons sup- 
ported William Wirt of Maryland, and 
x\mos Ellmaker of Pennsylvania. The 
result of the election was as follows: Out 
of 2S8 electoral votes, Jackson had 219, 
and Van Buren 189, Their popular 
vote was 687,502. Clay and Sergeant 
had 49 electoral votes each, and a popu- 
lar vote of 530,189. The anti-masonic 
vote was 1 1 electoral votes for Floyd and 
Lee, and 7 for Wirt and Ellmaker, with 
a combined popular , vote of 33,108. 
Vermont was the only state choosing 
regular anti-masonic electors. William 
Wilkins received 30 electoral votes for 
vice-president. 

1832. The discovery of chloroform 

as an anaesthetic agent was first announced 
by Dr. Samuel Guthrie of Sackett's 
Harbor, N. Y. 

1832. The idea of the electric re- 
cording telegraph was originated accord- 
ing to the claim of Prof. S. F. B. Morse, 
upon a voyage home from Europe in the 
steamer Sully, during conversations with 
some of the passengers upon electro- 
magnetic experiments. 

1832. The Locomotive Advertise- 
ment. A queer notice appeared in a 
Philadelphia paper about the steam loco- 



1825-1844.] 

motive " Ironsides," built by Mr. Bald- 
win, which was running on the German- 
town road. The advertisement said: 
"The locomotive-engine will leave the 
station daily with passenger cars attached, 
v\^hen it is pleasant. When the day is 
rainy, horses will be attached." It shows 
the uncertainty attaching to their use. 

1832. A Jloocl did great damage at 
Pittsburg, Penn. 

1832. Brigham Young was converted, 
and joined the IMormons. 

1832. The great silver mines of 
Charnacillo, a northern province of Chili, 
S. A., were discovered by a shepherd 
named Juan Godoy. 

1832. New Grenada, S. A., adopted 
and proclaimed a constitution, which 
served it a long time. The country was 
chiefly quiet till i860. 

1832. A great slave insurrection oc- 
curred in Jamaica, with a destruction of 
jCi, 1 54,583 worth of property. 

X832. The cholera destroyed one- 
fourth of the population in Mexican cities, 
and $100,000,000 worth of slaves in 
Cuba, within ninety days. The coffee 
planters were the most free from the 
scourge. 

1832. The revolution in Texas 
against the Mexican government began 
to be organized. 

1833. March 4. Andrew Jackson 
of Tennessee, \vas inaugurated President 
of the United vStates for a second term, 
with Martin Van Buren of New Yoik, 
vice-president. 

1833. March. Compromise Tariff. 
Henry Clay's bill for the gradual reduc- 
tion of the tariff duties till 1843, after 
which, duties were to be 30 per cent., 
became a law, and served as a compro- 
mise measure. The anti-tariff excite- 
ment has never since been orreat. 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



451 



1833. April 1. Santa Anna was 
elected president of Mexico. He had 
deposed Pedraza, who had been recalled 
by Bustamente and elevated to the jDresi- 
dency. Pedraza had occupied that office 
three months. 

1833. May 25. A revised constitu- 
tion was adopted in Chili, by a conven- 
tion, and is still in force. The area of 
Chili is 1 33,000 square miles, and the i^op- 
ulation 1,973,438 persons. 

1833. May. A national temperance 
convention of the United States was 
held at Philadelphia. Four hundred 
delegates were present, from twentj^-one 
states. After long discussion a resolution 
was passed declaring the trade in ardent 
spirits to be morally wrong, and that it 
ought to be universally abandoned. 

1833. The American congressional 
temperance society was formed at 
Washington with Lewis Cass, then sec- 
retary of war, as president. Ardent 
spirits were about this time prohibited in 
the army. 

1833. July 2. The first public trial 
was given to a reaping machine, patented 
by Mr. Obed Hussey of Cincinnati. It 
grew immediately into favor, superseding 
the other comparatively unsuccessful ma- 
chines, and seems to have been the first 
successful American reaper. 

1833. Aug. 28. The emancipation of 
slaves in the British West Indies and 
British Guiana, was decreed by parlia- 
ment. The act was to take effect on 
Aug. I, 1834. 

1833. Sept. 3. " The Sun," the pio- 
neer penny newspaper of America, was 
issued in New York by Benjamin H. 
Day, and the first newsboys ever seen in 
America were employed in selling it. 
The paper was ten inches square, and 
soon had 60,000 circulation. 



452 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



1833. Oct. 2. The New York City 
Anti-Slavery Society was organized in 

Chatham St. Chapel, New York, where 
the meeting was suddenly convened be- 
cause of the calling of an opposition 
1833-1810. ifa- southcm meeting at Clinton 
''""'^'"'spL. Hall, at which place the 
Anti-Slavery Society was first to meet. 
The opposers found out where they were 
and rushed into the chapel at the close, 
but were not able to do any personal 
violence. 

1833. October. The funds of the 
government were withdrawn from the 
U. S. Bank by the order of President 
Jackson, in opposition to a large number 
of statesmen. Thomas H. Benton of 
Missouri, and John Forsyth of Georgia, 
were Mr. Jackson's chief supporters in 
the senate, Webster, Clay and Calhoun 
were opposed to the administration. The 
life of the president was twice attempted. 
This affair led to the existence of the 
Whig party, by which the opposition 
came to be designated, and which played 
an important part in the politics of the 
United States till 1S54. One reason al- 
leged was that the funds ought not to be 
in a bank whose charter would so soon 
expire. The deposits of the United 
States began to be made in certain State 
Banks which became known as " Pet 
Banks." The Bank of the United States 
afterward expired by limitation in 1S36. 
It was subsequently chartered by Penn- 
sylvania as a state bank. 

1833. Nov. 13. A grand shower of 
meteors, or " shooting stars," occurred in 
America for several hours before day. It 
1759-1833 caused great fear, especially 

Wiiberforce. among the negroes in the 
southern states, who thought the world 
was burning up, and cried out in extreme 
terror. It was the greatest display of 



meteors on record, no other such having 
ever been known. 

1833. Dec. 4. A National Anti-Sla- 
very Convention was held at Philadel- 
phia. There were sixty or more dele- 
gates from ten states. John G. Whittier 
and Lewis Tappan were secretaries, and 
Beziah Green was president. It was at 
this convention that immediate and un- 
conditional emancipation seems to have 
first been publicly and freely declared 
safe. The American Anti-vSlavery Soci- 
ety was formed, with Arthur Tappan as 
president. Auxiliary state societies were 
organized, tracts circulated, and lecturers 
employed over the country. Great agi- 
tation now began, and anti-slavery writ- 
ings were pronounced treasonable by 
the pro-slavery element. 

1833. The Connecticut Black Act. 
A school for colored children havnig been 
opened at Canterbury, Conn., a law was 
passed by the state legislatui'e against 
such schools, and Miss Prudence Cran- 
dall, who had opened it, was thrown into 
prison. In the following year the school 
was entirely broken up by the opposition 
of the citizens. 

1833. The "Bloody Bill." A bill 
for enforcing the tariff was passed, and 
signed the first of this year. Southern 
members, except John Tyler of Virginia, 
refused to vote against it. It drew out 
much angry discussion. 

1833. The principle of " total absti- 
nence from all that may intoxicate " was 
voted down at the annual meeting of the' 
American Temperance Union. The 
original tenets of the society allowed 
the moderate use of wines, cider, and 
malt liquors. 

1833. The Yellow Fever raged in 
New York with still greater mortality 
than in 1822. 



1825-1844.] 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



453 



1833. A constitutional convention 

was held in Texas, 

1833. An explosion of the steamboat 
" Lioness " on the Mississippi, occurred 
near the mouth of the Red River. Sena- 
tor Johnson of Louisiana, and fourteen 
others were killed. It was due to the 
careless disposition of gunpowder on 
board the boat. 

1833. The first steam plow in the 
United States was patented by E. C. 
Bellinger of South Carolina. 

1833. The hot-air blast which had 
been put into operation in England a few 
years before in iron furnaces with a great 
saving of fuel, was for the first time in 
the world applied to the burning of an- 
thracite coal in iron furnaces by Dr. 
Geissenheimer of New York. His oper- 
ation was patented. 

1833. The first water-proof clothing 
company was chartered at Roxbury, 
Mass., and a good deal of excitement was 
created, the shares going up to two and 
three hundred dollars. Competition fol- 
lowed, and six companies were in a short 
time formed in Massachusetts. 

1833. A land expedition led by 
Capt. Back, started from Montreal in 
search of Ross. When the news of his 
arrival in England reached them they 
still kept on, with the Intention of explor- 
ing the Great Fish River. They were 
successful after many hardships, in reach- 
ing its estuary on the shores of the Polar 
Sea. The return voyage was more tedi- 
ous, if possible, than the descent of the 
river, and with all other discomforts, they 
found that the wolves had destroyed 
their provisions, deposited on the way 
down. Finally, however, they arrived 
at Fort Reliance. Fish River was after- 
ward changed to Back's River. 

1834. March 28. The senate of the 



United States passed a resolution censur- 
ing the act of President Jackson in re- 
moving the government funds from the 
United States Bank, as unconstitutional 
and illegal. 

1834. April. Election Mob. At an 
election in New York city a great mob 
formed, seized all the weapons they could 
get from gunshops, and tried to take the 
Arsenal. The streets were scenes of 
bloodshed, and the place was nearly at 
the mercy of the rioters. 

1834. June 21. McCormick's Reaper. 
Mr. Cyrus H. McCormick of Rockbridge 
County, Va., took out the first patent on 
his reaper, though he had been experi- 
menting on it since 183 1. This reaper 
at once showed great superiority, and 
would cut very rapidly. It took the 
great medal at the World's Fair in 1S51. 
The patentee received from the machine 
between one and two million dollars. It 
is one of the great triumphs of American 
skill. 

1834. July 4. The great Anti- 
Abolition Mob in New York. The ex- 
citement which had been steadily grow- 
ing in hatred of the abolitionists, at last 
broke out in New York, ^^^-^^ im^i^i- 

. , tion abolished in 

and ruled the city tor a tew spain. 
days, in spite of law and order. The 
houses of well-known abolitionists wei"e 
broken into and injured. Churches were 
also broken into. The violence at times 
was severe, and the rioters seemed to 
have put all opposition under foot. They 
were apparently countenanced by men ot 
wealth and family. Mobs followed in 
other cities, and in some cases lives were 
taken. Especially were colored people 
put in danger. These were among the 
first anti-slavery mobs. 

1834. Aug. 1. Emancipation in 
British West Indies. This liberated 



454 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



something over Soo,ooo slaves where there 
were about 1 3 1 ,000 \vhites. The negroes, 
especially in Jamaica, who were now for 
the first time obliged to jxiy rent for their 
cabins and little pieces of land, were 
alienated from the planters, and revolts 
began to make their appearance. The 
trouble, which lasted with more or less 
constancy till the great revolt of 1865, 
originated in the act of this year. Over 
a thousand sugar and coffee estates in 
Jamaica were abandoned during the next 
few years. In other islands the results 
^vere verv excellent. 

1834. August. Stone-masons' Mob. 
The convicts who had been employed as 
stone-masons in New York city, were 
attacked by an excited mob of marble- 
cutters and others, who vented them- 
selves in deeds of violence upon the 
houses of men interested in the labor. 
For four days the troops were on duty 
constantly. 

1834. Teetotalism. Tcetotalism first 
arose in England from the remark of a 
member of a Lancashire society which 
advocated the old pledge against distilled 
liquors, permitting tjie use of wine, cider, 
and malt liquors. " Tee " is a provincial- 
ism for " going the whole figure." He 
said, " We must have a teetotal absti- 
nence from every kind of drink that will 
produce drunkenness, if we wish to get 
rid of drunkenness itself." This saying 
gave the temperance cause a new watch- 
word. The idea was adopted this year 
by many American societies which 
changed the words, "ardent spirits" in 
their former pledges, to " intoxicating 
1772-1834. liquors." Much opposition 

CoU-ridjr^'. ,^^ fjj.^^ arrayed itself against 

this principle. But it was adopted in 1835 
by the American Tempei'ance Society, 
and in 1S36 the American Temperance 



Union was organized on this basis. 
Since then " total abstinence " has become 
the great temperance basis of all such 
efforts. 

1834. The lottery enterprises of the 
United States had become so numerous 
that an effort was made in many states to 
break them up. Popular sympathy in 
New York and Pennsylvania was aroused 
in favor of the business, and there was 
considerable agitation. Wholesome laws 
were passed against it, however, in several 
cjuarters. 

1834. A canal riot broke out in New 
Orleans, La., on account of some differ- 
ence between different parties of Lish 
laborers. Troops were called out and 
quelled the mob, but only with consider- 
able bloodshed. 

1834. The Ursuline Convent, near 
Boston, was destroyed by a mob gathered 
from Boston and neighboring places. 
The buildings were burned to the 
ground. A nun, named Sister Mary 
St. Henry, did not get the alarm until 
the work had begun, and she fled hastily 
with insufficient clothing, through low 
lands near by. She at last, after severe 
exposure, found a cottage, and was then 
removed with the other nuns to Rox- 
bury to Gen. Dearborn's mansion, where 
she died in a few weeks as a result. She 
was very beautiful and finely educated, 
and her death excited the sympathy of 
all. More than 5,000 persons formed the 
line of her funeral procession. The 
Lady Abbess was thrown into hysterics 
during the destruction and confusion of 
the scene. 

1834. The first gun ever rifled in 
America was turned out at the South 
Boston Iron Works of Mr. Cyrus Alger, 
who had been a leading inventor in the 
ordnance line. 



1825-1844] THE GROWTH OF PARTIES 

FIRST SEWING M^CHLYK 



455 



1834. A sewing machine with an 
eye-pointed needle at the end of a vibra- 
ting arm, and a shuttle for making a 
lock-stitch, was invented by Walter 
Hunt of New York, but he did not 
patent it or push its claims at all, Mr. 
Hunt applied for a patent in 1S54, when 
sewing machines began to be made in 
large numbex"s, but it was too late. His 
claim was covered by the patent of Elias 
Howe. It was afterward found to be 
doubtful if he had ever got it to sew suc- 
cessfully. The parts were found in an 
old garret, but would not work. Still, it 
was a genuine attempt to solve the 
problem. 

1834. " Hovey's Seedling," a famous 
strawberry, was produced by JMr. Hovey 
of Boston. It was the first of the recent 
successful attempts to improve strawberry 
culture, which had not been much devel- 
oped previous to this time. A rapid 
growth has taken place since, until now 
it is a very great part of the fruit culture 
of the United .States. 

1834. A famous pear tree near Vin- 
cennes. 111., bore 1S4 bushels of fruit. In 
1S40 it liore 140. The trunk was 10 feet 
in circumference. 

1834. "Morus Multicaulis " Mania. 
During the ten years from 1S30 to 1S40, 
while the culture of the silkworm was 
increasing, a great excitement grew up 
over the Morus Multicaulis mulberry. 
The first specimen of it was brought to 
the United States from near Marseilles, 
France, where it had been introduced a 
few years before, by a Mr. Perottet. It 
was planted in the Linn^an Botanic 
Gardens at Flushing, L. L, but it was not 
until two or three years later that its 
qualities became well known through the 



writings of Mr. Gideon B. Smith of 
Baltimore, and Dr. Pascalis of New 
York. It was supposed to be a much 
more profitable mulberry than any other, 
for the feeding of silkworms. It was 
claimed to be hardy, very prolific in foli- 
age, and very easy of propagation. The 
young plants at once began to be bought 
at advanced prices, aind by this year a 
great speculation was raging. Large 
mulberry tree plantations were set out in 
various states. Mr. Whitmarsh of North- 
ampton, sold for $12,000 a lot which 
cost him only $1,000. The plants were 
sold in some instances as high as $500 a 
hundred. Everybody was crazy over 
the matter, and S2Deculators took special 
pains to force up the prices. But by 1S39 
the mania began to subside. A man who 
sent $So,ooo to France to buy young plants 
was ruined by the depression in prices 
when he had received them. Silk com- 
joanies began to foil, and the plants were 
sold by the quantity at three cents or less 
apiece. A great deal of capital was 
sunk, and a series of difiiculties in the 
silk culture put back this branch of en- 
terprise very tar. The growth since this 
mania has been more stable, and every- 
where more promising. 

1834. Dr. Charles T. Jackson of 
Boston, claimed to have made and shown 
to some friends a telegraph which worked 
successfully on a small scale. He claimed 
that Morse got the idea of the recording 
telegraph from him on board the Sully, 
in 1S33. He also claimed to have dis- 
covered the use of aneesthetics for the re- 
lief of pain. He had a long controversy 
with S. F. B. Morse over the first, and 
with Dr. W. T. G. Morton over the 
second. The French Academy of Sci- 
ences bestowed prizes of 2,500 francs 
each upon Dr. Jackson and Dr. Morton. 



456 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



1834. Hon. Mr. Bouldin of Virginia, 
dropped dead in the U. S. House of Rep- 
resentatives while speaking in memory 
of Randolph, his predecessor. 

1834. Hon. J. Blair of South Caro- 
lina, committed suicide at Washington, 
in insanity. 

1834-35. An extremely severe win- 
ter prevailed throughout the United 
States. The streams and bays of the 
southern states were frozen over, and 
snow, one foot deep, fell there. The 
severe cold killed orange trees at St. 
Augustine, and fig trees over one hundred 
years old in Georgia. 

1835. Jan. 30. The assassination of 
President Jackson was attempted at the 
U. S. Capitol in Washington, by Rich- 
ard Lawrence, who was afterward found 
to be insane. 

1835. Jan. 30. A frightful volcanic 
eruption occurred in Nicaragua from Mt. 
Coseguina, the ashes of which floated to' 
Jamaica, W. I., seven hundred miles 
.away to the northeast, and to a ship 
twelve hundred miles west, in the Pacific. 
Sand and ashes fell in Mexico and Bo- 
gota. The explosions were heard 8oo 
miles. The eruption continued four 
days, and then ceased. No eruption of 
this volcano has since occurred. 

1835. Feb. 20. An earthquake de- 
stroyed the city of Concepcion, Chili, for 
the fourth time in its history. A volcano 
broke out at the same time near the island 
of Juan Fernandez, in 400 feet of water. 

1835. May. A democratic national 
convention was held at Baltimore, and 
unanimously nominated Martin Van Bu- 
ren for president. Richard M. Johnson 
of Kentucky was put in the field as can- 
didate for vice-president. The two-thirds 
rule was for the first time adopted in this 
convention, requiring that two-thirds of 



the whole number of votes shoidd be 
necessary for a nomination. 

1835. O'Connell Guard Mob. A 
mob attacked some Irishmen in New 
York city, who had organized a militia 
company, fought with them repeatedly 
through Sunday and Monday, killed a 
prominent physician, injured others, de- 
stroyed some property, and closed their 
labors on Tuesday, because the " Guards" 
broke up their organization. 

1835. July 6. John Marshall, chief- 
justice of the United States supreme 
court since iSoi, died in Philadelphia, at 
the age of eighty years. His father was 
a Revolutionary soldier, and voung John 
himself served with honor in the same 
strife. He entered upon the practice of 
law at the close of the war, and at once 
began to rise in influence. In the forma- 
tion of the Federal Government his in- 
fluence was a leading one. He served in 
places of trust before his appointment as 
chief-justice, and was thereafter the lead- 
ing judicial mind in the country. He 
wrote a " Life of Washington," and did 
other literary work. His personal ap- 
pearance was plain, but his disposition 
very winning. The last davs of his life 
were days of suflering, but Christian 
character shone conspicuous through it 
all. 

1835. July 29. Censorship of the 
Press. A mob at Charleston, S. C, 
broke into the postoffice and seized some 
pamphlets which the New York Anti- 
vSlavery Society had sent to prominent 
Southern gentlemen, and burned them 
publicly. An attempt was ^^^.j, pian-iw in 
made through congress, to ^jryP^- 
establish a censorship of the press, to rule 
out of the mails what the South consid- 
ered insurrectionary, but in the end it 
failed. Nothing touching the subject of 



1825-1844.] 

slavery could have been delivered from 
any Southern postoffice under this bill. 

1835. Aug. 10. An academy at 
Canaan, N. H., was torn down and 
pulled^away from its foundations because 
negroes were received for education. 

1835. Oct. 2. The first fighting in 
Texas for independence occurred at 
Gonzales, resulting in the defeat of Santa 
Anna, with a Mexican force. 

1835. Oct. 21. The Boston Female 
Anti-Slavery Society was broken up b\' 
a mob of 5,000 persons. Mr. Garrison 
was seized, a rope tied around him, and 
he was pulled through the streets by it. 
He was severely abused, but was taken 
by the mayor and lodged in jail, to save 
him. He was the next day released 
upon examination, but left Boston for a 
time, at the request of the city officers. 
A mob took place at Utica, N. Y., the 
same day. The meeting of the New 
York Anti-Slavery Society was broken 
up. It adjourned to the residence of 
Gerritt Smith at Petersboro, and was 
assailed on the wav thither. 

1835. Nov. 12. Texas organized a 
provisional government, and chose Henr}^ 
Smith provisional governor. 

1835. Dec. 16. A great fire broke 
out in New York, and raged fourteen 
hours. It burned over forty-five acres, 
and destroyed $20,000,000 worth of 
propert}-. The cold was intense, the 
thermometer being at zero, which made 
it difficult to work the engines. Gun- 
powder was used in blowing up the build- 
ings, to arrest the flames. A single fire- 
proof building was left at No. 83 Water 
Street. This fire destroyed twenty-three 
fire insurance companies in New York. 
It was a great blow to insurance, and 
tended to shake faith in the joint stock 
system. Mutual companies began to 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



457 



arise. Much attention was drawn by 
this fire to the means of combating con- 
flagrations. There had been no organ- 
ized fire force up to tliis time. The 
companies were composed of volunteers. 

1835. Dec. 28. The Seminole Indians 
massacred Major Dade and more than 
100 men who had been sent into the in- 
terior of Florida to the relief of Gen. 
Clinch. Gen. Thompson and five friends 
were murdered the same day by Osceola, 
at Fort King, while they were at dinner. 
This was the breaking out of the Semi- 
nole war under the lead of Osceola, 
which lasted seven years, because of the 
proposed removal of this tribe from 
Florida. 

1835. Harriot K. Hunt, M. D., 
opened a medical office in Boston, un- 
doubtedly the first opened by a female 
physician in the United States. She had 
studied with Dr. Mott, and afterward re- 
ceived the degree of M. D. from the 
Woman's Medical College of Philadel- 
phia. She died Jan. 3, 1S75. 

1835. The public debt of the United 
States was practicalh' extinguished. It 
stood on the books at about $35,000, 
which was covered by cash in the treas- 
ury. Some surplus funds were distrib- 
uted among the states. 

1835. A Maryland slaveholder ar- 
rested a young woman named Marv 
Gilmore, in Philadelphia, as his fugitive 
slave. It was conclusively proved on 
trial that she was a child of poor Irish 
parents, and did not have a drop of negro 
blood in her veins. 

1835. The manufacture of gold 
pens was attempted for the first time in 
America by Levi Brown of Detroit, 
Mich., who made them by hand under a 
right purchased by Rev. Mr. Cleveland, 
an American clergyman, of Mr. John 



458 



P OL I TI C. J L DE VEL OP MEN T. 



Isaac Hawkins, an American living in 
England, who had accidentally used an 
illoy of iridium and osmium, for jjointing 
such pens. 

1835. Morse's Telegraph. Prof. vS. 
F. B. Morse first exhibited a telegraph 
in a room in New York, upon the sides 
of which he hung a half mile of wire. 

1835. The making of horse-shoes 
was for the first time carried on by 
machinery, through an invention of 
Henry Burden of Troy, N. Y. The 
machine would bend and crease the 
metal, make the holes, and countersink 
them, leaving the shoe complete. 

1835. Plan of Tuluco. Under Santa 
Anna's government, a plan contrary to 
the constitution of 1S34 was proclaimed, 
making all the states of Mexico one cen- 
tralized republic, and abolishing state 
authority. All consented to it except 
what is now Texas, and therefore the 
Texan invasion occurred under Santa 
Anna, who was taken prisoner. 

1835. Rosas was made dictator of 
Buenos Ayres, and held power over 
what is now the Argentine Republic, till 
1S52. His rule has been called tyranni- 
cal, but the country prospered under his 
administration of affairs. 

1836. Feb. 25. Colt's revolving 
firearms received their first patent. The 
idea of these weapons occurred to Mr. 
Colt before he was fifteen years of age, 
and he worked it out " with a chisel on a 
spun-yarn with a common jackknife and 
a little iron rod " in a model which he 
made on a voyage to India at the latter 
age. A company was formed at Patcr- 
son, N. J., under this patent, with 
a capital of $300,000, but became bank- 
rupt. The weapons seem first to have 
become widely used in and after the 
Mexican war. The first contract of Mr. 



Colt's successful business was made by 
him during that war, to furnish the 
United States government 1,000 revolv- 
ers for $24,000. This contract was 
made at the suggestion of Gen. Taylor, 
who had proved the value of the weapon 
in previous warfare. 

1836. March 2. Texas declared itself 
independent. 

1836. March 4. Abolitionism. The 
Massachusetts legislature was the first 
body of the kind in America, to give the 
abolitionists a hearing before a committee. 
It was held under many difficulties, and 
resulted in nothing by report. An agita- 
tion was also going on in congress during 
the early part of this year over the dis- 
tribution of abolition documents at the 
South, through the mail. President 
Jackson called the attention of congress 
at the close of 1S35, ^'-* '^^'^ necessity of 
passing a law to suppress such documents 
in southern mails, because of the trouble 
at Charleston. But congress refused, by 
a committee of which John C. Calhoun 
was a member, to pass such a law, and 
the postofiice department was so injured 
in credit by the Charleston affair, that 
very soon the president signed a bill 
passed by congress to prevent discrimi- 
nation in mail matters. The right of the 
abolitionists to the mails was therefore 
established. But various steps were taken 
by southern legislatures to induce north- 
ern states and congress to suppress the 
abolition agitation. The great plea was 
that such agitation excited the slaves to 
Insurrection. This was afterward shown 
to be false. The great effort was to 
make the agitation a penal offense. But 
Mr. Calhoun admitted in congress at 
this time that the methods of the abo- 
litionists were moral and suasive, not 
revolutionary. 



1835-1844.] 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



459 



1836. March 6. Fort Alamo Mas- 
sacre. Santa Anna, with 4000 men, took 
Fort Alamo, Texas, by storm, and mas- 
sacred the garrison of 173 persons, except 
a servant, a child, and a woman. Such 
a heroic defence was made tliat the loss 
of the Mexican force was over 1600 men. 

D^riD CROCKETT. 

1836. David Crockett, an American 
hunter, and member of congress, was 
killed with five companions after their sur- 
render to the Mexicans at Fort Alamo, 
Texas. He was born Aug. 1 7, 1 7S6, at 
Limestone, Tenn., of Irish parentage, and 
during his youth did little except wander 
about with drovers and backwoodsmen. 
He learned his letters when seventeen 
years old, and soon took up his resi- 
dence after marriage far away from 
settlements. The pleasures of a hunter's 
life drew him into the remote parts of 
the state. He was in the Creek war 
of 1813 with Gen. Jackson, and was 
sent several times to the legislature 
from a community of hunters and 
drovers, with whom he electioneered by 
his popular gifts in story telling, and his 
skill in shooting. In 1827 he was sent 
to congress, and was twice re-elected. 
When the troubles of Texas began he 
entered the field in behalf of Texan in- 
dependence, and exhibited his bravery on 
many occasions. The defence of Fort 
Alamo was heroic, but 'in vain. Santa 
Anna ordered the six survivors to be 
killed, and the brave hunter came to his 
death. The popular saying, " First, be 
sure you're right, and then go ahead," is 
ascribed to him. He was undoubtedly a 
man of great native force of character. 



1836. March 17. A convention of 
Texans elected David G. Burnett first 



president of the Republic of Texas, and 
adopted a constitution establishing slavery. 

1836. March 27. Santa Anna mas- 
sacred Col. Farmin and 357 Texans who, 
after a hard fought battle, had surren- 
dered to him, 

1836. March. Roger Brook Taney 
of Maryland, having been appointed by 
the president as chief-justice ^q^g. Dccreeex- 
of the supreme court of the Pining BriUsk 

U.. 1 o, , •■• and other foreign 

nited States, a position ,„,,.,/,„„,, f,,,,, 

made vacant by the death chma. 

of John Marshall in 1835, ^'^^^^ confirmed 

by the senate, and continued to hold the 

place till his death, in 1S64. 

1836. April 9. A murder of Helen 
Jewett, a noted New York character, 
was committed by Richard P. Robinson, 
through jealousy. Young Robinson was 
tried but was not condemned, through the 
failure of the jury to agree. 

1836. April 21. "Remember the 
Alamo." The battle of San Jacinto was 
fought in Texas by a force of volunteers 
under Gen. Sam Houston, and a Mexican 
force of 1600 regular troops under Santa 
Anna, president of Mexico. The former 
with one wild, desperate charge utterly 
routed the Mexican army, which lost 630 
killed and many more by capture. The 
cry of the Texans upon the charge was, 
" Remember the Alamo." 

1836. April 22. The independence 
of Texas was secured by a treaty made 
with Santa Anna, who was this day taken 
in disguise and protected by Gen. Hous- 
ton from the fury of the Texans, who re- 
membered his massacre. 

SIMON KEXTON. 

1836. April 29. Simon Kenton, the 
pioneer, died in Logan County, Ohio, at 
the age of eighty-one years. He was 
born in Faiiquiel" County, Va., April 3, 



460 



POLITIC A L DE VEL OP ME NT. 



1755. While yet in his teens he left 
home secretly for the great western wil- 
derness, because of a cjuarrel which he had 
had with a companion over a love affair, 
and in which he supposed that he had 
killed his antagonist. He was with 
Boone for a time, and subsec[uently be- 
came associated with the hostilities west 
of the Alleghanies. He learned in 17S3 
that his early quarrel was not fatal, as he 
had supposed. He acquired a great 
knowledge of Indian life and warfare, and 
was constantly in great peril in border 
warfare. His personal courage and en- 
durance were very remarkable. Having 
taken up his home in Kentucky, he was 
subjected to the same losses which befell 
Boone, through imperfect titles to his 
lands. At last he was left without a cent. 
He lived in comparative obscurity, but at 
one time made his entry into Frankfort 
in rags, upon a message to the legislature 
concerning his lands. He was at first 
followed by ridicule as being a vagabond, 
but through the recognition of some one 
his reception was changed to one of 
honor, because of the reputation he had 
in all the region. His petition was 
granted, and congress soon gave him, at 
the solicitation of his friends, an annuity 
of $340 a year. Many stories are told of 
his hair-breadth escapes and remarkable 
feats. The most notable of the former 
was in being lashed to a horse without 
saddle or bridle, by his Indian captors, and 
left to plunge through the forests for 
several days, behind the party. He was 
bruised and bleeding, and some of his 
limbs were broken when they reached 
their destination, but being vigorous, he 
survived. In spite of all he had suffered 
at their hands he never allowed himself 
to treat an Indian unkindly out of battle. 
He had a heart as tender and true as that 



of a child, and was the soul of honor. 
His life in its height of native inoral 
character would shame many an educated 
one. When in poverty, he said, " I am 
blessed with health, I have a quiet con- 
science, I can sleep calmly, and am con- 
tented." 



1836. May 26. Gag Rule. The 

House of Representatives of the United 
States adopted Pinckney's gag rule for all 
petitions relating in whatever way to 
sla^'ery, resolving that such should be 
laid on the table without printing or ref- 
erence, and never be acted upon. Others 
were adopted in 1837, 'S^' '40, and '41, 
and began the long contest which cul- 
minated John Q. Adams' great effort to 
secure the right of petition. At one 
time the rule was made to operate against 
all petitions, and thus effectually put an 
end to the presentation of all future 
memorials. 

1836. June 15. Arkansas was the 
twenty-fifth state to be admitted to the 
union. Its motto is " Regnant populi." 
" The people rule." It is known as the 
" Bear State." It has an area of 52,198 
square miles, and a population in 1S70 of 
484,167 persons. 

J>1MES MtIDISOjY. 

1836. June 28. James Madison, the 
" father of the constitution " and fourth 
president of the United States, died at 
his home in Virginia, aged eighty-five 
vears. Mr, Madison was born March 
16,1757, at King George, Orange Co., 
Va., where his ancestors had settled as 
early as 1653. ^^^^ boyhood was passed 
amid the refinements of his home, for 
until he was eighteen years old his stud- 
ies were pursued under the direction of a 
tutor. In 1 77 1 he was graduated from 



1825-1844.1 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



461 



Princeton College, N. J., in the posses- 
sion of fine scholarly attainments, but 
with his health permanently impaired by 
his zealous application during the course. 
After a year of post-graduate study with 
Dr. Witherspoon, president of the col- 
lege, he returned to Virginia, and began 
a course of reading in law, but his atten- 
tion "was soon turned to theology, and he 
gave to that subject a considerable amount 
of careful study. During the struggle 
which followed shortly after in Virginia, 
against the intolerance of the established 
church, Madison and Jefferson were fore- 
most, and their efforts aided largely the 
founding of religious freedom in that 
state. Our first glimpse of him in public 
life is in 1776, when he was elected to the 
Virginia convention. The next year he 
failed to be reelected because he refused 
to treat the voters. It is not until 17S0 
that we see him in a position of promi- 
nence, he having been chosen a member 
of the continental congress. Upon the 
expiration of his term in 1 7S4, he was 
elected to the Virginia assembly, and it 
was through him that that body invited 
in 17S6 the other states to a convention 
to discuss the revision of the Articles of 
Confederation. This was the forerunner 
of the convention of 17S7 at Philadel- 
phia, when the views of Mr. Madison 
were adopted as the framework of the 
new constitution. He represented Vir- 
ginia in the National Congress from 1 7S9 
to 1797, and found that his republican 
principles arrayed him against many of 
his old friends. He soon became the 
head of this party, and after serving ac- 
ceptably as secretary of state during Jef- 
ferson's administration, he was elected 
president in 1S09. During the war with 
Great Britain, his wisdom and prudence 
were severely tried, but the close of his 



administration was peaceful. Upon the 
close of his second term Madison re- 
tired to his estate, named Montpelier, in 
Virginia. Here he lived for nineteen 
years a quiet, unassiuning life, his last and 
only appearance in public being in 1829, 
wiien he met with the Virginia conven- 
tion to discuss the revision of the state 
constitution. Mr. Madison was the last 
survivor of the founders of the national 
constitution, and he sustained to the end 
the character for purity of purpose which 
he had always borne. His wife, a Mrs. 
Todd, whom he had married in Phila- 
delphia, lived several years after his death. 
Mi\ Madison was a close reasoner in all 
his public speeches, and possessed a fine 
command of language. His manners 
were retiring and unobtrusive, an exact 
index of the inner man. 



1836. July 1. The bequest of James 
Smithson of England, to the United 
States government for the "diffusion of 
knowledge " was accepted by vote of 
congress. The amovuit first paid was 
$575,169. With this money and othei's 
since added, the Smithsonian Institution 
was founded aftei'ward at Washington^ 
D. C. 

1836. July 10. Heavy Grades. M. 
W. Baldwin, one of the first successful 
locomotive builders, run the engine 
George Washington, which he had just 
constructed, up a heavy grade on the 
Pennsylvania R. R., with a rise of one 
foot in fourteen for a distance of 2,800 
feet, drawing 9,000 lbs. more than the 
engine, at the rate of 15 miles an hour. 
Thus for the first time the needlessness of 
stationary engines and ropes was demon- 
strated. It made a great change in rail- 
road building. 

1836. July 12. A midnight assault 



462 



POLITICAL DE \ ^BL OP ME N'T- 



was made upon Bailey's anti-slavery press 
at Cincinnati. 

1836. July. A new Patent Right 
law was passed by the congress of the 
United States, and the office of commis- 
sioner created for the fii'st time. An ex- 
tensive building has been erected, and the 
American system is now the best in the 

world. 

Tl^RO.Y BURR. 

1836. Sept, 14. This man of ability, 
and in his younger years, of great prom- 
ise, at one time vice-president of the 
United States, died on Staten Island, N. 
Y., aged eighty years. His father had 
been at one time president of Princeton 
College, and his grandfather. Rev. Dr. 
Jonathan Edwards, was installed in that 
position upon the close of his father's 
service. Quite an amount of property 
was left to the little Aaron when three 
years old, at which age he lost both 
father and mother. The boy was born 
Feb. 6, 1756, and grew up to be a very 
bright scholar. In 1773, at the age of 
sixteen, he was graduated from Princeton. 
The army held out immediate attractions 
for him, and his name was soon in the 
list of private soldiers at the outbreak of 
the war, three or four years later. The 
famous march to Quebec found him im- 
petuous for the attack on Canada, He 
did all that could be done to aid in that 
disastrous attempt, and carried himself 
with such good service that he was ap- 
pointed major at the close of the cam- 
paign. Burr seems at this point to have 
had some rupture with Washington, and 
never to have regained a place in 
the heart of the commander-in-chief. 
Through 1777, 1778, 1779, he was in 
active service. At Monmouth he did 
excellent work for the American army. 
I?i the intrigues against Washington, 



Burr used his influence for the supporters 
of Gates. He left the army in the spring 
of 1779. After the study of law he 
settled down for its practice in New York 
city, in 1783. He served in several polit- 
ical stations, finally being elected U, S. 
senator in 1791. Thus far he had been 
identified with the democrat-republicans, 
and in 1800 took a very active part in the 
canvass for president. His influence was 
reaching forth widely, and his efforts se- 
cured the choice of democrat-republican 
electors in New York, Mr. Burr was 
now held forward prominently for the 
vice-presidency. The vote of the elec- 
tors, being a tie between himself and 
Mr, JeflTerson, threw the choice into the 
House of Representatives, and here the 
federalists united upon Mr, Burr, in order 
to defeat Jefferson for the presidency. 
This alienated his own party from Mr. 
Burr, and deprived him of much of his 
power. It was not long before he took 
the life of Alexander Hamilton in the 
duel for which his name will be longest 
remembered. At the close of his term 
as vice-president he visited the west, and 
his designs, real or apparent, resulted in 
his arrest and trial, but without convic- 
tion. He now went abroad, but finally 
returned to the practice of law in New 
York city. The circumstances of his 
life, however, went against him, and the 
bar did not prove to be a place of power. 
His last years were saddened by the loss at 
sea in 18 13, of his only legitimate child, 
a daughter, named Theodosia, who had 
married Gov, Allston of South Carolina, 
Failure is written upon the course of 
Aaron Burr, 

1836. Oct, 22, Gen, Sam Houston 

was inaugurated president of the inde- 
pendent republic of Texas, 



1825-1844.] 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



463 



1836. Nov. 20. The Bristol, of 

Liverpool, was lost on Long Island, with 
75 lives. 

1836. Nov. 25. A severe battle was 
fought in Florida, between Gen. Call of 
Georgia, with 500 men, and the Semi- 
nole Indians, but without decisive results. 
A running warfiire continued for the 
winter. 

1836. Dec. 15. A great fire at 
Washington, D. C, consumed the United 
States Patent Office and general post- 
office, with the valuable records and 
models which had been gathering in the 
former. 

1836. Daniel Webster's Great Plow. 
A plow for working to the depth of one 
foot or more, was invented by Daniel 
Webster, It was put into operation 
upon his own farm at Marshfield, Mass., 
in a field filled with roots, and turned a 
furrow twenty-four inches wide. The 
plow was twelve feet long. It is still in 
existence. Mr. Webster said, " When I 
have hold of the handles of my big plow 
in such a field, with four pair of cattle to 
pull it through, and hear the roots crack, 
and see the stumps all go under the fur- 
row out of sight, and observe the clear, 
mellowed surface of the plowed land, I 
feel more enthusiasm over mv achieve- 
ment than comes from my encounters in 
public life at Washington." 

1836. Dutchman and Awful were 
two horses who became noted in the 
trotting history of this period. Dutch- 
man made three miles in seven minutes, 
thirty and one-half seconds, -which was 
his best record. Awful was a large, 
vicious animal. 

1836. The Creek Indians committed 
depredations through Georgia and Ala- 
bama during the spring of this year, but 
were soon subdued by Gen. Winfield 



Scott. Many of these Indians were at 
once removed to new lands beyond the 
Mississippi. 

1836. Specie Circular. The secretary 
of the treasury ordered the United States 
land agents to take only specie, instead 
of state bank bills, thereafter, for lands. 
This action helped cause the panic of 
1S37. '^^"'^ reason of the action was in 
the tact that bank bills were accumula- 
ting in the treasury. 

THIRTEEXTH PRESIBEXTML CAMPAIGK. 

1836. In the thirteenth presidential 
campaign, at the close of this year, the 
democrats supported Martin Van Buren 
of New York, for president*, and Richard 
M. Johnson of Kentucky, for vice-presi- 
dent. The national republicans who 
now became known as whigs, supported 
Gen. William H. Harrison of Ohio, for 
president, and Francis Granger of New 
York, for vice-president, both of whom 
had been nominated by a whig state con- 
vention in Pennsylvania, in 1S35. Gen. 
Harrison had also been nominated in 
some other states, but no national conven- 
tion had been held. Whig votes were 
also cast for Hugh L. White of Tennes- 
see, Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, 
and W. P. Mangum of North Carolina, 
for president, and for John Tyler and 
William Smith, for vice-president. Out 
of 394 electoral votes Mr. Van Buren had 
170, and Mr. Johnson 147, with a popular 
vote of 761,549. Gen. Harrison had 73 
electoral votes, and Mr. Granger 77. Mr. 
White 36, and Mr. Tyler 47. Mr. 
Webster 14, and Mr. Smith 33, and Mr. 
Mangum 11. The combined popular 
vote of the whigs for the latter candidates 
was 736,656. Mr. Van Buren was there- 
fore elected, but no candidate for vice- 
president had enough electoral votes, and 



464 



POLITJCAl. DEVELOPMENT, 



the choice was thrown into the senate, 
which elected Mr. Johnson. 



1836. Popular movements in Canada 
had increased in volume. The " Sons of 
Liberty" had been formed in many 
places, including Montreal. Regiments 
were ordered by government into Canada 
from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. 
Arrests began to be made, and two popu- 
lar leaders were afterward rescued fiom 
the hands of the government. 

1836. Santa Cruz, president of Bolivia, 
entered Peru with an army, and annexed 
it to Bolivia as a part of a confederation 
formed. 

1837. Jan. 3. The Mexico of Liver- 
pool was wrecked on Long Island, and a 
hundred and eight lives lost. 

1837. Jan. 16. The resolution of 
censure passed against President Jackson 
in 1S34, for the removal of United States 
money from the national bank, was ex- 
punged from the records of the senate of 
the United States, very largely through 
the efforts of Thomas H. Benton, of 
Missouri. 

1837. Jan. 26. Michigan was the 
twenty-sixth state to be admitted to the 
Union. It has an area of 56,451 square 
miles, and a population in 1S70 of 1,184,- 
059 persons. Its motto is, " Tuebor," and 
" Si quaeris peninsulam ama?nam,circum- 
spice." " I will defend." " If you seek 
a pleasant peninsula, look around you." 
It is often called the " Wolverine State." 

1837. February. Flour Mob. The 
crop in New York had been poor, and 
flour was high. A mob of .6,000 persons 
in New York city emptied several flour 
stores into the street, and defied all au- 
thority for a time. 

1837. March 4. Martin Van Buren 
of New York was inaugurated president 



of the United States, with Richard M. 
Johnson of Kentucky, as vice-president. 
1837. April 19. Gen. Bustamente 
was elected president of Mexico, but 
Santa Anna returned from i83i. ^neen 

-1 TT -i. 1 Oi «. ii • Victoria ascend- 

the United States this year , ,, ,, , 

J ed tJie throne of 

in a United States ship of England. 
war, and regained power as a revolution- 
ary president. The country entered upon 
a scene of tumult. 

1837. May 9. The Ben Sherrod of 
New Orleans, was lost on the ISIissis- 
sippi at Natchez, and 175 persons were 

destroyed. 

PAXIC OF '37. 

1837. May 10. The New York 
banks suspended, and thus precipitated 
the crash which had been impending for 
months. Other failures now followed in 
rapid succession. Many corporations 
closed their works, hundreds of business 
houses found themselves ruined, and even 
states became bankrupt. The govern- 
ment was forced to an irredeemable paper 
currency. Farm products declined enor- 
mously in value. Credit was nearly 
annihilated. At last the president of the 
United States could not always get his 
salary when due, from the United States 
treasury* This panic was immediately 
due to a fever of speculation which had 
been running at great height for two 
years. There had also been large impor- 
tations of foreign goods under the com- 
promise tariff' act, and much American 
capital had been driven out of business. 
The country had got easy because its 
government debt had been practically 
abolished, and speculation had speedily 
crept in. 

1837. October. Morse's Telegraph. 

The first caveat for a patent upon the 
American electro-magnetic telegraph was 



1825-1844.] 

entered by S. F. B. Morse. This had 
been hastened by the circular of the secre- 
tary of the U. S. Treasury, issued on 
March lo of this year, requesting infor- 
mation upon the subject of telegraj^hs, 
and the question of establishing such lines 
in America. 

1837. Oct. 9. The steamship Home 
of New York was wrecked in Pamlico 
Sound, N. C, and a hundred lives lost. 
The vessel went to pieces in an hour, al- 
though it was new. 

1837. Oct. 29. The Monmouth was 
lost on the Mississippi River, with two 
hundred and thirty-four lives. 

MURDER OF LOT'EJOT. 

1837. Nov. 7. An anti-slavei'y mob 
took place at Alton, 111., which originated 
in the foct that Rev. Elijah P. Love- 
joy had established at that place an abo- 
lition newspaper called the Alton Ob- 
server. A new press had been brought 
to town to put in the place of one al- 
ready destroyed. It was lodged in a 
building, and guarded by Mr. Lovcjoy 
and a few others. During the assault 
upon the building, Mr. Lovejoy ran out 
to prevent the building being set afire, 
and fell dead, with four balls in his bi'east. 
Nobody was brought to justice for this 
deed. Mr. Lovejoy was a native of 
Maine, and graduated in 1S2S from Wa- 
tei-ville College. He entered on the 
practice of the law in St. Louis, and af- 
terward studied for the ministry at Prince- 
ton, N. J. He soon began to oppose the 
persecution of those who opposed the 
cruelties of slavery. For this he was 
obliged to leave Missouri. He went to 
Alton, 111., and there established the Ob- 
server. His press was destroyed three 
times. The press he was defending was 
his fourth. He left a widow and children 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 465' 

to mourn his sad end. One of Wendell 
Phillips' burning speeches was made up- 



on this event. 



1837. Nov. 14. A brilliant auroral 
display was witnessed throughout almost 
the entire United States. The air was 
filled with the diffusion of a wonderful 
light, and in the heavens brilliant stream- 
ers played toward the zenith. The re- 
markable exhibition was noted by many 
scientific observers as one of the most 
striking auroras ever witnessed. 

1837. November. A riot occurred 
in Montreal, and several severe engage- 
ments took place at different places* 
There was considerable loss of life. 

1837. Dec. 25. The Seminole Indi- 
ans were defeated in a severe battle on 
the Okechobee River by Col. Zachary 
Taylor. 

1837. December. Canadian Strug- 
gle for Independence. An attempt, by 
William Mackenzie, to make an inde- 
pendent nation of Upper Canada, was 
defeated. He had arranged his plans, 
and seemed to have the prosj^ect of 
making quite a stir. But his effort broke 
down after a short struggle, and his fel- 
lows were scattered or arrested. The 
civil authorities speedily secured their 
power in the province. 

1837. Burning of Steamer Carolina. 
Some malcontents encamped on Navy- 
Island about Niagara Falls, and issued a 
proclamation asking for volunteers from 
Canada and the United States. The 
Cai-olina was put on to run between 
Navy Island and Schlosser Landing. 
But in a night or two the steamer was 
boarded, the crew overpowered, the 
steamer set on fire, and left to drift over 
Niagara. It was the occasion of some 
ci'oss words at one or two times between 

30 



466 



POLITIC A L DE VEL OPMENT. 



the English and the United States 
governments. 

1837. Metal wheelefl clocks were 
first made by Chauncey Jerome. They 
soon attained great popularity, and were 
sent nearly over the whole world. Brass 
•was the metal at first used. This stopj^ed 
the sale of wooden wheeled clocks. 

1837. The ships Bristol and Mexico 
-were wrecked on Far Rockaway and 
Hempstead Beach. One hundred and 
thirty-nine lives were lost, though the 
vessels were not over a cable's length 
from land. When the Mexico went 
ashore the weather was so cold that the 
passengers froze to death before drop- 
ping from the rigging. 

1837. An Arctic expedition by land 
was sent out by the Hudson Bay Co., 
under Peter Warren Dease and Thomas 
Simpson. The first season they explored 
the north coast of North America from 
the mouth of the Mackenzie to Cape 
Barron, and the two succeeding seasons 
Tuyere equally successful in examining that 
part of the coast left unexplored by 
Franklin. Simpson was an able leader 
for such an undertaking. After his re- 
turn, while descending the Mississippi to 
embark for England, one of his Indian 
guides assassinated him. 

1837. The first railroad in any Span- 
ish speaking country was opened in Cuba 
from Havana to Guines. 

1837. The Republic of Texas applied 
for admission to the United States, but 
was deferred. 

1837. The insurrectionary efforts 
in Upper Canada continued to some ex- 
tent, and made their appearance at cer- 
tain points in Lower Canada, also. But 
they were without permanent result, ex- 
cept to teach the government some lessons 
of administration. 



OSCEOLA. 
1838. Jan. 30. This half-breed In- 
dian, the leader in the second Seminole 
war, died at Fort Moultrie, at the age of 
thirty-four years. His father was an 
Englishman who traded among the In- 
dians, and his mother was the daughter of 
an Indian chief. In 1S35 Osceola be- 
came angry because his wife was car- 
ried off from him as a slave. He was 
put in confinement, but after a while was 
set at liberty. He then plotted bloodshed, 
and at last succeeded in killing Gen. 
Thompson and four companions. He 
raised a force and massacred Major Dade 
and 1 10 men. He struggled powerfully 
against the greater forces now sent upon 
him, and was only captured by strategy, 
in 1S37. ^^ ^"^'^^ ^ bold, wild leader, 
and roused the Indians successfully so 
long as he was with them. 



1838. January. Prof. Morse made 
another exhibition of a telegraph in the 
University of New York. He used ten 
miles of wire. 

1838. Feb. 24. A duel was fought 
near Washington, between Jonathan 
Cilley, congressman from Maine, and 
William J. Graves, congressman from 
Kentucky. The affair originated in the 
fact that Mr. Cilley would not receive a 
note from J. Watson W^ebb, which was 
brought him by Mr. Graves, whereupon 
the latter felt insulted, and isas. The da- 
challenged Mr. Cilley. i^-^f-"/- /■"; 

'~ - vented at I arts 

They met, and fired three by DagHern-. 
times, twice without eflfect. At the close 
of each firing an effort was made to 
satisfy Mr. Graves, but in vain. The 
third time Mr. Cilley fell, mortally 
wounded, and expired in a few moments. 
It came out afterward that W^ebb was 
determined to have the life of Mr. Cilley 



1825-1844] 

in some way. A committee of congress 
was appointed to investigate the matter. 
A detailed report was made at great 
length, bringing out the sadness of such 
ridiculous affairs. This duel gave a 
great shock to the country. 

1838. March 29. The great defal- 
cation of Samuel Swartout, collector of 
New York, was discovered by the pass- 
ing of his books over to his successor. 
He had been in office for ten years, and 
no suspicion had attached to him. The 
deficit was $1,325,705, and small returns 
were ever got for it. It was lost in spec- 
ulation on Wall Street. He possessed 
little land, or anything which could be 
seized. The defalcation had been grad- 
ual, having begun with a few hundred 
dollars. 

1838. April 6. Bonifacio Joze d'An- 
drada e Sylva, an eminent Brazilian, 
died near Rio de Janeiro, at the age of 
seventy-three years. He was carefully 
educated in Europe, and took a great 
part in developing the science and scien- 
tific enterprises of his country. He also 
was an able statesman, and was banished 
on account of liberal views. 

1838. April 23. The Sirius and the 
Great Western, first of regular steamer 
lines across the Atlantic, entered New 
York harbor. 

1838. April 25. The burning of the 
steamer Moselle, near the wharf at Cin- 
cinnati, destroyed 131 lives. 

1838. April 27. A great fire in 
Charleston, S. C, consumed one-half the 
city, destroying 115S buildings, and 
$3,000,000 worth of property. 

1838. April. Fifteen Gallon Law. 
A law was passed by the Massachusetts 
legislature by more than a majority of 
two-thirds, that the retailing of spirituous 
liquors should be by apothecaries and 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



467 



physicians, and not in less quantity than 
fifteen gallons. A comical nsi-isss. 
evasion took place at a Talleyrand. 

militia muster, where a man pitched a 
tent and exhibited a " striped pig " at 
ten cents admission. The persons who 
entered found a pig with stripes painted 
around his body, and also found a free 
drink. Nobody could prevent a man 
from giving away liquor, if he chose. 

1838. May 17. Pennsylvania Hall, 
Philadelphia, was burned by a mob, 
after it had been opened to the public 
only four days, because an anti-slavery 
meeting had been held in it. The four 
days were days of great mob violence. 

1838. May 29. The Earl of Dur- 
ham, who had been appointed governor- 
general of Canada, arrived at Quebec, 
and met with warm exjoressions of confi- 
dence through the provinces. But he 
soon returned home, because the Eng- 
lish government would not indorse his 
acts toward the imprisoned popular 
leaders. The government afterward 
pursued conciliatory courses under other 
men, and the troubles slumbered for 
awhile. 

1838. May 30. Buccaneer of the 
Lakes. A new steamer named Robert 
Peel, was seized and robbed and burned 
upon I>ake Ontario. It plied between 
Kingston and Ogdensburg. The act 
was done by a noted " Bill Johnson," 
who claimed the above title in opposing 
British power. 

1838. June 14. The explosion of 
the steam packet Pulaski of Savannah, 
off the North Carolina coast, killed one 
hundred persons. 

1838. Sept. 3. Frederick Douglass, 
the celebrated negro orator and journal- 
ist, escaped from slavery at Baltimore, 
and made his way to New Bedford, 



468 



POLITICAL DE VELOPMENT. 



where he lived for several years, until he 
began to enter his public career. 

BL^CK HAWK. 

1838. Oct. 3. This celebrated Indi- 
an chieftain died at his home in Iowa, 
aged about seventy-one years. He was 
by birth a Pottawattamie. From his 
own account he was born at the Sac 
village at the mouth of the Rock River. 
His father through his bravery had be- 
come one of the chiefs of the Sac tribe, 
and among these Indians Black Hawk 
was born and brought up. The Sacs 
had for some time been united with the 
Fox tribe, and with them at the time of 
the Black Hawk war numbered about 
3,000 persons, of whom one-fifth were 
warriors. Their home was in Illinois 
between the Illinois and the Mississippi 
Rivers, including the fertile valley of the 
Rock River. Their principal village 
was on the point of land formed by the 
confluence of the Rock River with the 
Alississippi. According to the traditions 
of the tribe a village had existed there 
for one hundred and fifty years. Black 
Hawk, on the death of his father, took 
the position of chief, then made vacant. 
At this time he was about twenty years 
of age. He was full six feet in height, 
possessed of a splendid physique, and a 
face which under the influence of civiliza- 
tion and education, would have been 
handsome. Being of a brave and daring 
disposition he was already a noted war- 
rior, and soon came to be held in high 
esteem also for his wisdom. He was 
characterized by kindness of heart to an 
unwonted degree. In the war of iSi3 
he fought on the side of the British. 

By a treaty made at Prairie du Chien 
on July 15, 1S32, the Sacs and Foxes, 
in conjunction with several other tribes, 



yielded ujo their lands east of the Missis- 
sippi River to the government. This 
arrangement had been agreed to on the 
part of the Sacs and Foxes by one of 
their chiefs named Keokuk. But a con- 
siderable part of the tribe were dissatis- 
fied with the treaty, and refused to leave 
their lands. At the head of these was 
Black Hawk. He was now over sixty 
years of age, while exposure made him 
look still older. Having a deep aflfection 
for the scenes among which he had been 
born and had so long lived, he wished to 
spend the I'cmainder of his days in the 
same place. Outrages committed by the 
whites also fed the flame. The Indian 
lands were sold by government, and set- 
tlers began to come in. Before long 
bloodshed occurred, and a portion of the 
United States army was ordered to the 
field. The Indians at last fled across the 
river. In 1S33 Black Hawk recrossed 
the river, on a visit as he said to the Pot- 
tawattamies. This occasioned great fear 
among white settlers, and a force took 
the field against him. A massacre of 
the whites occurred at Sycamore Creek, 
in which the troops made little or no de- 
fence. This aroused all the border, both 
white and Indian. An Indian warfare 
was begun, in all its horror. Black 
Hawk was now forced to retreat into the 
valley of the Wisconsin and at last, com- 
pletely surrounded by whites, his force 
was cut to pieces after he had tried to 
surrender by raising flags of truce, and 
showing his men without arms. Black 
Hawk himself escaped, but was after- 
ward taken by two Winnebago Indians 
who had been sent after him. At this 
surrender of himself he made a speech 
which in pathos stands very high in In- 
dian oratory. Black Hawk was kept at 
St. Louis during the winter, and then 



1825-1844.] 

was carried to Washington, where he had 
an interview with President Jackson, to 
whom he is reported to have said, " I am 
a man, and you are another." He was 
visited by many people, all anxious to 
see the celebrated warrior. It was 
thought by some that he bore a strange 
resemblance to Walter Scott, by others, 
Stephen Girard, and by still others, Pres- 
ident Monroe. After having been shown 
all that would impress him with a 
sense of the power of the government, 
he with his companions was taken back 
to the lands assigned him in Iowa, where 
he lived peacefully till the close of his 
life. His bones were at one time stolen 
and taken to Quincy, 111., to be wired to- 
gether. Upon the discovery of this they 
wei*e delivered to his relatives by a requi- 
sition issued by the governor of Iowa. 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



469 



1838. Nov. 3. Hunters' Lodges. 
The Canadian leaders had succeeded in 
establishing along the United States 
frontier bands of sympathizers, and now 
inidertook to carry war into Canada by 
means of them. The forces crossed to 
Prescott, and a severe engagement took 
place. The insurrectionary forces were 
conquered. The leader, a Pole, named 
Van Schoultz, thirty-one years old, was 
hung. Others were transported to Van 
Dieman's Land. This virtually ended 
the rebellion. 

1838. Dec. 12. Gen. Sam Houston 
was succeeded by M. B. Lamar as presi- 
dent of the Republic of Texas. 

1838. The improved propeller for 
steam vessels used so extensively since 
on all waters, was patented in the United 
States by John Ericsson, the famous in- 
ventor whose name is so closely con- 
nected with the monitor gunboats. 

1838. Beet Sugar. Beet sugar was 



for the first time successfully made by 
David L. Child, Northampton, Mass., 
who produced 1,300 pounds. The busi- 
ness did not increase for more than twenty 
years, till the experiment at Chatsworth, 
111,, in 1S63. Since then it has been suc- 
cessful, and several establishments have 
been set up in different parts of the 
country. 

1838. The Cherokee Indians were 
removed from Georgia, much against 
their wash, as many of them had begun 
to cultivate the soil, and placed west of 
the Mississippi. At first they threatened 
to violently resist being torn from their 
homes, but were finally removed by 
several thousand troops under Gen. Scott. 

1838. A fire on board the lake 
steamer Washington, destroyed fifty lives. 

1838. A survey for a canal across 
Central America, was made by John 
Bailey, under the Central American 
government. 

1839. Law Against Duelling. A 
law to prohibit the giving or accepting 
within the District of Columbia, a chal- 
lenge " to fight a duel, and for the pun- 
ishment thereof," was passed by congress. 
This was somewhat the result of the 
Cilley and Graves duel. 

1839. Feb. 24. The first rubber 
patent of Charles Goodyear was ob- 
tained, based upon the use of sulphur in 
drying gum elastic, which he had bought 
of Nathaniel Hayward of Woburn, 
Mass. But the goods made under this 
patent were not durable, and Mr. Good- 
year puzzled over -the question of render- 
ing them so. He was one day experiment- 
ing, when he touched a ^^iece of India 
rubber impregnated with sulphur, to the 
hot stove, and found that instead of melt- 
ing, as it would have done had the stove 
been only warm, it charred or hardened. 



470 



POLITJ CAL DE VEL OPMENT. 



From this he got the idea that if it be 
possible to prevent the charring by a less 
intense heat, he would succeed in making 
a hard, durable rubber substance. Fol- 
lowing up this line, he came on the great 
discovery of vulcanized rubber. 

ORIGIN OF EXPRESS BUSLYESS 

1839. March 4. William F. Harnden, 
who was in search of some occupation 
which would support him, began this day 
to travel between New York and Boston 
for the accommodation of business men 
in sending small packages from one city 
to another. He at first carried simply a 
satchel, but his patrons grew in number 
until he had to establish an office in each 
city, with a daily messenger each way. 
Previously to this, such packages had 
been sent by friends or by special messen- 
gers. Mr. Harnden named his business 
" The Express," and originated in this 
\vay, the whole modern express traffic. 
It was in the following year that Alvin 
Adams began running in the same way 
between New York and Boston, by way 
of Norwich and Worcester. He also 
began with a carpet bag. Mr. Harnden 
died a poor man in 1S45. 

1839. May 27. The Massachusetts 
Abolition Society was organized by a 
secession from the " Anti-Slavery So- 
ciety " over the position of William L. 
Garrison, who urged views in the Lib- 
erator opposing political action under the 
present constitution and forin of govern- 
ment. He regarded voting as a sin, be- 
cause of the legal guards thrown around 
slavery. 

1839. July 3. The first Normal 
School in America was opened at Lex- 
ington, Mass., and is now established at 
Framingham. For twenty years there 



had been many plans. Other schools 
were now soon opened. 

1839. July. The Merchant's Maga- 
zine, which has since been such an influ- 
ential article of information important to 
the merchant, was established by Free- 
man Hunt. It helped to mould inercan- 
tile policy and life very much, and had a 
foreign, as well as domestic sale. 

1839. Sept. 6. A great fire in New 
York consumed 46 buildings and $10,- 
000,000 worth of property. 

1839. Nov. 13. Liberty Party Con- 
vention. A national convention of abo- 
litionists was held at Warsaw, N. Y., 
and nominated James G. Birney of New 
York, as candidate for president, and 
Francis J. Lemoyne of Pennsylvania, for 
vice-president. They refused the nomi- 
nation, but were voted for in the cam- 
paign. 

1839. Dec. 4. The whig party held 
their first national nominating convention 
at Harrisburg, Penn., and chose Gen.- 
William Henry Harrison of Ohio, and 
John Tyler of Virginia, as candidates for 
president and vice-president. 

1839. Agricultural Statistics. One 
thousand dollars were appropriated by 
the United States government for the 
collation of agi'icultural statistics under 
the direction of the commissioner of 
patents. Similar appropriations were 
made in after years, and gradually in- 
creased till the Department of Agricul- 
ture was organized in 1862. In 1S62 
$60,000 were appropriated. The govern- 
ment was led to its first appropriation by 
the large importation of bread stuffs into 
the United States made each year. 

1839. The banks in the United States 
resumed specie payment. 

1839. The first shipment of wheat 
from Chicafro was made one year after 



1835-1844.] 

its organization as a city, and amounted 
to 78 bushels. It was sent eastward by 
the way of the lakes. 

1839. War of the Epaulettes. The 
medical corps of the United States army 
rebelled against the assignment to them 
of an aiguilette to be worn on the shoulder 
instead of an epaulette. Much discussion 
followed, and finally the maftcr was set- 
tled by a wise letter from Surg. Gen. 
Lawson, which secured the epaulettes. 

1839. The first power loom for 
weaving two-ply or ingrain carpets was 
invented and made for the Lowell Manu- 
factvu-ing Company of Massachusetts, by 
Mr. E. B. Bigelow of Boston, By the 
hand-loom eight yards a day had been 
produced. By Mr. Bigelow's power 
loom in its first form, ten or more yards a 
day were produced. 

1839. A spike machine was patented 
by Henry Burden of Troy, N. Y. It 
would make the spikes complete, head 
and point, at the rate of fifty a minute. 
The great proportion of all spikes used in 
railroad construction in the United States 
has been made by these machines. 
They rank among the ingenious machines 
of the centur}'. 

1839. First Electrotyping. Joseph 
A. Adams for the first time made use of 
the idea now embodied in the art of 
electrotyping, by reproducing a wood-cut. 
He afterward applied it more extensively 
till, in all fine work, it has taken the place 
of stereotyping. 

1839. The Mormons having been 
driven out of Missouri because of their 
obnoxious teachings, settled Nauvoo, 
111., and soon built it up to a place of 
several thousand inhabitants. It was 
here that Joseph Smith announced the 
divine revelation approving and com- 
manding polygamy. 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



471 



1839. The Amistad Captives. A 

case of great note in the annals of slavery 
was that of the Amistad captives. Forty- 
nine men and three children were bought 
at Havana out of a large cargo, and sent 
on the Amistad to Puerto Principe, 
On the way thither the negroes rebelled, 
and took possession of the schooner. The 
owners on board were compelled to steer 
by day toward Africa, but in the night 
they deceived the African captors and ran 
toward America. At last they reached 
CuUoden Point, Long Island. They 
were taken into charge by Lieut. Gedney 
of the U. S. brig Washington, and car- 
ried to New London, Conn. The negroes 
were kept in jail eighteen months, during 
a series of trials which ran through all the 
courts, till at last the sujDreme court of 
the United States decided that they must 
be sent back to Africa. Several died in 
the meantime. Others were taught while 
they were imprisoned, by sympathizing 
people. This case hastened much of the 
benevolent work which has in recent 
years been carried on in behalf of the 
African race. 

1839. The federal union of Central 
America was dissolved, and Honduras, 
Guatamala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and 
San Salvador became separate republics. 

1839. The confederation of Bolivia 
was ended by the defeat and overthrow 
of Santa Cruz. 

1839. Holland paid the United States 
$62,693, on claims for spoliations on 
American commerce during the war of 
1S12. 

1839. Belgium paid a small amount 
for American property damaged during 
the siege of Antwerp. 

1839. A treaty with Sardinia, the 
first which that power had made with 
any countrv,was arranged by the United 



472 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



States. Columbus, if a native of Genoa, 
was a Sardinian. 

1840. January. The steamer Lex- 
ington was burned between New York 
and Stonington on Long Island Sound. 
Two hundred lives were lost. Passen- 
gers were lost by hurrying into the boats 
while the steamer was under way. The 
fire originated in bales of cotton near the 
furnaces and smoke pipe. 

1840. January. An Antarctic con- 
tinent was discovered by Capt. Charles 
Wilkes of the United States navy, who 
was at the head of an expedition for ex- 
ploration in the region of the South Pole. 

1840. April 2. The Washington 
Society, the famous temperance society, 
originated with six men who had met to 
drink in Chase's tavern, Baltimore. 
They were William K. Mitchell, tailor, 
John F. Hoss, carpenter, David Ander- 
son, blacksmith, George Steers, wheel- 
wright, James ]McCurh', coachman, and 
Archibald Campbell, silverplater. It had 
been their practice to drink together. 
This night they were unusually sober, 
and seemed to delav calling for liquors. 
At last they found that each was dis- 
tressed about his habit of becoming in- 
toxicated. In a short time they agreed 
to band themselves together into a 
" Washington Temperance Society," 
whose principle should be teetotalism 
from all which can intoxicate. They 
began to work among their companions, 
and by simple power of earnest effort, 
soon found hundreds joining their ranks. 
Thus originated one of the most wonder- 
ful teniperance movements known to the 
w^orld. 

1840. May 5. The democrats re- 
nominated Martin Van Buren for presi- 
dent of the United States, in a convention 
held at Baltimore. No nomination was 



made for vice-president, but it was left 
open to the states. 

1840. May. The American and For- 
eign An ti- Slavery Society was formed 

by a secession from the American Anti- 
Slavery Society at New York, in a simi- 
lar way to the division at Boston, in 
1839. Arthur TajDpan was president of 
the new society. 

1840. June 30. «« Independent Treas- 
ury Scheme." The " Sub-Treasury 
Bill," providing for the keeping of United 
States money in the treasury at Wash- 
ington and in sub-treasuries located in 
several of the larger cities of the country, 
was passed by congress. 1840. Penny 
This bill had been intro- ^"''S, 7''"" 

establisneix lu 

duced man}' times into con- England. 

gress without success. It marked the 
entire separation of the government 
from banking schemes. 

1840. Sept. 20. Dr. Francia, dicta- 
tor of Paraguay since it achieved its in- 
dependence in iSii, a period of twenty- 
nine years, died at the age of eighty-three 
3-ears. He had ruled the province with 
the utmost rigor. All trade, education, 
and politics, were controlled by his word. 
He forbade all intercourse with other 
South American states, and allowed no 
one to come into or go out of the 
country without his permission. The 
jDCople became attached to him because 
of his favor to the poor, and his summary 
punishment of the fraudulent, and extor- 
tioners. His character was dark with 
cruelty, but also relieved by certain great 
benevolences. The country at his death 
was at once thrown into confusion. 

1840. December. David G. Burnett 
began to serve as acting president of the 
Republic of Texas, for one year. 

1840. The sixth census of the 
United States gave a population of 



1825-1844.] 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



473 



17,069,453, It was taken at a cost of 
•$833,370.95. The increase in popula- 
tion from 1S30 to 1S40 had been 33.53 
per cent. 

1840. Slaves in the Census. The 
only states which, by the census of this 
year were found to be without slaves, 
\vere Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, 
and Michigan. A fevv^ were found in 
each of the other northern states. This 
shows that even under legislative enact- 
ments of the close of the last century 
and first of the present centuiy, it was 
hard to secure the entire abolition of 
slavery. The system had grown into 
the very life of the states. According to 
the census there were found in Ohio 3 
-,o.« ^j.- slaves, in Indiana 3, in Illi- 

ISiO. opium 7ijar ' 0^ 

opened by Eng- nois 33 1, in WisCOUsiu, II, 

land to make • r £■ rr-\i 1 , , 

,, m Iowa 16. Ihe latter 

Liitna re-estab- 

lix/i the opium wcrc then territories, but 
''^^ '^' were a part of that great 

Northwest Territory, which, according 
to the ordinance of 17S7, was to have no 
slavery within it. It was also shown ac- 
cording to the census, that the non-slave- 
holding states had in 1776, 46,099 slaves, 
in 1840, 1,129 slaves. But the slave- 
holding states had in 1776, 4=56,000 slaves, 
and in 1840, 2,486,126 slaves. 

FOURTEEXTH PRESIDE.YTML C^M- 
P^IGK. 

1840. In the fourteenth presidential 
campaign the whigs supported Gen. 
William H. Harrison of Ohio, for presi- 
dent, and John Tyler of Virginia, for 
vice-president. The democrats supported 
Martin Van Buren and R. M. Johnson, 
for a second term. The new " liberty 
party " supported James G. Birney and 
Francis J. Lemoyne. This campaign, 
more than any preceding, was filled with 
incidents tending to make it a great pop- 



ular excitement. Watchwords abounded. 
The whigs shouted for " Old Tippecanoe 
and Tyler too." The campaign became 
known as the " log-cabin and hard- 
cider " campaign, because the opponents 
of Gen. Harrison undertook to bring up 
his past life against him. But the sym- 
bols were seized upon by his friends, and 
made of great use in swaying the people. 
The result was that out of 294 electoral 
votes, Gen. Harrison and Mr. Tyler had 
234, with a popular vote of 1,275,017. 
The democratic candidates had an elec- 
toral vote of 60 for Mr. Van Buren, and 
48 for Mr. Johnson, with a popular vote 
of 1,128,702. The " liberty party " cast 
a popular vote of 7'*-'59* The whig 
part}' had swept the country. 



1840. The first commercial college 

in America, named " Comer''s Commer- 
cial College," was established at Boston. 

1840. The Roman Catholics of New 
York entered a claim for a part of the 
public school money, but were refused. 
This was one of the small beginnings of 
the recent controversy over the Bible in 
common schools. 

1840. The first horse which climbed 
Mt. W^ashington was ridden by Abel 
Crawford, the famous pioneer of the 
region, who was at this time seventy-five 
years old, and died 10 years later. 

1840. " Landscape Gardening," by 
Andrew J. Downing, a work which_ 
greatly stimulated the studv of horticul- 
ture in this coimtry, was first issued, 

1840. The model of a steam fire en- 
gine, constructed by Capt.John Ericsson, 
received froiTi the Mechanics' Institute of 
New York a gold medal. 

1840. The fall of a drawbridge in 
Albany, N. Y., caused the drowning of 
twenty persons. 



474 



POLI TIC A L DE VEL OP ME NT, 



1840. The two provinces of Canada 
were reunited in their government. 

1840. Guano was first sent from the 
Chincha Islands off the coast of Peru to 
England, where it was found to be very 
valuable as a fertilizer, and the trade in it 
began to develop. 

1840. A penal colony at Port Fam- 
ine, Magellan's Strait, was established 
by Chili, but a mutiny soon destroyed it. 

1840. Peace was made between the 
confederation of Buenos Ay res and 
Montevideo. Troubles had been in ex- 
istence, and Rosas had attempted to 
secure the latter. 

1840. The Imaum of Muscat sent 
costly presents to President Van Buren, 
which were sold, and the price put into 
the United States treasury. Congress 
appropriated $15,000 for return presents. 

1841. Jan. 14. Imprisonment as a 
penalty for unpaid debts due to the 
United States, was abolished. 

1841. Feb. 21. The Governor Fen- 
ner of Liverpool was lost in the Atlantic, 
with 123 lives. 

1 84 1 . March 4. Gen. William Henry 
Harrison of Ohio, was inaugurated pres- 
ident of the United States, with John 
Tyler of Virginia, for vice-president, 

1841. March 13. The steamer Pres- 
ident from New York to England, was 
never afterward heard from; 109 lives 
were lost. It is supposed to have been 
sunk by an iceberg. 

1841. March 31. Yucatan had at 
different times tried to be free of Mexico, 
and at this date adopted a state constitu- 
tion, but it is still Mexican. 

WILLMM HEXRY H^RRISOX. 

1841. April 4. William Henry 
Harrison, the ninth president of the 
United States, died at Washington four 



weeks after his inauguration, at the age 
of sixty-eight years. He was the son of 
Benjamin Hai'rison, a signer of the Decla- 
ration of Independence, and was born in 
Berkeley, Va., Feb. 9, 1773. His early 
education was thorough, and after his 
graduation at Hampden Sidney College, 
he began a course of medical study. 
Upon the outbreak of the Indian troubles, 
however, much against the wishes of his 
friends, he entered the ranks of Gen, St. 
Clair, with a commission of ensign. He 
was then but nineteen years old. From 
this time he passed gradually upward in 
rank until he became aide to Gen. 
Wayne, after whose death he resigned 
his commission. Until iSii he led a 
citizen's life as governor of Indiana, which 
had been recently formed from the 
Noithwest Territory. Meantime the 
Indians, led by Tecumseh, had been 
growing troublesome, and after several 
attempts at a peace the differences cul- 
minated at Tippecanoe, where the bra- 
very and skill of Harrison, who com- 
manded the forces, were clearly displayed. 
During the war with Great Britain he 
was made major-general, but he resigned 
in iS 14 because of some misunderstand- 
ing with his brother officers. In iSi6he 
was representative in congress, and in 
1S25 was made senator. In 1S28 he 
was made minister to the Republic of 
Colombia, S. A,, but on the accession of 
Jackson he was recalled. From this 
time until 1841, Gen. Harrison led a 
comparatively quiet life on his Ohio farm. 
Hardly had he formed his cabinet after 
the inauguration, before the nation was 
called to mourn for the first time, a dead 
president. His past life had evidently- 
worn upon his frame, and he was taken 
away after an illness of eight days. He 
was a popular man, and it was expected 



1825-1844.] 

that his administration would be a sue 
cessful one. 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



475 



1841. April 6. John Tyler was in- 
augurated president of the United States, 
according to the constitution. 

1841. April 10. The New York 
Tribune was estabUshed by Horace 
Greeley. It started with 500 subscribers. 

1841. July 18. Dom Pedro II. hav- 
ing attained his majority, was crowned 
emperor of Brazil. An insurrection of 
slaves, and a war with Buenos Ayres, 
took place in the first part of his reign. 

1841. July. False Imprisonment. 
Alanson Work, James E, Burr, and 
Geo. Thompson, were arrested ujjon 
crossing the river from Quincy, 111., into 
Missouri, and imprisoned upon the charge 
of assisting slaves to escape. They were 
sentenced for twelve years. But their 
conduct imder their misfortune was so 
winning that their oppressors thought 
best in four or five years to pardon and 
release them. 

1841. Aug. 9. The Sub-Treasury 
Bill v\^as repealed. 

1841. Aug. 9. The steamer Erie of 
Buffalo, was burned upon Lake Eric, 
twenty miles from land. Out of 300 
lives, 175 were lost. The fire originated 
in a barrel of turpentine. 

1841. Sept. 2. An earthquake de- 
stroyed the city of Cartago in Costa 
Rica, and left only 100 houses out of 
3,000. Six of the seven churches were 
ruined, 

1841. September. The murder of 
Samuel Adams, a New York printer, 
was committed by John C. Colt, a 
brother of Samuel Colt, the inventor of 
the revolver. Colt afterward killed him- 
self in prison on the day set for his 
execution. 



1841. Oct. 19. Col. John C. Fre- 
mont and Jessie Benton, daughter of 
Senator Benton, were secretly married. 

1841. December. Gen. Sam Hous- 
ton again became president of the Re- 
public of Texas. 

1841. Fiscal Bank of the United 
States. President Tyler twice vetoed 
a bill for a United States Bank, which 
was passed by congress. After the 
second veto every Cabinet officer except 
Daniel Webster, resigned his position. 
It seems that the resignation was because 
he had been asked wdnat kind of a bill he 
would sign, suggested one, which was 
passed by both houses, and then vetoed it. 

1841. Whig Addresses. The whigs 
renounced all political connection with 
President Tyler, henceforth. A few 
men in congress sujDported him, and be- 
came known as '•'•The CorporaPs 
Guard:' 

1841. The Bank of Pennsylvania 
suspended. It had $35,000,000 capital, 
nearly one-half of which was taken in 
Europe, and some of it was held b}- the 
United States government. The funds 
had been used in speculation Ipy the old 
directors. Little could be done to restore 
credit. This was the old United States 
bank of Jackson's time. 

1841. A thousand reformed drunk- 
ards marched in procession at the first 
anniversary of the VVashingtonian So- 
ciety. A great excitement was produced 
by this display. 

1841. An " English and Continental 
Express " was established by William F. 
Harnden, with the particular object of 
systematizing emigration from Europe 
to America. Within three years he had 
brought into the United States over 
100,000 laborers. 

1841. Revolving Turret Model. 



476 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



Theodore R. Timby of Duchess County, 
N. Y., completed :i model for a metallic 
revolving turret to be used in w^arfare, 
either on land or sea. This model was 
the fulfillment of an idea w^hich had been 
in Mr, Timby's mind from childhood. 
This was the first step in the world to- 
ward the now famous " Monitor " iron 
dads. Mr. Timby afterward improved, 
as well as patented it, and at the outbreak 
of the Civil war was paid for the use of 
his idea in the monitors which were con- 
structed. 

1841. The first steam fire engine in 
America was constructed in New York 
by a Mr. Hughes after a model made by 
Capt. John Ericsson which he had in- 
vented. It was used several times with 
success, but was found to be too hea\y. 
The same year Capt. Ericsson fitted the 
first screw propellor in this country to the 
United States steamer Princeton. 

1841. An explosion of twenty-eight 
kegs of gunpowder during a conflagra- 
tion in Syracuse, N. Y., killed thirty per- 
sons and wounded fifty. 

1841. An excitement occurred in 
western New York, over Alexander 
McLeod, who, a Canadian, reported that 
he was one of the destroyers of the Caro- 
lina. He was arrested, and held for trial. 
A demand was made by the English 
government for his release. It was re- 
fused by the United States government 
on the claiin that the aflfair was within 
the jurisdiction of New York. The 
charge was tried, and not proved. 

1841. Santa Anna became military 
dictator of Mexico, and retained power 
for a few years. During this period the 
constitution was suspended. 

1841. Paraguay elected two consuls 
named Lopez and Alonzo. 

1842. Jan. 22. Charles Dickens and 



his wife arrived in Boston. This was 
their first visit to America, and the peo- 
ple received them with every attention. 
After a few months they returned to 
England. 

1842. Feb. 9. A Total Abstinence 
Temperance Society was formed in con- 
gress, partly through the exhibition of 
the anniversaiy of the Washingtonians 
in procession. 

1842. Feb. 21. First Sewing Ma- 
chine Patent. John J. Grcenough of 
Washington, D. C, patented a sewing 
machine which would make the "shoe- 
maker's stitch." The eye was in the 
center of the needle, which was pointed 
at both ends, and was pushed through 
the material, and then drawn back again. 
Several other patents were taken out be- 
fore Howe took out his, in 1846. But 
they were none of them practicable. 

1842. March 30. First Use of Ether. 
Dr. C. W. Long of Jefferson, Ga., ether- 
ized a patient in order to perform an 
operation. This case is said to be the 
first instance of such use of ether, on 
record. 

1842. May 2. An exploration of a 
part of the Rocky Mountains was un- 
dertaken by John C. Fremont, bv order 
of the United States government. He 
examined the South Pass, planted a flag 
upon the summit of what has since been 
known as Fremont's Peak, 13,570 feet 
high, and returned in four months with a 
mass of valuable information, which was 
received with great favor at home and 
abroad. This was Fremont's first ex- 
pedition to these regions. 

1842. Aug. 1. Great Philadelphia 
Mob. The colored people of Philadel- 
phia were mobbed for two davs, and 
manv of their houses destroved. One 
church and one hall were also destroyed. 



1825-1844.] 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



477 



Many negroes were seized and beaten. 
This mob was the worst of a number. 
The negroes had undertaken to celebrate 
the anniversary of emancipation in the 
West Indies, by a public procession. 
City authorities did not interfere. Mobs 
prevailed during these years in many 
quarters. It was the era of violence. 
But reaction took place, and some began 
to turn their attention more to legal steps 
for the suppression of anti-slavery socie- 
ties. In a few instances they secured a 
statement by grand juries, saying that 
those who formed an abolition society 
were guilty of sedition. Reviews and 
periodicals took the same joosition. 

1842. Aug. 9. The Ashburton 
Treaty was signed at Washington, and 
established the northeastern boundary of 
the United States between Maine and 
New Brunswick, which had caused con- 
siderable trouble with Great Britain. 
Daniel Webster acted for the United 
States, and Lord Ashburton for England. 

1842. Aug. 30. A new tariff bill 
was passed by congress. It greatly re- 
duced the number of free importations, 
and put a duty of .33 average on those 
things dutiable. It originated in the ter- 
rible financial stress of the last five years. 
The tariff was followed by a return of 
prosperity. 

WILLMM E. CHAJ^mXG. 

1842. Oct. 2. William E. Channing, 
D. D., an eminent Unitarian clergyman, 
died at Bennington, Vt., at the age of 
sixty-two years. He was born at New- 
port, R. I., April 7, 1 780. The record 
of the life of Dr. Channing is of more 
than usual interest, for he attained a po- 
sition which put him among the leaders 
of his generation. His early life was one 
with the years of his later life in all that 



pertains to religious emotion and char- 
acter. He was taught when very young 
to think upon questions of doctrine, and 
being of a quieter disposition than many, 
he was more ready to occupy his time in 
quite serious reflection. He was not 
strong in body, though capable of sus- 
taining considerable fatigue. It was very 
soon noticed that a keenness of spirit to 
the injustices of life which he could dis- 
cern, or which fell in his way, marked 
this somewhat precocious lad. The in- 
fluence of a devout mother was visible 
in all the experiences and development 
of the youth. When twelve years old 
he began study at New London, Conn., 
in fitting for college. A shadow fell 
upon his life at this point in the death of 
his father. It was not long before a defi- 
nite religious experience took hold upon 
him, and marked his future days with its 
purposes. He was graduated at Harvard 
College in 1798. While a member of 
that institution his preeminent qualities, 
both of a scholarly and moral character, 
made him noticeable among his class- 
mates. His mind had a moral tone to it, 
and labored to j^erfect its own moral 
apprehensions. The studies of his college 
life broadened out into the reading of 
Shakspeare, and of writers upon moral 
and social themes, from whence a stimu- 
lus was gained, never afterward to be 
lost. He served as private tutor in a 
family at Richmond, Va., for a year and 
a half after graduation. During this pe- 
riod he began to mature some of his 
religious views, perhaps almost uncon- 
sciously to himself. A period of theo- 
logical study then ensued, partly at New- 
port, where he went for health, and 
partly at Cambridge, In 1802 he began 
preaching under license. In 1S03, June 
I , he was ordained pastor of the Federal 



478 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT 



Street Society, Boston, and at once began 
that unremitting- zeal in preaching and in 
pastoral labor, which threatened to con- 
sume him before the natural limit of his 
days. Attention was soon widely at- 
tracted to the young pastor, and it was 
not many years before the house of 
worship had to be enlarged. The great 
controversy within the Orthodox church 
now began to appear, and Dr. Channing 
took sides at once in the liberal party, and 
became a leader for it. Not thoroughly 
and logically systematized in his own 
^■ievvs, yet by his eloquence he proved a 
valuable defender, one who could take 
hold on the hearts of men by his own 
qualities of heart. He early became as- 
sociated with humanitarian efforts, and 
was a strenuous thinker upon questions 
of social and moral reform, to the end of 
his days. An English and continental 
tour in 1S22, brought him into coijtact 
with valuable minds abroad. Literary 
labors now increased upon him. Dr. E. 
S. Gannett became his associate pastor in 
1824. The whole country was begin- 
ning to feel his power. Published arti- 
cles upon Milton, Bonaparte, Fenelon, 
and other themes, created a great reputa- 
tion for him. At a later day he wrote 
against slavery, and brought his inlluence 
to bear upon it, by lectures and otherwise. 
His interest in humanity was perennial, 
and his ardor of thought iniabated. But 
typhus fever took him for its victim, and 
cairied him off in the midst of his labors. 
His is a record of love and wisdom 
toward men and God. His mind was 
poetical, and his spirit one of gentleness, 
rather than of war. 



1842. Oct. 18. A sub-marine cable 

was laid bv Prof S. F. B. Morse, from 
Governor's Island to the Batterv at New 



York, and transmitted signals, until on 
the 19th the anchor of a vessel tore it 
up. It was made with a copper wire 
surrounded bv a covering of hemp filled 
with tar, pitch, and India rubber. 

1842. Nov. 24. The gradual aboli- 
tion of slaverv was provided for in Para- 
gua}' bv a law passed this -sear. 

1842. A great forest journey in 
vSouth America, was made bv Count Bis- 
marck, since Prince Bismarck, with 
Prince Adalbert, of Prussia. They as- 
cended one or more tributaries of the 
Amazon, and had a wild experience. 

1842. The " Quebec Journal " was 
founded bv Joseph Canchon. 

1842. A great contest came off in 
the U. S. House of Representatives over 
the presentations of petitions by John Q. 
Adams. For a series of years there had 
been an attempt to exclude all petitions 
which related to slavery. For eleven 
days Mr. Adams contended almost alone 
for the right of petition. All kinds of 
threats were bestowed upon him, but he 
shrunk not, and persevered till the attack 
was lain down iit last by his opposers, 
who were unable to overwhelm the oltl 
man eloquent. 

1842. Dorr's Rebellion occurred in 
Rhode Island in opposition to the cliarter 
government of the state. It was the 
effort of a large party who wished to 
abolish the former projDcrtv qualification 
for voters, and to get possession of the 
state government under a pojDular consti- 
tution. Thomas W. Dorr was elected 
governor by this party, and made some 
show of force in seizing the government, 
but it disappeared when energetic meas- 
ures were adopted by Gov. King. No 
violence occurred. The ideas advocated 
have since passed into the state constitu- 
tion. The amusino- incident is told that 



1825-1844.] 

Mr. Dorr, when he saw the state troops 
advancing toward the hill upon which 
his men were stationed, told his men to 
fight as long as they could hold out, and 
if obliged to give Avay, to preserve order 
and retreat with their faces io the foe, 
adding in a low voice, as he no\v saw the 
troops within a short distance, " As I am 
a little lame, I guess I will go now." 
Dorr was afterward tried and sentenced 
to imprisonment for life, but was par- 
doned in 1S47. 

1842. An impending mutiny, the 
first regularly organized one in the 
United States navy, was discovered on 
board the brig of war Somers, Capt. 
Alexander S, Mackenzie. Philip H. 
Spencer headed the revolt. By the 
energy of Capt. 'Mackenzie it was i"e- 
pressed, but finding insubordination 
appearing constantly, he ordered the 
three principal leaders hung. This event 
■was fully investigated upon Capt. Mac- 
kenzie's arrival in the United States, by 
a court martial and a naval court of 
inquiry, and his conduct thoroughly ap- 
proved. Young Spencer's father, John 
C. Spencer, was at this time secretary of 
war. 

1842. The Seminole war, which hatl 
lasted seven years, was ended bv the 
almost complete capture and removal, or 
death of the tribe. A few remained in 
Florida. Fifteen hundred whites had 
been killed, and $10,000,000 had been 
expended. 

1842. First Corn Starch. Thomas 
Kingsford, an Englishman who had come 
to America to live, after experimenting 
for some months upon Indian corn, ob- 
tained a fine specimen of pure white 
starch, the first ever made from maize. 
The business has since grown, till now at 
Oswego, N. Y., millions of pounds are 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



479 

annually produced. It is the largest 
manufactory in the world. 

1842. Percussion locks were intro- 
duced for the first time upon the firearms 
of the United States infantrv. 

1842. A proposal for the construc- 
tion of iron clad steam vessels to serve as 
batteries in coast ports, was made to the 
United States government bv Mr, Robert 
L. Stevens of Hoboken, N.J. The gov- 
ernment decided to build one as an ex- 
periment, but it was not begun till 1S56. 
The vessel was to be built altogether of 
iron. It has never been finished, but was 
sold for old iron in the fall of iSSo. 

1842. Croton water was introduced 
into New York. The aqueduct had been 
five years in building, and stands at the 
head of modern constructions of the kind. 
Its length is 40!- miles, with a capacity of 
175,000,000 gallons daily. The whole 
cost was $13,500,000. 

1842. The rapids between Kingston 
and iSIontreal on the St. Lawrence, were 
for the first time navigated by steam- 
boats. 

1842. The United States South Sea 
Exploring Expedition returned home, 
having been gone four years. Capt. 
Wilkes, in his vessel Vincennes, had 
sailed 71,000 miles, and had had no special 
accident. The brig Porpoise had sailed 
95,000 miles. Other vessels made 
similar distances. Their work had been 
great in visiting ports, correcting charts, 
etc. The discoveries in the Antarctic 
Ocean were made before the English and 
French expeditions to the same waters. 
Experiments in the Sandwich Islands 
were made, and exjDlorations of craters 
conducted. The Oregon Territory w^as 
examined. About a score of men were 
lost during the expedition, fourteen at 
Cape Horn. 



480 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



1842. The famous Santa Fe Expedi- 
tion was set on foot by Texas. This ex- 
pedition was for the capture of Santa Fe 
from Mexico. It started very poorly 
fitted out for their march. The members 
were reduced to the last extremity for 
food. There were 300 or more men 
under Gen. McLeod. They finally sur- 
rendered to Mexican authorities, and 
were most inhumanly treated, stripped of 
everything, and made to march 3,000 
miles barefooted, to the City of Mexico; 
35 died on the way, 4 were shot by the 
guard, and the rest were delivered. A 
correspondence took place between the 
United States and Mexico over one or 
two Americans who had accompanied the 
expedition, and had been ill-treated like 
the rest. They were liberated after a 
while, and finally Santa Anna liberated 
all the rest on his birthday. 

1842. Queen Victoria sent six gold 
medals for six American captains, each of 
whom during 1S40 had been instrumental 
in saving a British vessel. They were. 
Captains Depeyster, Wotton, Cropper, 
Thompson, Palmer, and Stoddart, all of 
vessels belonging in New York. 

1842. The brig Creole sailed from 
Richmond, Va., for New Orleans, with 
tobacco and 135 slaves, who rose and got 
possession of the brig, and took her into 
Nassau in the Bahamas. An investiga- 
tion proved 19 to have had a part in the 
murder. They were held for trial, but 
the English authorities refused to send 
them to America for trial, and pronounced 
the rest, numbering 1 14, free, because 
they had landed on English soil. 

1842. Boyer, the chieftain-president 
of Hayti since 1822, was forced to flee 
from the island, by a rebellion. The 
eastern part of the island rose against the 
western. 



1842. The university of Havana be- 
came a Literary University of the gov- 
ernment, instead of a Royal and Pontifi- 
cal University. The sciences were now 
first introduced. 

1842. The explosion of the Medora, 
at Baltimore, killed 26, and wounded 38 
persons. 

1842. Civil wars began in Peru, and 
raged several years. 

1842. A convention was called to re- 
construct the confederation of Central 
America, but failed through the absence 
of delegates from Guatamala and Costa 
Rica. A similar experience was had iix 
1847. 

1843. March 3. Morse's Telegraph. 
An appropriation of $30,000 was voted 
by congress to Samuel F. B. Alorse, for 
the purpose of establishing an experi- 
mental telegraph line. After weary 
waiting and working, the appropriation 
was made on the last night of session. 
Morse had gone away to his bed disap- 
pointed and sore. But fresh faith was- 
given by the news of the morning. 

1843. March. The " Great Comet " 
made its sudden appearance, and was for 
weeks observed by scientists throughout 
this country and in Europe. It could be 
seen by day as well as by night a portion 
of the time, and was of a remarkable 
order. 

1843. May. A second expedition 
into the Rocky Mountains was under- 
taken by John C. Fremont. With 39 
men he crossed to the Great Salt Lake of 
Utah, concerning which he gained the 
first real information. He then passed' 
north to the Columbia River, and fol- 
lowed it to its mouth. The 1755-1843. 

, ii • i Hahnemann, the 

party upon thea* return . , , 

IT J r founder of 

were obliged to cross the homeopatiiy. 
Sierra Nevadas, into the Sacramento- 



1825-1844.] 

valley of Calitbrnia, which they did 
through the deep snows, with extreme 
difficulty and suffering. Passing south- 
erly they returned into Kansas in July, 
1844, having added much to the knowl- 
edge of the Great West. 

1843. June 17. Bunker Hill Monu- 
ment was dedicated, and Daniel Webster 
again delivered an oration, being selected 
by common consent as the only lit Amer- 
ican to serve in such a capacity, at the 
founding and completion of this memo- 
rable shaft. After much delay, and often- 
times discouragement, in raising money, 
the great memorial was completed, and 
stands an ever-enduring symbol of the 
purpose of the patriots of 1775. At one 
time in the work $30,035.93 were raised 
by the ladies of Boston in a fair. This 
virtually insured the completion. The 
obelisk stands 220 feet high, and cost 
$120,000. Solomon Willard, who drew 
the plans, was superintendent through 
the whole work. The task of raising the 
stones to their places was very great. 
The cap or apex stone at the summit of 
all weighed 2I tons. Daniel Webster, in 
his address, thus spoke of this memorial : 
" It is a plain shaft. It bears no inscrip- 
tions fronting to the rising sun, from 
which the future antiquarian shall wipe 
the dust. Nor does the rising sun cause 
tones of music to issue from its summit. 
But at the rising of the sun and at the 
setting of the sun, in the blaze of noon- 
day, and beneath the milder effulgence of 
lunar light it looks, it speaks, it acts, to 
the full comprehension of every Amer- 
ican mind, and the awakening of enthu- 
siasm in every American heart. Its silent, 
but awful utterance; its deep pathos as it 
brings to our contem^jlation the 17th of 
June, 1775' ^^^^^ the consequences w^hich 
have resulted to us, to our country, and to 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



481 



the world, from the events of that day; 
and which we know must continue to 
rain influence on the destinies of mankind, 
to the end of time; the elevation with 
which it raises us high above the ordinary 
feelings of life, surpass all that the study 
of the closet, or even the inspiration of 
genius, can produce. To-day it speaks to 
us. Its future auditories will be the suc- 
cessive generations of men, as they rise 
up before it and gather around it. Its 
speech will be of patriotism and courage ; 
of civil and religious liberty ; of free gov- 
ernment; of the moral imj^rovement and 
elevation of mankind; and of the im- 
mortal memory of those who, with heroic 
devotion, have sacrificed their lives for 
their countr3\" 

1843. Aug. 30. The " Liberty 
Party," in a convention at Buffalo, N. Y., 
nominated James G. Birney of Michigan, 
for president, and Thomas Morris of 
Ohio, for vice-president. 

1843. November. Mr. Alexander 
Dallas Bache was appointed superin- 
tendent of the coast survey of the United 
States, in place of Mr. Hassler, who had 
died. Mr. Bache enlarged the work 
very much, and gave it great scientific 
value. He held the position till his death 
in 1867. 

1843. Patent Lock. Mr. Linus Yale 
of Philadelphia, patented a lock which 
was never picked till it was done years 
after by his son, Linus Yale, Jr., who is 
connected by name with the celebrated 
Yale locks of the present day. 

1843. Samuel Colt, the manufacturer 
of firearms, laid a submarine cable of his 
own invention, from Coney and Fire 
Islands to New York city. It was 
worked with good success in the trans- 
mission of signals. 

1843. Pleuro-pneumonia, the cattle 



482 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



disease, was introduced into the United 
States by a cow from Germany. It ap- 
peared slightly in New York and New 
Jersey, but did no great harm for ten 
years. Since then it has carried off man}- 
cattle. 

1843. A special embassy to the 
Chinese empire was voted by congress, 
and an appropriation of $40,000 made 
for it. The object was to improve trade 
and better all our relations with that em- 
pire, in respects to which there had been 
carelessness heretofore. 

1843. Millerism. During this year 
a form of religionism which has since 
been known by the name of the plain, 
uneducated farmer who preached it, came 
to its head in the awaiting of the de- 
struction of the earth at the second 
•coming of Christ, by a large number of 
persons who adopted the views given. 
For ten years Mr. INIillcr had advocated 
his opinions until nearly 50,000 disciples 
were ready to believe his word. A great 
deal of excitement attended the diffusion 
of these views. From 1843 the expec- 
tations of the Millerites reached in many 
cases almost fever height. The passing 
of the year 1S43 without the end of the 
world shook the faith of some, but drove 
others back to a belief in some error of 
reckoning. But other dates were speedily 
set, and the hopes of the faithful endured 
repeated failui-es. At times, excesses at- 
tended the spread of these views, and 
sometimes almost insane rites were 
entered upon. But large numbers of the 
believers in these views were very sin- 
cerely affected, and waited for their Lord 
in great simplicity of faith. Mr. Miller 
died in 1S49, and divisions took place 
among his followers very widely. Some 
still clung to the notion of setting a time 
for Christ's coming, while others aban- 



doned that idea, and merely emphasized 
the necessity of expecting the Lord 
speedily. A large number have adopted 
the seventh day of the week as sabbath, 
and hence are called Seventh Day Ad- 
ventists. 

1844. Feb. 28. " The Peacemaker," 
a large cannon which was being tried on 
board the United States steamship 
Princeton, lying in the Potomac River, 
exploded, killing the Secretary of State, 
Abel P. Upshur, and the Secretary of 
the Navy, Thomas W. Gilmer, besides 
doing injury to others. Twenty persons 
in all were harmed. 

1844. February. Eastern Hayti 
formed itself into a government called 
the Dominican Republic. 

1844. May 1. The whig party in a 
convention at Baltimore, nominated 
Henry Clay of Kentucky, for president, 
and Theodore Frelinghuysen of New 
Jersey, for vice-president. 

1844. May 27. The democratic 
party in a convention at Baltimore, nom- 
inated James K. Polk of Tennessee, for 
president, and Silas Wright of New 
York, for vice-president, but as Mr. 
Wright declined, George M. Dallas of 
Pennsylvania was put in his place. 

SUCCESS WITH THE TELEGRylPH. 

1844. May 27. In accordance with 
the appropriation made by congress, a lino 
of telegraph was erected by Prof. Morse 
between Washington and Baltimore. At 
the dictation of Miss Anna Ellsworth, 
the first message sent over the silent 
wire was, " What hath God wrought?" 
The announcement of the nomination 
of James K. Polk for president by 
the democratic convention, was the next, 
and the first general, message sent. The 
attempt was first made to lay the wire in 



1825-1844.] 

the earth in pipes. This was Moi-se's 
original idea. Ezra Cornell invented a 
machine which would dig the trench, lay 
and cover the pipe, at one operation. 
It was set at work, and quite an amount 
of wire was laid. But upon trial the line 
would not operate, and Mr. Cornell, to 
save the reputation of Mr. Morse, ran 
the team upon a stone and smashed it 
up. Mr. Cornell then erected the wire 
on poles, which was his own idea, and 
has proved the successful method. 



THE GROWTH OF PARTIES. 



483 
place of 



1844. May. " Know Nothing Riot." 

A political meeting was held by the 
" Know Nothings," or Native Ameri- 
cans, who began to greatly oppose for- 
eign immigration, in Kensington, a dis- 
trict of Philadelphia, in the open air. It 
was obliged to adjourn because of a 
shower, to a market directly opposite a 
large house filled with foreigners. From 
this house a gun was fired into the crowd, 
which became excited, and for several 
days the two elements raged in conflict. 
A Romanist female seminary was de- 
stroyed. The city was overawed. Peo- 
ple were hung. The authorities could 
do nothing. Thirty buildings were 
demolished, including two elegant 
churches. Fourteen persons were killed, 
and thirty-nine wounded. A great deal 
of property was destroyed. Martial law 
was proclaimed, and the United States 
troops had to aid in restoring order to the 
city. 

1844. June 27. Joseph Smith, the 
Mormon leader, having been arrested 
because of the numerous charges against 
him, wag shot at Carthage, 111,, where 
he was to be put into jail, by a mob. 
The people of Illinois had become 
almost exasperated with the Mormons, 
and actual conflict was threatened. Brig- 



ham Young was chosen 
Smith, by the Mormons. 

1844. Sept. 20. Canalizo was made 
president of Mexico at the banishment of 
Santa Anna. 

1844. November. A small schooner 
named Midas, propelled by a double 
screw, left New York, and was the first 
American steam vessel to pass the Cape 
of Good Hope. It became a passenger 
vessel on the internal waters of China. 

1844. December. Laughing Gas. 
Dr. Horace Wells of Hartford, Conn., 
was the first to use laughing gas success- 
fully in the extraction of teeth. He ex- 
perimented slightly with ether at the 
suggestion of Dr. Marcy of Hartford, 
but did not like the effects. 

1844. December. Anson Jones was 
the last president of the Republic of 
Texas before its annexation to the United 
States. 

1844. December. Herera was made 
president of Mexico, to succeed the de- 
posed Canalizo, 

1844. The first treaty concluded be- 
tween the United States and China, was 
negotiated by Caleb Cushing. It was 
the first negotiated with that government 
by any Christian nation. 

1844. The American Anti- Slavery 
Society took its famous position of oppo- 
sition to the Federal Constitution, which 
it affirmed was pro-slavery, " a covenant 
with death, and an agreement with hell." 
It pronounced voting or the holding of 
office under such a constitution incon- 
sistent. The motto now was, " No union 
with slaveholders." Mr, Garrison and 
others led in this movement, which had 
been preparing some time. Many mem- 
bers withdrew from the society, which 
now was in antagonism to many of the 
best workers in the country. 



484 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



1844. The first " water-cure '^ estab- 
lishment in America was opened at No. 
64 Barclay Street, New York city, under 
David Campbell and Dr. Joel Shew, 
Others were soon founded. 

1844. A yacht club, the first in the 
United States, was formed in New York. 
There were nine members at the origin, 
each one owning a yacht. It soon in- 
creased its membership largely. 

1844. An agricultural department 
was opened in connection with Oberlin 
College, Ohio, and continued till 1855, 
when the funds were transferred to a 
separate college opened at Cleveland. 

FIFTEEXTH PRESIDEXTML m.MP^IGX. 

1844. In the fifteenth presidential 
campaign the all-exciting question ^vas 
the annexation of Texas to the United 
States. The northwestern boundary was 
also introduced into the canvass. The 
democratic party supported James K. 
Polk and George M. Dallas. The whigs 
supported Henry Clay and Theodore 
Freelinghuysen. The " libertv party " 
supported James G. Birney and Thomas 
Morris. Out of 275 electoral votes, 
Polk and Dallas received 170, with a 
popular vote of 1,337,243. Clay and 
Freelinghuysen received 105 electoral 
votes, and a popular vote of 1,299,068. 
The "liberty party" threw a popular 
vote of 62,300. The democratic candi- 
dates were therefore victorious. 

1844. An insurrection took place in 
Cuba among the negroes, but was sup- 
pressed with some effort. 



1844. Lopez became dictator of 
Paraguav. 

1844. Fourierism. A new form of 
socialism began to be extended very 
widely in the United States. It takes its 
name from Fourier, the Frenchman, who 
thought that his views would remodel 
society and j^roperty. After these ideas 
were first stated in the United States, 
many people were attracted to them, and 
advocates sprang up for them in several 
difFerent quarters. Horace Greeley be- 
came prominent in the diffusion of infor- 
mation concerning Fourier's views, and in 
the making of appeals for the adoption of 
them experimentally. "Brook Farm," 
the enterprise of the literary and social 
reformers of Massachusetts, was con- 
verted to Fourierism. "Phalanxes" 
were now established in a large number 
of states, and for a time the growth was 
very rapid. But disintegration took 
place, and the efforts began to lose in 
power. Cohesion finally ceased, and 
communities began to go to pieces. The 
chief measures offered by Fourierism 
were for the housing and feeding of the 
members of the associations upon the 
co-operative plan, by the erection of 
large edifices, one in each " jDhalanx," 
in which the families were to live and 
board, and by the raising of large crops 
in common, for the supjDort of the whole. 
The mania for Fourierism was the widest 
social mania this country has experienced, 
but in spite of the fact that many of its 
supporters were of excellent character 
and ability, it finally passed by, into 
silence. 



SECTION XVIII. 
TJETI^ IJVC^UciSU OJ^ S^C2'I0A^AZISM. 7815-7859. 



"Vw^IDES of party life in the United 
J I ^ States during this period rise 
I higher. The interests of different 
A sections clash more vigorously, and 
all arransements for harmonizing them 
are made with increasing difficulty. The 
shadow of the future is deepening. War 
between the United States and Mexico 
gives a military character once more to 
the life of North America. In South 
America factions still appear and disap- 
pear. Personal motives enter into the 
solution of all questions in that half of 
the continent, and a resort to arms closes 
all disputes. The whole continent is yet 
in a crude condition, except that Amer- 
ican inventions now begin to lead the 
world. 

1845. March 1. The bill for the an- 
nexation of Texas to the United States 
was signed by the president. 

1845. March 3. Florida was the 
twenty -seventh state to be received into 
the Union. It has an area of 59,268 
square miles, and a population in 1870 of 
187,748 persons. Its motto is " In 
God we trust." 

1845. March 4. James K. Polk of 
Tennessee was inaugurated president 

[4851 



of the United States, and George M. 
Dallas of Pennsylvania, vice-president. 

1845. March 6. General Almonte, 
Mexican minister at Washington, closed 
his diplomatic relations with the United 
States government, and left the city. 
The Mexican government was vexed be- 
cause of the jjroposed annexation of Texas 
to the United States. 

1845. March 16. Lopez was made 
president of Paraguay. 

1845. April. The first newspaper 
in Paraguay was issued. 

1845. April 10. A great conflagra- 
tion destroyed about iSoo buildings, or 
one-third of the city of Pittsburg, Penn., 
burning over 56 acres. The loss was 
$6,000,000. $30,000 were received from 
the state in aid, and much from other 
places. 

FR±\KLLVS LtIST VOYAGE. 

1845. May 26. Sir John Franklin 
sailed from England with Capt. Crozier, 
in the " Erebus " and " Terror." His 
last dispatch was from Whalefish Islands, 
Baffin's Bay. 

1845. May 28. A great conflagra- 
tion at Quebec burned 1050 houses, and 



486 



POLITICAL DEV^ELOPMENT. 



made 1 200 people homeless. Many per- 
sons were killed. 

ti.VDREW MCKSO.y. 

1845. June 8. Andrew Jackson, the 
seventh president of the United States, 
died at " The Hermitage," his residence, 
a few miles from Nashville, Tenn., at the 



simplest rudiments. The impetuosity 
and fearlessness of the man were early 
apparent in the boy, and when only thir- 
teen years old he joined the volunteers of 
Carolina against the British invasion. In 
1 78 1 he and his brother Robert were 
captured, and imprisoned for a time at 
Camden. Upon one occasion the officer 




ANDREW JACK'^ON. 



age of seventy-eight years. His parents 
were poor emigrants from Ireland, who 
took up their abode in the Waxhaw set- 
tlement, N. C, where they lived in the 
deepest poverty. Here Andrew was 
born March 15, 1767, a few days after 
his father's death. His early education 
was very limited, consisting only of the 



in charge insolently ordered the Jackson 
brothers to clean his boots, but the in- 
trepid boys refused, and were seriously 
wounded by the sword-cuts of the wrath- 
ful tory. They suffered much from ill- 
treatment, and were finally stricken with 
small-pox. Their mother was successful 
in obtaining their exchange, and took her 



1845-1859.] 

sick boys home, when Robert soon died. 
After a long ilhiess Andrew recovered, 
and the death of his mother soon left him 
entirely friendless. He supported himself 
in various ways, until in 17S4 he entered 
a law office in Salisbury, N. C. He, 
however, gave more attention to the wild 
amusements of the times than to his 
studies. In 1 788 he was appointed solici- 
tor for the western district of North 
Carolina, of which Tennessee was then a 
part. This involved many long tedious 
journeys amid dangers of every kind, but 
Andrew Jackson never knew fear, and 
the Indians had no desire to repeat a 
skirmish with the Sharp Knife. In 1791 
Mr. Jackson was married to a woman 
who supposed herself divorced from hei" 
former husband. Great was the surprise 
of both parties two years later, to find 
that the conditions of the divorce had 
just been definitely settled by the first 
husband. The marriage ceremony was 
performed a second time, but the occur- 
rence was often used by his enemies to 
bring Mr. Jackson into disfavor. During 
these years he worked hard at his profes- 
sion, was involved in many quarrels, and 
frequently had one or more duels on 
hand. In 1797 ^^^ was elected United 
States senator, but soon resigned the 
position, and returned home. As the 
trouble with England came on the old 
war spirit of the boy showed itself, and 
he led an expedition against the Creek 
Indians, whom he conquered effectually. 
In 1S14 he received a commission in the 
army, and the command of the south- 
western forces passed into his hands. 
His customary energy and hardihood 
were displayed, and the victory at New 
Orleans crowned his military coui'se. 
His name now began to be mentioned in 
connection with the presidency, but in 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



487 



1S24 he was defeated by Mr, Adams. 
He was, however, successful in the elec- 
tion of 182S, and was re-elected for a 
second term in 1S32. Although he was 
neither diplomat nor statesman, his ad- 
ministration was successful in many w^ays, 
and his hold upon the hearts of the peo- 
ple was deep and strong. Much excite- 
ment was aroused by his attitude in 
regard to the United States bank, but at 
the close of his administration he was 
freed from censure by vote of the 
senate. He lived quietly at " The Her- 
mitage," until an attack of dropsy ended 
his days. He was quick-tempered, but 
kindly and benevolent. He had a simple 
nature, and was always honest in his 
intentions. He was a vigorous and val- 
uable character of the cruder sort. 



1845. June 28. Another great con- 
flagration at Quebec burned 1,365 
houses, covering two-thirds of the city. 

1845. July 4. The legislature of 
Texas ratified the " Annexation Bill " 
passed by the United States congress. 

1845. July 17. The first regular 
regatta in America was held in New 
York harbor. Seven sloops and three 
schooners contested. The winner's name 
was Cygnet, 

1845. July 19. A great fire in New 
York destroyed property to the value of 
$6,000,000. Four hundred and fifty 
buildings were destroyed. 

1845. August. Anti-Rent Disturb- 
ance. A disturbance occurred on the 
Van Rensselaer estates in the interior of 
New York, near Albany. It spread to 
other counties. Tenants be- ^(§^5 j^^^j 

gan to resist the collection Rouse's telescope. 

of rents. They were led by a few mis- 
chief-makers. Armed companies assem- 
bled at certain places. The sheriff was 



488 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



murdered in one instance. In Dela- 
ware county strictness took the place of 
lenity, and many arrests were made. 
Some were sentenced for life, and so 
peace Avas restored. 

1845. August. Gen. Taylor marched 
with about four thousand men to Corpus 
Christi, Texas, in order to occupy the 
soil of that province against Mexico. 

1845. September. First Base Ball 
Club. The Knickerbocker Base Ball 
Club of New York was the first club to 
sustain a permanent existence in America. 
Many of its former active members are 
no^v the leading business men of New 
York. The club is still in existence. 

1845. Oct. 10. The naval school 
of the United States \vas opened at 
Annapolis, Md., under the direction of 
Hon. George Bancroft, secretary of the 
navy. 

1845. Dee. 4. Paraguay and Corri- 
entes declared war upon Rucnos Ayres. 

1845. December. Monarchical Effort. 
Gen. Paredes succeeded Herera as presi- 
dent of jMexico. Gen. Paredes had been 
mo. Completion P"t into Command of the 
of the Thames army bv Herera, and now 

ill lit! el. , ... 

pronounced aganrst hmi. 
The attempt was now made to crush 
republican principles and government. 
Paredes assumed sovereignty, and sub- 
verted the constitution of 1S34. 

1845. Dec. 29. Texas was the twenty- 
eighth state to be received into the Union. 
It has an area of 347,356 square miles, 
and a population in 1S70 of Si 0,2 18 per- 
sons. It is known as " The Lone Star 
State." It brought a debt of $7,500,000, 
and made the tei'ritory of the United 
States contain upward of 3,000,000 square 
miles. 

1845. Ole Bull, the noted Norwegian 
violinist, came to the United States for 



the first time. He attempted to found a 
colony of his countrymen in Penn- 
sylvania, but was unsuccessful. At dif- 
ferent times he visited Europe, but re- 
turned to the United States for a great 
portion of the time, to delight the people 
with his skill upon the violin. 

1845. Copper Fever. The Lake Su- 
perior copper mines, which had been 
known for over a centurv, now began to 
be worked with some energy and success. 
The small mines of the country, chiefly 
in New Jersey and Connec- nss-isio. 
ticut, had been worked in Thomas Hood. 
the previous century. As the extent of 
the Lake Superior copper country now 
became known, a great excitement sprang 
up, land was sold at great prices, leases 
were taken at enormous rates, fictitious 
companies sprang into being, and the 
whole land was alive with the agitation. 
For two years this continued, until in 
1S47 ^'^^ bubble burst, and the excite- 
ment died out. Then the intelligent 
mining of that rich region began, and 
has increased stcadilv. 

1845. A Panama canal was the sub- 
ject of a learned report to the French 
government by M. Napoleon Gavella, 
chief of the royal corps of mining 
engineers. It was made up from actual 
examination, and Avas accompanied by 
maps and details. It was published the 
following 3'car. 

1845. Mr. E. B. Bigelow of Boston, 
patented his methods of matching figures 
in the weaving of carpets, and applied them 
to the automatic power loom, so that the 
production of carpets began to be greatly 
increased. The factories at nes-isia 

Lowell, Mass., and at Sev- .Sydney Smith. 

ei-al places in Connecticut, adopted this 
and other improvements invented by Mr. 
Bisrelow. Eng-lish inventors had been 



1845-1859.] 

dismayed at this problem. Mr. Bigelovv's 
machine did it better than it could be 
done by hand. 

1845. Petroleum. In boring for salt 
above Pittsburg, Penn., on the Allegheny 
River, a spring of oil was struck, and for 
the first time revealed the presence of 
that substance in the earth in large quan- 
tities. It had been known to the Indians 
:is floating on the streams, and had 
been used by them upon wounds 
and bruises. It had been known as 
" Seneca oil," or " Genesee oil." Efforts 
were now made to purify it, but not 
much was done until the direct labors of 
Bowditch and Drake in iS57-'9, in boring 
for it. It had before this time been col- 
lected on Oil Creek, Venango Co., Penn., 
which showed so much of oil that the 
first settlers gave it its name. It had 
been used to some extent in workshops, 
and for illumination. This was the re- 
inote beginning of the oil fever which 
has added materially to our sources of 
illumination. 

1845. The first number of the " True 
American," a weekly anti-slavery paper, 
was issued at Lexington, Ky., by Cassius 
M. Clay. A mob afterward seized the 
press and sent it to Cincinnati, where Mr. 
Clay for some time afterward did the 
printing of his paper, though he published 
it in Lexington. 

1845. The brig " Swallow " wr:^ lost 
on the Hudson River, and fourteen lives 
-were lost. 

1845. By the explosion of "Big 
Hatchee," on the Mississippi River, 
twenty or thirty persons were killed and 
scalded. 

1845. Great Britain and France 
blockaded Buenos Ay res in agreement 
with Brazil, which wished to gain con- 
trol of Uruguay. The combined fleets 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



489 



opened the Parana River, and overcame 
the Argentine forces in all their attempts 
to resist. 

1845. Gen. Castilla was elected pres- 
ident of Peru, after having overthrown 
the previous dictatoi". 

1845. Ecuador adopted its present 
constitution, with a republican form of 
government. 

1845. The slave trade was nearly 
suppressed in Cuba during the next two 
years by Capt.-Gen. Valdez. 

1846. January. Canale Napoleone 
de Nicaragua. Full power to organize 
a company in Europe for the cutting of a 
ship canal across the Isthmus, was con- 
ferred by the government of Nicaragua 
upon Louis Napoleon, afterward Napo- 
leon III., Emperor of France. Napoleon 
had his attention turned to it while he 
was a prisoner at Ham, and made such a 
thorough study of the situation as to 
enable him to prepare a work, which was 
the fullest and most scientific up to that 
time in the world, upon that subject. He 
was visited by representatives of the Cen- 
tral American governments, and after- 
ward in England endeavored to secure 
the support of capitalists for his project. 
He advocated the route by the river San 
Juan and Lake Nicaragua. 

1846. March 28. First Blood in 
Mexican War. Gen. Taylor arrived at 
the Rio Grande under orders from the 
United States, and constructed Fort 
Brown, opposite Matamoras. He was 
ordered by Gen. Ampudia, in command 
of the Mexican forces, "to retire within 
twenty-four hours, or arms and men alone 
must decide the question." This was re- 
garded with indifference by Gen. Taylor. 
Col. Cross, an American oilicer, riding 
beyond the lines, was shortly afterward 
murdered by Mexican cavalrymen, who 



490 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



caught him alone and beat out his brains 
witli a pistol. 

1846. April 24. Sixty-three men 
under Capt. Thornton, sent out to recon- 
noiter, were likewise killed, or seized as 
prisoners by the Alexicans. 

1846. May 8. The battle of Palo 
Alto, on the Rio Grande, was fought be- 
tween two thousand American troops 
under Gen. Taylor, and six thousand 
Mexicans under Gen. Arista. The latter 
were driven back after a severe conflict 
of five hours. The American loss was 
9 killed and 47 wounded. The Mexican 
loss was about 100. 

1846. May 9. The battle of Resaca 
de la Palma was fought at a ravine near 
Fort Brown. The Mexicans outnum- 
bered the Americans, three to one. Gen. 
Taylor wishing to decide the battle by 
capturing the Mexican guns, said to Capt. 

iBi^. Planet ^^7' '^^ the dragoous, 
Neptune, pre- " Capt, May, you must 

dieted bv Le Ver- ^ , ,i , i ,, '„ t •■,-, 

Tier, discovered ^akc that battery." « I will 
by Dr. Gaiie of do it,sir!" hc slioutcd in re- 
ply, and off his men dashed 
upon a resistless charge over the guns, in 
the face of a deadly fire. The Mexicans 
fled across the Rio Grande with a loss of 
600. Gen. Taylor's loss was 60. 

1846. May 11. War was declared 
against Mexico by the United States. 

1846. May 13. Volunteers. Con- 
gress provided for the raising of not 
more than 50,000 inen " who may offer 
their services either as cavalry, artillery, 
infantry, or riflemen." This was the first 
late. 300.000 systematic action of the U. 

emigrants to ^ . 

United. 'States. ^- government ni regard to 
volunteering, and is very greatly the idea 
of William L. Marcy of New York, then 
secretary of war. It has since been 
proved to be the strength of this free 
government. Volunteers have been 



rapidly raised, and accurately trained.^ 
In this case the excitement was so great 
that the president had offers from 300,000 
men. He was authorized to use $10,- 
000,000. 

1846. May 17. Matamoras was 
evacuated by the Mexicans under Gen. 
Arista, who fell back toward Monterey. 

1846. May 18. The American flag 
was first waved over Mexican soil by- 
Gen. Taylor and his force, who had 
crossed the Rio Grande. 

1846. May 23. War was declared 
upon the United States by the Mexican 
government. 

1846. June 12. A great fire burned 
nearly the whole of St. John's, New- 
foundland, and turned out 6,000 people. 

1846. June 15. The northwestern 
boundary of the United States between 
Oregon and the British Possessions was 
determined by a treaty signed at London. 
The final agreement was upon latitude 
49*^, the United States withdrawing their 
claim to 54", 40' — "fifty-four fort}-, or 
fight." This confirmed 308,0^3 square 
miles to the United States, making in all 
3,413,211 square miles. 

1846. Sonoma Pass, Cal., with a 
Mexican garrison, Avas captured by Col. 
John C. Fremont. 

1846. July 7. Monterey in Cali- 
fornia, upon the coast, w^as taken by the 
U. S. navy under Com. John D. Sloat, 
who announced himself governor of the 
territory, which he declared to be a part 
of the United States. 

1846. July 9. San Francisco was 
occupied by Com. Montgomery of the 
U. S. navy. 

1846. July 9. The portion of the 
District of Columbia originally ceded to 
the United States by Virginia, was re- 
ceded to that state. 



1845-1859.] 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



491 



1846. Aug. 4. A " republican mani- 
festo " v/as made in the City of Mexico 
by Gens. Morales and Salas. The people 
and army for the most part supported it. 
President Paredes fled. Santa Anna 
1846. Pope Puis was invited to rctum, which 
IX. elected. \-^q (Ji(^i, He was made com- 

mander-in-chief of the national army. 

1846. Aug. 8. An appropriation of 
$3,000,000 was asked for by President 
Polk, to enable the United States to ne- 
gotiate a treaty with Mexico. 

1846. Aug. 17. Los Angelos, Cal., 
was taken possession of by Com. R. F. 
Stockton, who had succeeded Com. 
Sloat. Col. Fremont was with him. 
He renewed the proclamation issued by 
Com. Sloat. 

1846. Aug. 18. Santa Fe was taken 
by Gen. Stephen W. Kearney, who ar- 
rived with 1,600 men after a march of 
900 miles through the wilderness. The 
Mexican force of four thousand men fled 
at his approach. The government of the 
United States was proclaimed in New 
Mexico. 

1846. August. The " Wilmot Pro- 
viso," taking its name from Mr. Wilmot, 
a democratic member from Pennsylvania, 
who offered it, was introduced into con- 
gress, providing that there should be no 
im. insurrec- slavery in territory there- 

ii07i at Cracow 1 t t • 1 

ill Poland. after annexed to the United 

States. The " proviso " was based on 
the celebrated ordinance of 1787. It 
passed the house, but did not reach the 
senate before the close of the session. 
The whigs and many northern demo- 
crats united in supporting it. The pro- 
viso was afterward attached to some bills, 
but failed to pass with them. 

1846. Sept. 10. First Practical 
Sewing Machine. Elias Howe, Jr., of 
Cambridge, Mass., patented the sewing 



machine, the model of which he had 
completed in 1843, and which has since 
been known by his name. The sewing 
machine is an American invention. For 
years Mr. Howe had legal controversies, 
but died with a vast property accumu- 
lated by a royalty paid him on the manu- 
facture of each machine. 

1846. Sept. 19. A memorable gale 
swept along the New England coast, and 
destroyed much shipping and many lives. 
From Marblehead alone forty-five hus- 
bands were lost, leaving 155 children 
fatherless. 

1846. Sept. 21. A portion of Gen. 
Taylor's army which had now advanced 
upon Monterey, captured the heights in 
the rear of that city, and cut off all further 
supplies. 

1846. Sept. 24. Monterey surren- 
dered after a severe assault lasting through 
portions of two days. About ten thou- 
sand Mexican troops had defended the 
city, and nearly seven thousand American 
troojDS had assailed it. The loss of the 
latter was about five hundred, of the 
former twice that number. 

1846. Oct. 16. First Public Suc- 
cess with Ether. The first successful 
public exhibition of the use of ether in 
surgical operations, was given in the 
Massachusetts General Hospital by Dr. 
W. G. T. Morton and Dr. ^«^^- ^<""> 
Charles T. Jackson. The caped/ZnHam. 
introduction of ether as an anaesthetic 
dates from this time. The preparation 
was patented by the two men under the 
name of Letheon. 

1846. Oct. 30. Gen. John E. Wool, 
who had been appointed inspector-general 
of the American army, arrived at Mont- 
clova, seventy miles from Monterey, with 
3,000 volunteers whom he had rapidly 
disciplined in military drill upon the 



492 



POLITICAL DE VELOPMENT 



march through the moiintahis into 
Mexico. 

1846. October. Tabasco, on the 
coast of Mexico, was bombarded by Com. 
Perry, and the shipping in tlie harbor 
was destroyed. 

1846. Nov. 14. Tampico, upon the 
coast of Mexico, was taken by Com. 
Conner. 

1846. Nov. 15. Saltillo was occu- 
pied by Gen. Taylor, an armistice which 
had been in existence for a time, having 
been declared at an end. 

1846. Dec. 6. The Mexicans were 
defeated by Gen. Kearney, at San Pas- 
qual. 

1846. Dec. 25. Battle of Braceti. 
Col. Doniphan, who was sent back with 
the main part of Kearney's men, and had 
marched to join Gen. Wool, defeated a 
large IMexican force at Braceti on the 
Rio del Norte. The latter fled with a 
loss of two hundred men. The Ameri- 
cans lost seven wounded, and none killed. 

1846. Dee. 28. Iowa was the twenty- 
ninth state to be admitted into the Union. 
It has an area of 55,045 square miles, and 
a population in 1S70 of 1,194,020 persons. 
Its motto is, " Our liberties we prize, our 
rights we will maintain." It is familiarly 
known as the " Hawkeye State." 

1846. December. A popular rev- 
olution in Alexico restored Santa Anna, 
who had secretly returned to the country 
from Havana, to power, and he was 
elected " i^rovisional president." 

1846. A Universal and Critical Dic- 
tionary of the English language was 
issued by Joseph E. Worcester. 

1846. The Palmer Leg. A patent 
for artificial legs and feet was issued to 
Benj. F. Palmer of Meredith, N. H., and 
has since become of world-wide notoriety. 
Mr. Palmer having lost a leg, undertook 



to supply the deficiency, and succeeded 
so well that he devoted himself to the 
manufacture of limbs. He patented an 
arm and hand in 1857. 

1846. Niagara Suspension Bridge 
was erected by John A. Roebling, an 
American engineer, who was chosen from 
the competitors because of the ability 
shown in his plans. 

1846. Quicksilver mines began to be 
worked in wSanta Clara County, Cali- 
fornia, by Mexicans who had learned of 
them through Indians. The latter had 
used the ore in making vermillion paint. 

1846. The name " Kerosene " was 
first used by Abraham Gesner, who con- 
ferred it upon oil which he made from 
coal on Prince Edward's Island. 

1846. A great fire burned a large 
portion of Louisville, Kentucky. Several 
hundred buildings were consumed. 

1847. Jan. 8. The Mexican con- 
gress voted to assess the property of the 
church for $15,000,000 for the support of 
the war. 

1847. Jan. 8. Com. Stockton de- 
feated the Mexicans under Gen. Flores, 
at Rio San Gabriel, Cal. 

1847. Jan. 9. Another victory was 
obtained by Com. Stockton at the plains 
of Mesa, Cal., and the Mexicans fled the 
country, 

1847. Jan. 14. A conspiracy against 
the U. S. government apjDcared in New 
Mexico, and Col. Bent, who had been 
appointed governor by Gen. Kearney, 
was murdered. Tlie trouble was soon 
quelled. 

1847. Jan. 24. The New Mexico 
insurgents were defeated at Canada in 
that territory by an American force under 
Col. Price. 

1847. January. Gen. Winfield Scott 
arrived on the coast of Mexico and as- 



1845-1859.] 

suined command of all the forces of the 
United States in the field against Mexico. 
He drew upon Gen. Taylor for large re- 
inforcements for the siege of Vera Cruz. 

1847. January. John C. Fremont 
was appointed governor of California by 
Com. Stockton, an appointment which 
afterward gave trouble, because of Gen. 
Kearney's senior authority. 

1847. Feb. 23. Eight hundred 
Mexicans were defeated at Saltillo by a 
company of American troops under Capt. 
Webster. 

1847. Feb. 23. The battle of Buena 
Vista was fought between Gen. Taylor's 
force of five thousand men, and the 
Mexican army of twenty thousand men, 
under Santa Anna. The contest lasted 
all day, with fearful struggles at times. 
At last the entire Mexican force gave 
way and fled in the night, after having 
lost about two thousand men. Gen. 
Taylor lost seven hundred and forty-six 
men. 

1847. Feb. 28. Battle of Sacra- 
mento. Col, Doniphan defeated four 
thousand Mexicans in the battle of Sacra- 
mento, with a loss of eighteen men, and 
entered the city of Chihuahua. The 
Mexican loss was six hundred. Col. 
Doniphan remained here six weeks, and 
then jDroceeded to join Gen. Wool. 

1847. March 1. Gen. Kearney is- 
sued a proclamation assuming the gov- 
ernment of California. Col. Fremont 
refused to obey him, and thus the trouble 
originated which resulted in the court- 
martial of Coi. Fremont at Washington. 

1847. March 3. First Isthmus Steam- 
ers. Congress passed an act establishing 
a line of steamers from New York to 
Aspinwall, and from Panama to Califor- 
nia. The first steamers left the next year, 
just at the time when the gold fever 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



493 



broke out, and were in season to make a 
great success. 

1847. March 3. The life-saving ser- 
vice of the United States on the coast, 
was originated by an appropriation from 
congress to provide the light-houses with 
means of assisting at times of ship- 
wrecks. 

1847. March 7. A body of Mexi- 
cans was defeated at Ceralvo by Major 
Giddings. 

1847. March 29. Vera Cruz was 
taken by Gen. Scott and Com. Perry, 
after a successful siege of one week. 
The city was considered very strong. 
Five thousand troops, five hundred can- 
non, and other military supplies, were 
taken in the city. The Mexicans lost 
i,ooo; the Americans 8o. 

1847. March. Col. Stephenson's Cal- 
ifornia volunteer regiment, raised in New 
York, arrived in San Francisco. It was 
sent to occupy Monterey and Santa 
Barbara. 

1847. March. The United States 
war vessel Jamestown was sent to Ire- 
land with a cargo of provisions for the 
starving population of that island. 

1847. April 18. The battle of Cerro 
Gordo was fought between Santa Anna, 
with his army of 13,000 men strongly 
entrenched upon the heights, and Gen. 
Scott's army of 8,500 men, who were 
obliged to gain the battle by storming 
the enemy's position, which they did 
most fearlessly. A complete victory was 
won. Gen. Scott captured three thousand 
prisoners, forty-three cannon, five thou- 
sand stands of arms, and large military 
supplies. The American loss was 431. 

1847. April 22. The town and castle 
of Perote were occupied by Gen. Worth. 

1847. May 15. Pueblo de los Angelos, 
the " city of the angels," was occupied 



494 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



by the American army. During a rest 
in this city, peace overtures were made to 
the Mexican government, and were 
haughtily rejected. The army were now 
within a short distance of the " City of 
Mexico," and the last brilliant victories 
of the war soon took place. 

1847. May 19. The Canadian brig 
Carrick was wrecked in the St, Law- 
rence, with a loss of 170 lives. 

1847. June. The Liberty League, 
a branch of the " liberty party," met in 
convention at Macedon Locke, N. Y., 
and nominated Gerritt Smith for presi- 
dent. At a later convention at Rochester, 
C. C. Foote was nominated for vice- 
president. This secession was on the 
ground that abolition of slavery was not 
the only reform which the " liberty 
party " ought to propose to carry out. 
Still another band of the liberty party 
Avho did not like the nominations made at 
Buffalo, met in convention and nominated 
the liberty league candidates. This or- 
ganization was afterward mei^ged in 
other organizations which followed it. 

1847. Aug. 20. Contreras was taken 
by a fierce assault at sunrise by the 
Americans, and 7,000 Mexicans were 
routed or captured. Thirty -three cannon 
were taken. The battle lasted seventeen 
minutes. In a short time Santa Anna's 
army, which had been held as a reserve, 
was in motion, and the battle of Churu- 
busco began. A scries of heavy attacks 
broke the Mexican army into pieces, and 
utterly routed it. The storming of 
Churubusco was a violent assault under 
Gen. Worth. 

1847. Sept. 8 The citadel of Molino 
del Rey was stormed and carried by 
Gen. Worth, with about 4,000 troops. 
i845-i8i7. Fam- The Mexican loss was 
ine in Ireland. I ,ooo ; the AmeHcan Soo. 



The immediate defences of the City of 
Mexico began to fall. 

1847. Sept. 13. The citadel of Cha- 
pultepec, which was on the site of the 
Hall of the Montezumas, was stormed 
and taken with great slaughter. This 
was the last step in the advance, and 
bravely did the Mexicans resist the in- 
vaders, but all in vain. Santa Anna's 
troops finally fled in panic, and afterward 
he and the remnant of his armv fled from 
the city. 

1847. Sept. 14. Gen. Scott entered 
the City of Mexico at the head of his 
escort, and formally proclaimed the over- 
throw of the Mexican powei". The war 
had been one constant succession of vic- 
tories over superior numbers. 

1847. Oct. 9. The Mexicans were 
defeated at Huainantla, by Gen. Lane, 
who marched to Pueblo to relieve Col. 
Childs, who had been besieged in that 
city forty days, by a portion of Santa 
Anna's army. 

1847. Oct. 18. Gen. Lane defeated 
a Mexican force at Atlixco. 

1847. Oct. 20. Guaymas, a port in 
the Gulf of Mexico, was taken by a part 
of the American squadron. 

1847. Nov. 19. The Talisman of 
Pittsburg, was lost on the Ohio River, 
with 100 lives, 

1847. Nov. 21. The Phoenix was 
lost on Lake Michigan, with 240 lives. 

1847. Dec. 12. Gen. Scott issued a 
proclamation against guer- nso-i847. 
illas, who now began to T/wmas chai- 

, 1 .1 1 1 mers. 

rove through the borders 
of Mexico and New Mexico. 

1847. December. The British seized 
the only Nicaraguan port lying on the 
Atlantic, named San Juan del Norte. 
The excuse was that it belonged to the 
Mosquito King. 



1845-1859.] 

1847. Prof. Agassiz received an invi- 
tation frcin Prof. Bache, Supt. of the U. 
S. Coast Survey, to avail himself of the 
vessels of the Coast Survey Department 
for making scientific exploration. The 
liberty to do this was the chief reason for 
his decision to remain in America the 
rest of his life. 

1847. The American Association for 
the Advancement of Science w^as organ- 
ized. It has held annual meetings with 
great regularity, and is now a strong, 
honored body of scientists. Its annual 
reports contain a full statement of the 
progress of science since the organization 
of the Association. It has about 700 
members. 

1847. The Order of the Good Sa- 
maritans was organized in New York 
city. Persons of color and ladies were 
admitted to full membership, a procedure 
at that time not known in any other 
temperance society. 

1847. The Mormons, 16,000 strong, 
having spent about two years in crossing 
the Rocky Mountains under Brigham 
Young, their new leader, settled Salt 
Lake City, on Great Salt Lake, Utah. 

1847. A constitution was adopted in 
Costa Rica. It has been modified at 
times since, but not completely changed. 
Civil wars have abounded. 

1847. The Oneida Community, near 
Syracuse, N. Y., was founded by John 
H. Noyes, as an outcome of " perfec- 
tionism." 

1847. The Cuba coolie trade began, 
and has attained great proportions since. 

1848. January. A Nicaraguan force 
recaptvn-ed San Juan. But two British 
ships of v^^ar were at once sent, and the 
place re-occupied. A battle afterward 
took place inland, and the Nicaraguan 
force was defeated. Finally the British 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



495 



commander obtained an agreement that 
the Nicaraguan government would not 
touch San Juan. 

1848. Feb. 2. Treaty of Hidalgo. 
A treaty of peace between the United 
States and Mexico was signed at Guada- 
loupe, Hidalgo. The United States 
received New Mexico and California for 
a sum of $15,000,000, and the Rio 
Grande River was made the western 
boundary of Texas. About 25,000 men 
were lost in this war, which cost the 
United States $160,000,000. New Mex- 
ico and California added 523,955 square 
miles to the United States, making 
3,936,166 square miles in all. 

THE C^LIFORNM GOLD FEVER. 

1848. Feb. 9. A piece of gold was 
picked up in a mill race on a branch of 
the Sacramento River, by a little girl 
named Marshall, daughter of the over- 
seer of the mill, which belonged to John 
A. Sutter. The men were at work re- 
pairing the race. The lump was known 
by part of them to be gold, and they 
tried to keep it secret, but in some way it 
spread, until the whole country was 
excited, and thousands were pouring 
toward California. For the next few 
years the immigration to California was 
very great, and gold was washed out of 
the streams in large quantities. That 
day has passed by, and deep mining is 
now the main business of the great region 
of gold and silver. Gold was noticed in 
California by persons with Drake in his 
expedition of 1577, and diflferent Spanish 
writers subsequently affirmed the richness 
of the region in minerals. As late as 
1S47 a statement of it was made in the 
Merchant's Magazine, but the outburst 
did not take place till the little girl found 
her piece at Sutter's Mill. 



496 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



JOHX QUXCY :iD±MS. 
1848. Feb. 23. John Quincy Adams, 
son of John Adams, and sixth president 
of the United States, died in Washington, 
aged eighty-one years. He was born 
July II, 1767, at Quincy, Mass., and as a 
mere child was a witness of many of the 
Revolutionary scenes around Boston. 
When only eleven years old he vs'as taken 
to Paris by his father, wlio had been ap- 
pointed minister from the United States 
to France. Here he remained at school 
for a year and a half, and then returned 
home, only to again embark for France 
after a few months. He now went to 
Amsterdam to study, and after a time 
entered the Universitv of Leyden. He 
pursued his course until 17S1, when, 
although he was but fourteen years old, 
he was taken to Russia by Francis Dana 
as his private secretary. At the end of 
fourteen months, as the appointment of 
Mr. Dana failed to be recognized, the 
young secretary left for Holland, and 
once again began his regular studies. 
He remained abroad until 1785, when he 
returned to America, and the next year 
entered Harvard College in advance, so 
that he completed the course in two 
years. The next three 3'ears were spent 
in the law office of Theophilus Parsons, 
and in 1791 Mr. Adams opened his own 
office in Boston. His writings upon the 
political questions of the times now be- 
iHi9. Feb. 22. g^n to attract the public 
French Revoiu- attention, and gained for 

tion. Loiiix . 

Philippe abdica- huTi sucli Confidence that m 
ted. Loui.<: Na- j yg . ]-,£ y^^^ appointed bv 

poleo7i elected ' . . 

president, Dec. WashuigtOU muiister tO 

^0- the Netherlands. After two 

vears in this position he was transferred 
to Lisbon, but before his ariival in that 
place the order was changed, and he was 
sent to Berlin instead. As this appoint- 



ment was made by President John 
Adams, the son felt some hesitancy in 
accepting it, and his scruples were onlv 
overcome by the assurance that Gen, 
Washington had strongly advised the 
measure. During his residence at the 
Prussian court, Mr. Adams wrote ex- 
tensively, and one series of his letters 
was translated into French and German. 
In iSoi, at his solicitation, his recall was 
effi^cted, and the next year he again 
opened a la\v office in Boston. Mr» 
Adams w'as a supporter of the federal 
party, and in 1S03 took his seat in the 
United States senate as their representa- 
tive. His views on the embargo act of 
President Jefferson caused an alienation, 
however, and in 1S08, finding that he 
would fail of a re-nomination, he re- 
signed before the close of his term, and 
returning to his home, gave undivided 
attention to the duties of professor of 
rhetoric and belles-lettres, ^vhich position 
he held in Harvard College. Soon after 
President Madison's inauguration he was 
appointed minister to Russia, there 
having been no ambassador to that 
country since the return of Air. Dana. 
Mr. Adams became the personal friend 
of the Emperor Alexander, and it was 
through his influence that Russia felt an 
interest in helping to adjust the unpleas- 
ant relations of England and the United 
States. In 18 15 Mr. Adams was trans- 
ferred to the English court, where he 
remained until 181 7. He then returned to 
the United States to accept the position 
of secretary of state under Mr. Monroe. 
He honorably filled this place for the 
eight years that President Monroe re- 
mained in office, and then passed to the 
more arduous duties of chief magistrate. 
In the presidential campaign of 1825, 
party spirit ran high, and no choice was 



1845-1859.] 

effected by the electors. The house, 
therefore, elected Mr. Adams. Although 
the duties of his office were conscien- 
tiously discharged, his opponents com- 
bined against him in such numbers that 
he failed of a re-election, and at the close 
of his term he returned to his home in 
Quincy, Mass. In 1831 he was sent to 
the House of Representatives, where he 
remained until his death. During all 
these years he occupied a commanding 
position, and once quelled a riot in the 
House which had lasted for three days. 
From his readiness and great facility in 
debate, he was called " The Old Man 
Eloquent." He died in the midst of his 
duties, being stricken by paralysis while 
occupying his seat in the House. He 
was taken to an adjoining room, and died 
in a few hours. The last whisper was, 
" This is the last of earth. I am content." 
Mr. Adams' personal bearing was very 
reserved and dignified, and perhaps to 
this may be attributed the fact that his 
opponents sometimes outnumbered his 
friends. 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



497 



1848. March. Spirit-rappings. The 
modern phenomena of spirit-rappings 
began in the family of John D. Fox, 
Hydeville, Wayne Co., N. Y. Mr. and 
Mrs. Fox and two daughters composed 
the family at the time when the rappings 
were first heard in one of the bedrooms 
at night. After considerable experiment- 
ing, the Fox girls appeared in 1S49 in 
public, and exhibited the phenomena to a 
curious audience. Other so-called me- 
diums became known, and the excitement 
spread through the country. Many 
private families would experiment in the 
matter. Gradually a great many things 
besides raps were added to the list of 
phenomena. 



1848. May 22. The democratic na- 
tional convention met in Baltimore, and 
nominated Lewis Cass for president. 
William O. Butler was supported for 
vice-president. To this convention New 
York sent one delegation known as 
" Hunkers," who did not wish to touch 
the slavery question, and another known 
as " Barnburners," or Free-Soil demo- 
crats, who opposed further extension of 
slavery. The latter afterward withdrew 
from the party. The parties began now 
to take a more distinct pro and anti- 
slavery character. 

1848. May 29. Wisconsin was the 
thirtieth state to be received into the 
union. It has 53,924 square miles, and 
1,055,133 inhabitants in 1S70. Its motto 
is " Civilitas successit barbarum." " The 
civilized man succeeds the barbarous," 
and it is called the " Badger State." 

1848. May. Astor Library. The 
trustees of the librarj^ to be founded ac- 
cording to the will of John Jacob Astor, 
met for the first time and took measures 
to proceed rapidly in fulfilling the be- 
quest. Dr. Joseph B. Cogswell was ap- 
pointed superintendent, and was sent to 
Europe with $20,000 with which to 
purchase books. He obtained 20,000 
volumes in four months, which were in- 
creased to 70,000 when the building was 
opened in 1S54. This magnificent be- 
quest is proving a blessing to New York. 

1848. June 7. The whig national 
convention met at Philadelphia, and 
nominated Gen. Zachary Taylor of 
Louisiana, for president, and Millard Fill- 
more of New York, for vice-president. 
The business of the session was done 
amid considerable agitation. 

1848. June. The American army 
left Vera Cruz, Mexico, and arrived at 
New Orleans. 

32 



498 



POLITICAL DE VEL OP MEN T. 



1848. July 19. The first " Woman's 
Rights " Convention was called at Seneca 
Falls, N. Y., by Lucretia Mott, Eliza- 
beth Cady Stanton, Martha C. Wright, 
and Mary Ann McClintock. An inter- 
esting and earnest discussion was held for 
two days, issuing in a declaration of 
rights which was adopted and signed by 
one hundred members. The convention 
drew a great deal of criticism and ridicule 
upon itself, which made many of its sup- 
porters shrink from the stand they had 
taken. But similar assemblies were soon 
held in other states, and the movement 
has since that time acquired considerable 
momentum. 

1848. July. The first school in 
America for idiot children, was opened at 
Barre, Mass., by Dr. Hervey B. Williams. 

1848. July. England removed her 
forces from the Argentine v/aters, and 
left France to carry on the hostilities of 
Brazil, which she did six months longer. 

1848. Aug. 9. The Free Soil party 
was organized in a convention held at 
Buffalo, N. Y., and swallowed up the 
Liberty party. It was made up of the 
Free Soil democracy, or " Barnburners," 
who were opposed to the extension of 
slavery, and the Liberty party, whose 
principal force was spent in ojiposition to 
slavery. The motto of this new party 
was a " free soil for a free people." The 
convention nominated Martin Van Buren 
of New York, for president, and Charles 
Francis Adams of Massachusetts, for 
vice-president. 

1848. Aug. 17. A great fire con- 
sumed one-third of Albany, N. Y. Six 
hundred houses were burned, and $3,000,- 
000 worth of property. 

1848. Sept. 12. An improved 
breech-loading rifle was patented at Cin- 
cinnati, by Christian Sharps. It was the 



first patent of the kind that was perfectly 
successful. 

1848. Oct. 10. The American Po- 
mological Society was established under 
the name of " The American Congress 
of Fruit Growers," by a ^sis. civil zva,- 
convention held at New in Ireland. 
York, under a call from several horti- 
cultural societies. The North American 
Pomological Convention was organized 
about the same time at Buffalo, N. Y., 
by the New York State Agricultural So- 
ciet) , but was united with the former at 
the annual meeting of 1849. The name 
was changed at a later day to the present 
form. At the first session, in 1848, fifty- 
four varieties of fruits were recommended 
for culture. This list has now grown to 
several hundreds. The reports of the 
society constitute the most valuable pomo- 
logical literature in the world. 

1848. October. Trustee's Twenty 
Mile Race. A course of twenty miles 
was trotted by a horse named Trustee, 
soti of a thoroughbred imported horse. 
The time of the whole race was fifty-nine 
minutes, thirty-five seconds and a half. 
Trustee did not show any sign of injury 
ever after by this great strain. 

1848. October. An experimental 
school for idiots was opened in the 
Perkins' Institution for the blind, at 
Boston. Dr. Seguin, an in- ^'^^''•. J^'ossuth 

, . . . appointed dicta- 

StrUCtor of idiots in Pans, tor oj Hungary. 

visited the United States this year, and 
began to assist in the formation of schools 
for such persons. 

1848. The first school in Canada for 
deaf mutes, was founded at Montreal, by 
the Roman Catholics. 

1848. The automatic regulation of 
time by the electro-magnetic telegraph, 
was first accomplished by Dr. John Locke 
of Cincinnati. He received from con- 



1845-1859.] 

gress $10,000 as a gift for the achieve- 
ment. 

1848. The Wheeling Suspension 
Bridge over the Ohio, was built by C. 
Ellet. It had a span of 1,010 feet. It 
stood only six years, being blow^n down 
in 1S54. 

SIXTEENTH FRESIDEjYTML CAMPtLIGK. 

1848. In the sixteenth presidential 
campaign the democratic party supported 
Lewis Cass of Michigan, for president, 
and William O. Butler of Kentucky, for 
vice-president. The whig party sup- 
ported Gen. Zachary Taylor of Louisi- 
ana, for president, and Millard Fillmore 
of New York, for vice-president. The 
" free soil party " supported Martin Van 
Buren of New York, for president, and 
Charles Francis Adams of Massachusetts, 
for vice-president. The whig candidates 
were elected. Out of 290 electoral votes 
Gen. Taylor, or " old Rough and Ready " 
and Fillmore received 163, with a popu- 
lar vote of 1,360,101. Cass and Butler 
received 127 electoral votes, with a popu- 
lar vote of 1,320,544. Van Buren and 
Adams had no electoral vote, but had a 
popular vote of 391,263. 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



499 



1848. Expeditions in search of Sir 
John Franklin began, and were very 
numerous for many years, both from 
England and America. 

1848. A great uprising of Indian 
tribes occurred through Yucatan. Certain 
provinces were desolated, and towns 
taken, but the trouble afterward faded 
away. 

1848. A great insurrection took 
place in Cuba, and more than 10,000 
negroes perished in the suppression of it. 

1848. Slavery was abolished in the 
Frencii West Indies. 



1848. Yellow fever depopulated the 
district of Bahia, in Brazil, and ran along 
the coast frightfully. 

1848. Gen. Monagas became dictator 
of Venezuela for twelve years, but was 
overthrown by a revolution in 1859. 

1849. Jan. 1. Bloomerism. Mrs. 
Amelia Bloomer of Seneca Falls, N. Y., 
established " The Lily," the first paper in 
the country devoted to the interests of 
women. Through this paper the peculiar 
female costume know^n as the " Bloomer 
dress" was first presented to the w^omen 
of America. It had been devised and 
worn by a daughter of Gerritt Smith 
first of all, and was adopted from her 
use of it, by Mrs. Bloomer and others. 

1849. January. Elizabeth Blaekwell, 
a native of Bristol, England, graduated 
from the medical school at Geneva, N. 
Y., having been refused admittance to 
other schools, because she was a woman. 
She had studied medicine considerably 
with physicians. 

1849. March 3. The Department of 
the Interior in the United States govern- 
ment was organized by act of congress. 
Thomas Ewing of Ohio was the first 
secretary. Indian aflfairs were transferi'ed 
to this department by order of the gov- 
ernment. 

1849. March 4. Zachary Taylor of 
Louisiana was inaugurated president, 
and Millard Fillmore of New York, 
vice-president. 

1849. April 19. British American 
League. An association formed in the 
Canadas to promote popular interests, 
met at Montreal for organization. They 
issued an address to the people of Can- 
ada, expressing their dissatisfaction over 
the distresses of the country. 

1849. April 25. The Rebellion 
Losses' Bill was signed in Canada by 



500 



POLITICAL DE VEL OPMENT. 



the governor-general, indemnifying those 
who had suffered loss of property through 
the insurrection of the provinces pre- 
viously. Among these were some popular 
leaders. An excitement broke out at 
once. All Montreal was in commotion. 
Bells were rung. Gov. Lord Elgin in 
leaving the council chamber in his car- 
riage, was pelted ^vith stones. The mob 
grew. The assembly was in session. 
Thousands were around the building. 
An assault was made. Membei's of the 
assembly fled. Armed men seized the 
hall. The building was on fire. Every- 
thing was consumed, including bills, 
records, etc. It was an irreparable loss 
to the community. The next day four 
leaders of the mob were arrested, and 
there was danger of another outbreak, 
but by an effort the populace was kept 
quiet. The issue, however, was a great 
one, and the situation critical. Order 
was restored in May. 

1849. April. The Dominican Re- 
public of Ilayti, W. I., successfully de- 
feated an attempt to subjugate it by the 
western government of the island. 

1849. May. The Astor Place Opera 
House riots occurred in New York upon 
the evenings of the yth and loth of this 
month. They wei'e excited by the friends 
of Edwin Forrest, the American tragedi- 
an, against W. C. Macready, the eminent 
English actor, then on a visit to this 
country. The reason was an alleged 
opposition on the part of Macready to 
Forrest when the latter visited the old 
world. At the first riot no harm was 
done, though the play was given up be- 
cause of the great confusion. At the 
second the military were called out and 
could not disperse the immense mob 
which was stoning the Opera House, 
save by firing into them. Twenty-two 



persons were killed, and many others 
wounded. The riot was finally broken 
up. 

J±ME^ K. POLK. 

1849. June 15. James Knox Polk, 
the eleventh president of the United 
States, died at Nashville, Tenn., after an 
illness of a few davs. He was born in 
Mecklenburg Co., North Carolina, Nov. 
3, 1795. His father was a farmer, the 
family was large, and the future president 
obtained his education under difficulties. 
He, however, graduated in 1S18 from the 
University of North Carolina, and in 
1820 opened a law office. At the end of 
five years he was elected to congress by 
the democratic party. This position 
remained his for fourteen years, when 
he refused a re-election, and returned to 
his home, where he was made governor 
of Tennessee. In 1S44 -^^"" Po^^^ was 
elected president of the United States, 
over Mr. Clay. During his administra- 
tion Texas was annexed. This caused 
the war with Mexico, to settle the 
question of boundary lines. At the close 
of his term Mr. Polk declined being 
re-nominated, and immediately left for 
Nashville, Tenn., where in three months 
he died. 



1849. The Asiatic cholera raged 
through the United States and Mexico 
this summer, almost depopulating some 
western cities. An enormous number of 
victims fell before it. There were six 
thousand deaths in St. Louis, and the 
same number in Cincinnati. 

1849. Aug. 3. A day of fasting and 
prayer was appointed by the president of 
the United vStates, in view of the visita- 
tion of the cholera. 

1849. Aug. 26. Gen. Taustin So- 
lougue, president of western Havti, as- 



1845-1859.] 

sumed by the aid of the negroes, the title 
of Emperor Faustin I. 

1849. August. A submarine tele- 
graph was laid across the Hudson at Fort 
Lee. The order for this was the first 
ever given for wire coated with gutta 
percha. 

1849. Sept. 1. A convention met at 
Monterey, Cal., to prepare a constitution. 

1849. Nov. 13. A constitution pro- 
hibiting slavery was finally adopted for 
California, by the convention at Monterey. 

1849. The Woman's Medical Col- 
lege of Pennsylvania, was founded. 

1849. A great fire destroyed a third 
of the city of St. Louis, and did great 
damage to the shipping on the river. 

1849. The first railroad land grant 
from the United States was to the Mobile 
and Ohio company, of 1,000,000 acres 
lying along the route from Mobile to the 
mouth of the Ohio River. 

1849. Squatter Sovereignty. It was 
now urged by pro-slavery men in con- 
gress that the occupants of the territories 
should decide for themselves whether 
they would have slavery or not. Cali- 
fornia was the first application of this 
principle, and voted against slavery, to 
the great surprise of its advocates. 

1849. The American Nautical Al- 
manac was authorized, and Admiral 
Charles Henry Davis was appointed its 
first sujDerintendent. There was no issue 
till 1853. 

1849. Nov. 23. Dr. George Park- 
man of Boston, was murdered by Prof. 
John W. Webster, of the Cambridge 
Medical College, in a heat of passion 
over some financial engagements between 
them. Prof, Webster had a long trial, 
and on being pronounced guilty, he con- 
fessed the deed, and suffered the full 
penalty of the law. 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



501 



1849. The life car for use in saving 
persons from wrecks upon the coast, was 
introduced into the United vStates. Capt. 
Ottinger of the United States revenue 
marine invented it. Passengers can be 
landed through the surf with perfect 
safety, and with entire freedom from 
water, even. The car is slid back and 
forth upon a rope which has previously 
been thrown across the v\^reck by a rocket 
or mortar. 

1849. Minot's Ledge light-house 
was completed, off the coast of Massa- 
chusetts. It was in one of the most diffi- 
cult spots of the world to build upon. 

1849. An artesian well was begun at 
vSt. Louis, which was completed in 1S54, 
at a depth of 3,199 ^^^t. It discharges at 
the rate of 75 gallons per minute. The 
cost was more than $10,000. 

1849. Narciso Lopez, a Cuban rev- 
olutionist, led his first expedition, called 
the " Round Island Expedition," from 
the United States, to attempt the libera- 
tion of Cuba from the Spanish authority. 
Lopez was born in Venezuela, S. A., but 
had lived in Cuba for many years, where 
he had been prominent in office. He 
finally became dissatisfied because of the 
illiberal policy of Spain towai"d the 
colonies, and resolved ujoon overthrowing 
Spanish power in Cuba. His expedition 
of this year was a complete failure. 

1849. A representative assembly- 
was held at Leon by Honduras, San 
Salvador, and Nicaragua, and a luiion 
formed under title of National Repre- 
sentation of Central America. It was 
afterward ratified by these states. 

" APOSTLE OF TEMPER±yCE. ' 

1849. Father Matthew, the great Irish 
temperance reformer, visited America, 
and traveled extensively in the states. 



502 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



speaking everywhere in his simple way 
to great crowds, and administering the 
pledge to thousands. He was received 
in all places with great enthusiasm, and 
gave the pledge in America to 600,000 
persons. His welcome in Washington, 
Philadelphia, and Boston, was iniiversal. 
In his own country his w'ork had been 
very great. Directness and earnestness 
marked all his procedures. The tem- 
perance cause owes very much to this 
advocate of it. 

JOHK C. CALHOUX. 

1850. March 31. This eminent Amer- 
ican scholar and statesman died at Wash- 
ington, at the age of sixty-eight years. 
A remarkable life closed when John C. 
Calhoun passed away. He was one of 
the giants of the political period in our 
history. 

In 1733 an Irish Presbyterian, named 
James Calhoun, came to America, and 
after having lived in Pennsylvania a 
Avhile, moved to Virginia and took up 
his abode on the Kanawha River. 
But peace was not possible here, inas- 
much as the Indians of the region were 
excited over the English attempts to es- 
tablish a fort in western Pennsylvania. 
The family found a refuge in South 
Carolina, and formed a Calhoun settle- 
ment in Abbeville county. Indian troubles 
still occurred here, and the members of 
the family became disciplined in Indian 
warfare. James Calhoun had a son 
named Patrick, who became an energetic 
citizen, and who married in 1770 a young 
woman named jVIartha Caldwell, whose 
parents were likewise Irish Presbyterian 
emigrants. On March 18, 17S3, there 
was born to this young couple a son, the 
third since their marriage, whom they 
named John Caldwell Calhoun. The 



predominance of mental traits showed 
itself in the boy, from his earliest years. 
At the same time a strong character 
showed itself to be vnifolding. Religious 
training of a careful and distinct sort 
was given the future joolitician by his 
earnest parents. The property of the 
household was not very large, and when 
Patrick Calhoun died, his wife and chil- 
dren inherited not much beside the need 
of self-support. John worked on the 
farm in a diligent and thoughtful way, 
lest in attempting to secure the great 
desire of his heart, a good education, he 
should embarrass his mother financially. 
He had already begun to read with great 
ardor in both history and metaphvsics. 
But finally an agieement was made with 
the household that he should be assisted 
for seven years in fitting himself for the 
practice of law. With this arrangement 
he began systematic study at the age of 
nineteen years. In 1S04 he was gradu- 
ated from Yale College, and was pro- 
nounced at the close of his course a young 
man of extreme promise. Having studied 
law for a time at Litchfield, Conn., he 
once more went to his old home and 
commenced the practice of law, after 
having been admitted to the bar. The 
agitation of the country over French and 
English encroachments upon American 
shipping and commerce, took hold of his 
earnest spirit, and it was not long before 
the attention of the people began to turn 
toward him as a strong and able helper 
in discussion and legislative enactments. 
He was soon chosen to the state legisla- 
ture, where he remained until he was 
promoted to congress in iSii. ISIarriage 
and the establishment of a new home 
now took his attention for a time. By 
his wife, Floride Calhoun, a second 
cousin, he came into property sufiicient 



1845-1859.] 

for all oixlinary purposes. They settled 
at Bath, on the Savannah River, a few^ 
miles from Abbeville where the home- 
stead was. War with Great Britain was 
now the decisive question in the politics 
of the day. The opponents of war were 
losing power. The fresh indignities 
committed by English shipping at last 
told upon large numbers of those who at 
first had been inclined to peace. John C. 
Calhoun b e - 
longed decidedly 
to the war party. 
His energy and 
ability helped 
very largely to 
shape the war 
legislation which 
ensued upon his 
entrance into con- 
gress in Novem- 
ber, iSii. Cal- 
houn was a mem- 
ber of the com- 
mittee on For- 
eign Relations, 
and with his 
friends from 
South Carolina, 
C h e V e s and 
Lowndes, took 
an important 
place in the dis- 
cussion of naval and commercial afHiirs of 
all kinds. During the war he was the 
champion of a sjDecie-paying national 
bank, and fought with great power and 
success the opposing schemes of Mr. 
Dallas and others, who regarded Mr. 
Calhoun's bill as inadequate. After a 
long period of debate and of tentative 
efforts, a bill involving many of Mr. 
Calhoun's ideas was drawn up and 
passed, but vetoed by President Madison. 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



503 




At the occurrence of peace, which came 
almost immediately, the necessity les- 
sened, and the bill was not renewed. But 
before long the financial distress of the 
country revived the project in another 
form, and through the efforts of Mr. 
Calhoun a United States Bank was 
chartered. At the beginning of Presi- 
dent Monroe's term of service, Mr. Cal- 
houn was made secretary of war. In 
this position he 
made a great im- 
provement in all 
the existing ar- 
rangements and 
financial condi- 
tion of the de- 
partment. In the 
presidential elec- 
tion at the close 
of Mom^oe's sec- 
ond term, Mr. 
Calhoun was 
chosen vice-pres- 
ident. In 1828, 
through the 
^opposition to 
-' A d a m s , G e n . 
Jackson was elec- 
te.'d president, 
with Mr. Cal- 
houn chosen to a 
second term as 
vice-president. The tariff question now 
came to the front, and in this connection 
Mr. Calhoun erected his famous structure 
of nullification through wishing to abolish 
the protective duty upon imports. This 
brought on the famous debate in congress 
between Hayne and Webster, which has 
had such renown in legislative annals. 
Difiiculti.es between Jackson and Calhoun 
led to still further agitation, and before 
1832 was over the crisis had come, and 



504 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



the need was met only bv the energy 
and decision of Jackson. South Carolina 
could not go out of the Union while such 
a man was at the head of affairs. Mr. 
Calhoun was now in the United States 
senate, where he remained for years a 
strong debater, an eloquent reasoncr, a 
clear speaker, in all which makes up 
forensic excellence. He was always ac- 
tive and prominent during his term of 
service. He attempted to take no narrow 
view of national questions, and did what 
he did simply to preserve the position of 
the South in a position of peace and 
content. The development of the slavery 
question found him anxious about the 
Union, and constantly devising some- 
thing to add to the general course of 
thought upon it. He labored in the 
senate till pulmonary disease laid its hand 
so severely upon him that he sank back 
at last from a speech in such a feeble con- 
dition, as to take his bed and die. Plis 
life was one of great vigor. A remark- 
able power in conversation added a 
charm to his private life, which was of 
great worth. He lived, after his service 
as secretary of war, in Pickens Co., 
South Carolina, where his estate, known 
as Fort Hill, testified to his interest and 
ability in agriculture. Honor marked all 
his actions and bearing toward others. 
The striking characteristic in his personal 
appearance was found in his eyes, 
akhough his whole coimtenance was ex- 
pressive. The life of John C. Calhoun 
presents features which are worthy of 
study. The career he pursued is a 
marked one in the annals of our nation. 

1850. May 3. A great fire in San 
Francisco burned $10,000,000 worth of 
property, including custom house, hotels, 
and some of the finest buildings in the 



city. The fire broke out in a paint-shop- 
Destructive fires occurred this year at 
Stockton and Nevada City. 

1850. May 19. Lopez landed at 
Cardenas, Cuba, with his second expedi- 
tion which he had fitted out in the United 
States. He had about six hundred men, 
who had sailed from New Orleans as 
emigrants for the Isthmus of Panama. 
They captured Cardenas, but were 
shortly after broken up. Some were 
captured and executed, but Lopez escaped. 

1850. June 17. The Griffith was 
lost on Lake Erie, with 300 lives. 

ZACH^RY T>LYLOE. 

1850. July 9. Zachary Taylor, the 
twelfth president of the United States, 
died in Washington after having served 
in his office but a little over a year. He 
was born in Virginia Sept. 24, 1 784, but 
when a small boy his father moved to 
Kentucky, where he lived until he was 
twenty-four years old. At that time he 
was given a commission in the army, 
made vacant by the death of his brother. 
He soon rose in rank, and after the be- 
ginning of hostilities with Great Britain, 
the command of Fort Har- mo-isao. 
rison w^as put into his hands. Wordsy.>ort/i. 
In September, 181 3, this post was 
attacked by the Indians, and it was only 
after a most desperate struggle that the 
little band of fifty repulsed the assailants. 
For his courage on this occasion Capt. 
Taylor v\^as promoted to the rank of 
brevet-major. From this time he was 
prominent in the command against the 
Indians, either on the Northwestern bor- 
der or in Florida, until 1S46, when he 
was sent to guard the land between 
the Neuces and Rio Grande, the latter 
river being the boundary for Texas 
claimcil by the United States. His bril- 



1845-1859.] THE INCREASE 

liant victories against the Mexicans 
caused his name to be widely known, 
and when in 1847 " ^"^^ Rough and 
Ready " was nominated for the presi- 
dency, he was so enthusiastically sup- 
ported that he was elected. He was not 
destined, however, long to fill this posi- 
tion, and the nation was soon called to 
mourn a conscientious, just, and cou- 
rageous, although unstatesmanlike pres- 
ident. He died at the executi\'e mansion 
fitter an illness of five days. 



OF SECTIONALISM. 



505 



1850. July 10. Millard Fillmore 

^vas inaugurated president of the United 
States, according to the provisions of the 
Constitution. 

1850. September. The Fugitive 
Slave Law was passed as one of the 
parts into which Henry Clay's " Omni- 
bus Bill " had been divided. This bill 
was introduced as a compromise, and the 
whole matter became known as the 
" Compromise of 1850." By this law 
an escaped slave could be taken wher- 
ever found, and no one could aid in the 
escape of such a fugitive except upon pain 
•of severe penalties. This law, obnoxious 
to large numbers in the northern states, 
led to the famous " Underground Rail- 
road " for running fugitives into Canada. 
It became a law through the signature 
of President Millard Fillmore. The 
other measures of the " Omnibus Bill " 
were the admission of California as a 
free state, the erection of New Mexico 
and Utah into territories, leaving the 
question of slavery to be decided by their 
inhabitants; and the abolition of slavery 
within the District of Columbia. 

1850. Sept. 9. California was ad- 
mitted to the union as the thirty-first 
state. A bitter struggle occurred over 
its admission as a free state, but it was 



finalh' accomplished by means of Henry 
Clay's " Omnibus Bill." California has 
397,994 square miles, and 560,333 inhabi- 
tants in 1S70. Its motto is " Eureka;" 
" I have found it." 

1850. September. Jenny Lind ar- 
rived in the United States. She had 
engaged with P. T. Barnum to give 150 
concerts. A great excitement was aroused 
during the sale of the first tickets in New 
York. The first choice of seats for her 
first concert was bought at a premium of 
several hundred dollars. She received 
$10,000 for this concert alone, but gave 
it all away. Her reception through the 
country was very enthusiastic. 

1850. Oct. 10. Three hundred lead- 
ing men of Montreal within five hours 
signed a memorial in favor of annexing 
Canada to the United States. 

1850. October. An alleged fugitive 
slave was captured in Detroit. Such an 
excitement arose that the military had to 
be called out. The citizens finally raised 
$500, and bought him of his claimant. 

1850. October. William and Ellen 
Crafts, living in Boston, were claimed as 
fugitive slaves by agents from Georgia, 
who were in turn arrested for kidnapping, 
and put under bonds. They finally left 
the place. The two alleged fugitives 
were sent to England. 

1850. Dec. 23. A fugitive slave 
named Henry Long was arrested in New 
York, and returned to his claimant by 
United States Judge Judson. 

1850. The seventh census of the 
United States gave a population of 23,- 
191,876 persons. It was taken at a cost 
of $1,339,037.53. The increase since 
1840 had been 35.83 per cent. 

1850. The Clayton-Bulwer treaty 
was concluded between the United States 
and England, according to which all in- 



506 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



ter-oceanic communications across Nica- 
ragua or the Isthmus should be mutual in 
their character, and should be encouraged 
by both nations. 

1850. The Donation Law was passed 
by congress, giving to every settler in 
Oregon three hundred and twenty acres 
of land, and an equal amount to his wife, 
upon condition that the same should be 
occupied before Dec. ist, and that they 
would live upon it four years. This law 
stimulated the marriage of settlers, and 
very few unmarried daughters could be 
found for a while in that region. Girls 
of fourteen years of age in many instances 
became ^vives. 

1850. A Society of Painters in water 
colors, the first in the United States, was 
organized, but was not a success. A long 
interval ensued till iS66. 

1850. "Uncle Tom's Cabin," by 
Harriet Beecher Stowe, first appeared as 
a serial in the " National Era," at Wash- 
ington, D. C. This novel began at once 
to excite an interest, and has sold steadily 
from that time to this. It has been trans- 
lated into many different languages, and 
been spread broadcast over the world. 
Much of the anti-slavery sentiment of re- 
cent years has been moulded or strength- 
ened by it. The moment of its issue was 
propitious in the extreme. Hundreds of 
thousands of its volumes have been sold, 
in this and other lands. It has been criti- 
cised by a very few writers, among them 
Maiy Russell Mitford, as grossly untrue 
and sensational. 

1850. Boston Watch Company. The 
manufacture of American watches began 
at Roxbury, Mass., by Aaron Dennison, 
Edward Howard, and Samuel Curtis. 
Mr. Dennison traveled abroad and studied 
that line of work. He and Mr. Howard 
invented the process of making the 



parts of a watch by machinery. These 
men erected the first building in the 
world for such a purpose. The business 
was continued at Roxbury till 1S54, 
when it was moved to Waltham. 

1850. An Arctic expedition under 
Lieut. E.J. DeHaven, fitted up by Henry 
Grinnell of New Yoi'k, sailed in search 
of Sir John Franklin. Dr. Elisha Kent 
Kane was naturalist and surgeon to the 
expedition. This was the first United 
States expedition of search. 

X0RTHWE8T PASMGE. 

1850. The long-sought passage was 
discovered by Capt. McClure, who, in 
the " Investigator," had passed through 
Behring's Strait, and spent two years on 
the north shore of America, returning 
home through Davis' Straits. In 185^ 
Capt. McClure received ^5,000 which 
had been offered for this discovery, and 
was knighted. 

1850. Gen. Solouque was crowned 
Emperor of Hayti, and at once by his 
oppressive government began to cause 
agitation among his subjects. 

1850. All slave traflBc was finally 
abolished in Brazil. 

1850. The first railroad ever built in 
South America was opened between the 
seaport Caldera and the mining districts 
of Copiapo. It was one hundred and 
one miles long. 

1851. Feb. 15. The Shadrach Case. 
A popular tumult was caused in Boston 
by the arrest of Shadrach, a fugitive 
slave. He was rescued by a mob from 
the officers in the court room, after he had 
been held over for trial. 

1851. March. The steamer Oregon 
exploded and burned upon the Mississippi 
River, with a loss of sixty lives. 



1845-1859.] 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



507 



1851. April 2. A severe earthquake 

visited the region of Chili, 
j«5i. Caffrein. j^j-o^mj Santiago. A large 

surrsction in " ^ 

So. Africa. amount of property was 

destroyed. 

1851. April 3. The Sims Case. The 
fugitive Sims w^as arrested, and the law 
was successfully enforced in his return to 
his claimant. 

1851. April 16. Minot's Ledge 
light-house was carried away in a ter- 
rible storm which raged along the At- 
lantic coast. Sixty iron piles, each ten 
inches in diameter, were twisted off by 
the winds and the waves. The piles 
were covered with ice, and made the de- 
struction more certain. 

1851. May 3-5. A great fire raged 
in San Francisco, destroying 3,500 build- 
ings and many lives. It burned $3,500,- 
000 worth of property. 

1851. May 4. A great fire in St. 
Louis destroyed three-fourths of the city. 
The loss was estimated at $11,000,000. 

1851. May 23. Charles L. Brace, 
an American, was arrested in Hungary 
on the charge of promoting revolutionary 
movements. 

1851. May 26. A riot occurred in 
Hoboken, N. J., between Germans and 
" short-boy " roughs from New York. 
Several parties were killed. 

1851. June 22. Another great fire 
burned 500 buildings in San Francisco, 
at a loss of $3,000,000. 

1851. July 1. The reform postage 
bill went into effect, making postage 
very nearl}^ what it is at present. 

1851. Aug. 11. Ijopez landed at 
Morillo, Cuba, with nearly 500 men, 
whom he had enlisted in the United 
States, but his force, which he had 
divided into two detachments, was speed- 
ily overcome, the expected aid from 



Cuba not being realized. Lopez himself 
took refuge in the mountains, but was 
captured, and executed by garrote. Fili- 
bustering efforts upon Cuba caused great 
agitation in the United States this 3'ear. 
A great riot occurred in New Orleans in 
i August, and Spanish citizens were as- 
sailed. The governor of Mississippi was 
arrested in February for aiding an 
expedition. 

1851. Aug. 22. The yacht America, 
of one hundred and seventy tons, built in 
the United States by George Steers of 
Brooklyn, N. Y., and com- ,„,, , 

-' ' ' 1851. iMrffe gold 

j manded by Com. John C. fields discovered 
Stevens, carried off the "' ^"''''■«''"- 
prize, the " cup of all nations," in a race 
at Cowes, England, to which all the 
world had been invited. The America 
was the first yacht to cross the ocean, 
and excited much attention on the 
Thames. She was built after the cele- 
brated Baltimore clipper style. This 
victory greatly changed yacht-building 
abroad. American yachts have made as 
much as eighteen miles an hour. 

1851. August. A volcano burst forth 
in Martinique, after a long period of 
inactivity. 

1851. Sept. 11. A fugitive slave 
was attacked in Christiana, Penn., by an 
armed force under a deputy marshal. A 
conflict occurred in which the Marylander, 
who professed to own the slave, was shot 
dead. A crowd had collected, and many 
of them refused to aid in 1^51. Submarine 
the capture. The fugitive telegraph be- 

1 T-l TT -4- J Oi i t7veen Dover and 

escaped. The United States Calais put into 
government at once took ''■''^• 
steps to have the whites indicted. 
Seventy-eight indictments were issued 
against thirty-nine persons. The first 
one, Castner Hanway, was brought up 
for trial on the charge "of wickedly and 



508 



traitorously levying war against the 
United States." He was simply proved 
to have been near the scene on horseback, 
and to have refused to aid in the capture, 
and was released without punishment. 
After one or two more prosecutions the 
government dropped their task, having 
spent about $70,000 on it. 

1851. September. A formidable in- 
surrection occurred in Chili, and well- 
nigh overthrew the government. Tlie 
1851. Worhi's country suffered much in 
Fair opened at society and trade. The re- 
volt was finally put down 
with great loss of life. Don Manuel 
Montt was president during these trying 
times. He was a very able man, and 
his administration was full of progress. 
No revolution has since taken place in 
Chili. 

1851. Oct. 19. A constitution was 
adopted in Guatamala, which bears some 
resemblance to the United States consti- 
tution. 

1851. October. A line of soundings 
across the Atlantic for a submarine tele- 
graph was begun by the United States 
brig Dolphin. 

1851. Nov. 20. A frightful catas- 
trophe occurred in ward school-house 
No. 26, New York citv, containing over 
1,800 children. An alarm spread from 
a call for water for a fainting teacher, 
and in a few minutes the whole mass of 
children was struggling through the halls. 
About fifty were killed by falling or by 
suffocation, and manv others were 
injured. 

1851. Dec. 5. Louis Kossuth, the great 
Hungarian patriot, arrived in the United 
.States upon the %var steamer Mississippi, 
which had been sent to Europe for him 
by the United States government. He 
came as a guest of the American people, 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 

and was received with such honor as is 
given to very few. The ^55^. Louis Na- 



claims of Austria and Rus- toieoii seizes the 

. . ^ , . g^overnnient of 

sia upon bun after his es- ^^„„^^ i,y ^^^p 
cape from Hungary to d'etat. 
Turkey, were surrendered at the solicita- 
tion of England and the United States. 
He spoke in behalf of European liberty 
in all the larger cities of our land, and 
raised sums of money in behalf of his 
own people. He remained in the United 
States about eight months. His course 
through the land was one continued 
ovation. 

1851. David Kinnison, said to be 
the last survivor of the men who threw 
the tea over in Boston harbor at the out- 
break of the Revolution, died in Chicago, 
aged 1 15 vears. 

1851. The first Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association in America was organ- 
ized in Montreal. 

1851. Maine Liquor Law. Maine 
was the first state to prohibit the sale of 
intoxicating licjuors, and her 1789. issi. 
law has since become cele- Daffuerre. 

brated in this and other lands. Gen. 
Neal Dow was the prime mover in such 
legislation. 

1851. Dec. 24. The Library of the 
United States, in the capitol at Wash- 
ington, D. C, was very largely destroyed 
bv fire. Thirty-five thousand volumes 
out of 55,000 were burned, together with 
many valuable paintings, medals, and 
statues, some of them incapable of being 
duplicated. 

1851. The Grinnell Arctic Expedi- 
tion returned without trace of Franklin. 
Dr. Kane published a narrative of the 
voyage, which attracted much attention. 

1851. The California Vigilance Com- 
mittee was organized in San Francisco, 
because of the multiplication of thieves 



1845-1859.] 

and murderers, who, through the hixity 
of the laws, overran the state without fear 
of control or punishment. The commit- 
tee consisted of large numbers of the best 
citizens of the city, with a full organiza- 
tion, and rooms for meetings and trials. 
Several executions occurred, when life 
1775-1851. ''^iid property began to be 

Turner, niorc sccurc. The same 
plan was adopted in Sacramdnto and 
other places. 

1851. A monster sea serpent is alleged 
to have been seen on the coast of New 
England at several times during the sum- 
mer by different parties, who claim that 
they could not have been mistaken in the 
nature of the object. Most naturalists 
believe the accounts to be fabulous, 
though many think it possible for such a 
creature to exist. The testimony places 
the length of the body at about one hun- 
dred feet, with a propoi'tionate size. 
Persons of great intelligence and integ- 
rity are among those who claim to have 
seen this object. It was observed by 
some of them quite near the shore in 
several cases. 

1851. An English lock, on exhibition 
at the World's Fair in London, was 
180S-1851. Doug- picked by Mr. Hobbs, an 
las jerroid. American. Messrs. Bra- 

mah, lockmakers, had offered X200 to 
any one who would do it. Mr. Hobbs 
afterward invented a lock which no 
English locksmiths could pick, but finally 
yielded to Mr. Linus Yale, Jr., of Penn- 
sylvania. 

1851. The first cheese factory in the 
world was started in Oneida county, N. 
Y., by Jesse Williams. Mr. Williams 
first made cheese from his own dairy, 
then from his son's, and gradually from 
others', till he had a large business. 

1851. Starvation Beach. Capt. Gard- 



THE IXCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



509 



ner and a company in attempting to 
settle on Fuego for the benefit of the 
natives, died of hunger in a short time. 

1851. Revolutionary movements oc- 
curred in Mexico, Nicaragua, Chili, and 
Ecuador. In both Ecuador and Nica- 
ragua the presidents were deposed and 
imprisoned. 

1852. Jan. 1. Slavery was abolished 
in the republic of New Granada, accord- 
ing to a law of 1 85 1. 

1852. Feb. 1. A great fire con- 
sumed the Ohio State House, with a great 
portion of the records. 

1852. Feb. 3. Fall of Rosas. Rosas, 
dictator of the Argentine Confederation, 
was totally defeated by the army of the 
provinces under Gen. Urquiza. Rosas 
fled to England. Vincente Lopez was 
made provisional governor of Buenos 
Ayres, but Urquiza afterv^rard gained 
power, much to the discomfort of his old 
supporters. The whole year was one of 
commotion. 

1852, Feb. I60 A mob assailed and 
ruined the Homeopathic College at Cleve- 
land, Ohio, because of the taking of some 
remains from the burial ground for dis- 
section. 

1852. May. The first plenary coun- 
cil of the Roman Catholic church in the 
United States, was held at Baltimore. 
Archbishop Francis P. Kenrick presided. 

1852. Junel. The democratic party, 
in a convention at Baltimore, nominated 
Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, for 
president, and William R. King of Ala- 
bama, for vice-president. It ^^^^- Empire 

. , -_ , eslablished in 

mdorsed the Kentucky and France by vote of 
Virginia resolutions of 1 798, people. Napo- 

, , . , , ,, leoti III. etn- 

pledged support to the ^^^„,. 
Compromise of 1850, including the Fugi- 
tive Slave Law. 

1852. June 16. The whig party 



510 

held the last nominating convention in 
its history, and put up Gen. Winfield 
Scott of Virginia, for president, and 
William A. Graham of North Carolina, 
for vice-president. It likewise indorsed 
the Compromise of 1S50, including the 
Fugitive Slave Law. 

1852, June 24. The first national 
agricultural convention was held at 
Washington, D. C. Delegates were pres- 
ent from twenty-two states, and the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. 

HENRY CL:iY. 

1852. June 29. 

Henry Clay, the 
able political lead- 
er and thinker, died 
in Washington, af- 
ter a decline of 
some months, at 
the age of seventy- 
five years. His 
death removed one 
of the strong, em- 
phatic minds of 
the period, from its 
place among our 
statesmen. His / 
birthplace was'^^ 
humble. It was in 
the region known 
as the slashes of Virginia, now Hanover 
county, near Richmond. Henry was the 
fifth child in a family of seven. The 
father was a Baptist preacher, and died 
when Henry was about five years old. 
Small advantages for education could be 
Sfiven the sfrowinsr children. The 
mother's influence was one of great ex- 
tent and worth, but through her second 
marriage and removal to Kentucky, 
Henry w^as left to himself at the age of 
fifteen, he having obtained a chance to re- 



POLITICAL DE VEL OPMENT. 




HENRY CLAV, 



main in Richmond as a copvist in the 
office of the clerk of chancerv. His 
mind soon took on that strong, ardent 
movement, which marked it all his life. 
At nineteen 3'ears of age he began to 
study law, and was admitted to the bar 
in November, i797' '^^'l'"-'ii i'^ his twenty- 
first year. Many things conspired to 
make him successful from the start. But 
instead oi' settling down in Virginia, his 
mind turned toward the section into 
which emigration 
was pouring in a 
constant stream, 
and he finally re- 
moved in 1799, to 
Lexington, Ky. 
His personal bear- 
ing won him many 
friends at the very 
first, and it was 
soon evident that 
his career would be 
a jDublic one. A 
state convention 
was held in 1799, 
for the revision of 
the constitution. 
Slavery had made 
a deep impi'ession 
upon Mr. Clay, and 
he bent all his pow- 
ers to the securing of a constitution under 
which slavery could not exist. He labored 
with great earnestness to have such dele- 
gates as would favor this, elected to the 
convention. He believed that gradual 
emancipation should be provided for. 

He entered the legislature of Kentucky 
in 1804, and the United States senate in 
1S06, at the age of twenty-nine, to fill out 
a term left vacant by resignation. Politi- 
cal life either in his own state or in the 
U. S. congress, claimed Mr. Clay's atten- 



1845-1859.] 

tion from this time on. In the approach- 
ing hostihties with Great Britain he stood 
with the war party. Upon entering the 
House of Representatives in iSi i, for the 
first tiriie, he was chosen speaker at once, 
a very unusual circumstance, and very 
complimentary to Mr. Clay. In his 
official position he tried to lead the body 
toward a declaration of war. During 
these years he was a vehement speaker, 
and in some instances aroused strong feel- 
ings by his stinging remarks. Especially 
1769-1852. Duke scvcrc Were his criticisms of 
of Weiiiiigton. the federal party. Very 
soon came the negotiations for peace. 
Mr. Clay was made a member of the 
commission, and spent several months in 
Europe after the execution of the treaty 
of Ghent. He returned by reelection to 
the House of Representatives, and was 
both a member and speaker of that body 
till 1S25, save for one term. During this 
time he still further extended his reputa- 
tion as a friend of humanity by the strong 
efforts he made to secure a recognition of 
the independence of the South American 
republics. He also was largely instru- 
mental in securing a i^ecognition of 
Gieece. Thirty-seven electoral votes for 
Mr, Clay as president of the United 
States, were cast in the famous campaign 
of 1824. Under J. Q. Adams he was 
secretary of state. In the Jackson cam- 
paign of 1833 he also ran, and received 
electoral votes from six states. Efforts 
were made to obtain the nomination of 
the whig party for him in 1839, but his 
friends were overruled, and Gen. Harrison 
was nominated. In iS44he received the 
nomination, but was defeated by Mr. 
Polk, the democratic candidate. His 
chief service during these later years was 
in the U. S. senate. Strong feelings and 
deep convictions marked Mr. Clay's 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



511 



career. But he was never averse to a 
frank declaration of a change of views, if 
such had occurred. Immediate emanci- 
pation never obtained favor with him. 
The protection of American industries by 
a tariff seemed to him of paramount im- 
portance. He also urged and defended 
internal improvements at national ex- 
pense. His sympathies were very broad, 
and his life a very earnest political one, 
in behalf of much which has since been 
accomplished. But physical decline set 
in at last, and the great whig leader 
passed away, with the respect of all 
parties for his great powers. 



1852. July 14. The independence 

of Paraguay was acknowledged by the 
Argentine Confederation through a treaty 
with Lopez. 

1852. July 16. Louis Kossuth left 
the United States for Europe under the 
name of Alexander Smith, and resumed 
his ineffectual attempts to promote the 
freedoin of Hungary. A large white 
soft felt hat was worn by Kossuth in this 
country, and for years afterward Kossuth 
hats were the rage. 

1852. Aug. 3. The first college 
boat-race in this country was rowed at 
Center Harbor on I^ake Winnipiseogee, 
N. H., between Harvard and Yale crews in 
eight-oared barges. Harvard led the race. 

1852. Aug. 11. The "Free-Soil" 
party nominated John P. Hale of New 
Hampshire for president, isss. Subma- 
and George W. Julian of f'^ 'f^7^'' 

^ -^ from Knglana to 

Indiana for vice-president. Ireland. 
It declared slavery a sin against God, 
and a crime against man, denounced the 
compromise of 1850, and the parties 
which supported it. 

1852. Aug. 20. The Atlantic was 
lost upon Lake Erie, with 250 lives. 



512 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



ThlXIEI. TfER^TER. 

1852. Oct. 24. This great American 
statesman and constitutional lawyer died 
at his home at ^Nlarshfield, Mass., at the 
age of seventy years. He was born in 
Salisbury, N. H., Jan, iS, 17S2. His 
father had married for a second wife, 
Abigail Eastman, and Daniel was born 
to them as a second son. 

The education of this son was begun 
in the district school near by, but was 
continued at Phil- 
lips' Exeter Acad- 
emy at the age of 
fourteen years. 
Within a year he 
was placed with 
Rev. Sam'l Wood 
at Boscawen, and 
almost immediate- 
ly entered Dart- 
mouth College. 
Great industry in 
study and reading 
marked him from 
the very first. His 
mind was active, 
and his memory 
very tenacious. 
His winters w^ere 
spent in teaching 
school, by which means he not only paid 
part of his own expense, but gave some- 
thing to the support of Ezekiel, his older 
brother, in fitting for college. Daniel's 
position through his course and at his 
graduation in ISol,^vas that of a leader 
in infiuence and honor. After having 
studied law for a time in his native place, 
and taught school at Fryebui'g, Maine, 
in the Academy, for which he received 
$350 a year, he began further study with 
Mr. Christopher Gore of Boston, with 
whom he remained until he was admitted 




DANIEL WEBSTER 



to the bar in 1805. During this latter 
course of reading his industry was very 
remarkable. His contact with courts^ 
and legal men, and general affairs, laid 
the foundation for that breadth of mind 
which he exhibited in later years. One 
year was now spent in the practice of 
law at Boscawen, after which a perma- 
nent oflice was opened at Portsmouth, 
the capital of New Hampshire. It was 
here that the abilities of jSIr. Webster 
began to be seen 
by the people at 
large. Mr. Gore, 
in whose office he 
had comjDleted his 
studies, had al- 
ready affirmed 
that a great future 
was before his 
pupil. There were 
men of learning 
and distinction at 
the Portsmouth 
bar, but in the 
midst of them all 
the young lawyer 
m a d e his m a r k 
with power. He 
was all this time 
deejoly engaged in 
a more or less private way in thinking 
upon political themes. In principle he 
was a federalist. In iSi 2, at the age of 
thirty, he was elected to congress, and en- 
tered upon his duties in the midst of the 
agitation over the ^var with Great Britain 
which was now filling the horizon. His 
first speech, on June 10, 1S13, astonished 
the House, and assured them of the pres- 
ence of an accomplished scholar and de- 
bater in their midst, of whom few of them 
had known. At the close of this year Mr. 
Webster met with a great loss in the burn- 



1845-1859. 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



513 



ing of his house at Portsmouth, with all 
his library and gathered records. Hence- 
forth he made Boston his place of resi- 
dence, except that he bought and carried 
on his estate at Marshfield, where he 
spent considerable of his time when freed 
from professional cares. From iSi6 to 
1822 he sjoent his time in the practice of 
his profession, and during the time was 
brought out in several cases of extreme 
importance, notably the Dartmouth Col- 
lege case, which, upon being carried to 
the Supreme Court at Washington, drew 
out from Mr. Webster an argument 
which led to the final decision given by 
Chief Justice Marshall, establishing the 
charter of the college. In certain cases 
of criminal law Mr. Webster, during his 
after life, exhibited marvelous power. 
The breadth and resource of his legal 
abilities were simply amazing. In 1823 
he was again elected to congress, and en- 
tered at once upon active legislative work 
and discussion. He entered the U. S. 
senate in 1S27, and was a constant mem- 
ber of that body imtil 1S41. Here he 
v^^as brought into that memorable debate 
in January, 1830, which has left a record 
unsurpassed in our legislative annals, for 
logical power and eloquent statement. 
In subsequent debate upon congressional 
measures he was always an impoi'tant 
speaker, and aided largely in shaj^ing 
the votes of the senate. At the election 
of Gen. Harrison to the presidency, Mr. 
Webster was made secretary of state, 
from which position he retired in 1843, 
after Mr. Tyler's alienation from his old 
party friends and cabinet. In 1845 Mr. 
Webster again entered the U. S. senate, 
and remained there until appointed secre- 
tary of state by President Fillmore, a 
short time before his death. During this 
period Mr. Webster alienated many old 



friends by his speech in favor of the Fu- 
gitive Slave Law. Many eminent ad- 
dresses were delivered by Mr. Webster 
upon public occasions, among them the 
two Bunker Hill orations. A fall from 
a carriage injured him in the last year of 
his life. His physical vigor gradually 
gave way, and he declined steadily till 
his death. His farm was a place of great 
attraction to him. He personally inter- 
ested himself in the management of it, 
and was delighted to study its details. 
He formed an affection for everything 
upon it. During his closing days he re- 
quested to have his cattle driven by the 
window of his room, that he might be 
able to see them once more. His con- 
versational powers w^ere very fine. His 
first wife was Grace Fletcher of Hopkin- 
ton, N. H. Of four children the last one, 
Col. Fletcher Webster, was killed in the 
battle of Bull Run. In 1828 Mr. Web- 
ster married Caroline Bayard Le Roy, 
who outlived him. Commanding ora- 
tory met with a great loss in the death of 
this public man. Personal appearance 
in all its features, combined to make him 
a power in all forensic efforts. His con- 
duct has been very severely criticised in 
certain respects ; he has been pronounced 
a man of great ambition, especially for 
the presidency, and has been attacked in 
his personal life, but an eminent spirit 
dwelt within him. Strange, had it been 
perfect. 

1852. Nov. 26. An address on 

slavery to the women of America, was 
signed by 576,000 English women. 

1852. The first street railway ever 
known in America was opened in New 
York city. 

1852. Trouble occurred between 
Ecuador and Peru, because the latter 

33 



514 



For A TIC A L DE \ 'EL OPMENT. 



seemed to favor the revolutionary designs 
of Gen. Flores upon the former. 

1852. A constitutional convention 
of Central America met in Honduras, 
but San Salvador and Nicaragua with- 
dre\v, leaving Honduras the last adherent 
to the idea of union. The states have 
since been independent republics. 

1852. A National Agricultural So- 
ciety was organized in the United States, 
and remained in active existence till 1S63, 
since which time the Department of 
Agriculture has done the same work. 

1852. The first telegraph line in 
Cuba was erected. 

1852. The first steamer on the Ama- 
zon Avas established bv the Brazilian 
government. 

1852. The first fire-alarm telegraph 
in America was erected in Boston. 

SEVEKTEEXTH PRESWEXTML C:1M- 

1852. In the campaign of this vear 
the democratic candidates. Pierce and 
King, had an electoral vote of 254, with 
a popular vote of 1,601,474. The whig 
candidates, Scott and Graham, had 43 
electoral votes, and a popular vote of 
1,386,578. The "free-soil" candidates 
1779-1S52. h^tl a popular vote of 156,- 

T/^oma,■^foore. j^c). During this and the 
previous years numerous conventions had 
been held in the South, and had discussed 
the right of secession, in some cases 
favorably. 

1853. Jan. 1. The first completely 

successful illustrated paper in America 
was the " Illustrated News," published 
by P. T. Barnum and Beach Bros. 
They sold 150,000 copies of the first 
issue. 

1853. Feb. 16. The Independence, 



from Central America, was wrecked off 
Lower California, and 140 lives lost. 

1853. March 4. Franklin Pierce of 
New Hampshire, was inaugurated presi- 
dent of the United States. William R. 
King was absent in Cuba, and was 
sworn in as vice-president at Cumbre, 
Cuba, March 24. The oath was admin- 
istered by Mr. Sharkey, consul. 

1853. March 21. The first steamer 
fitted out by the " United States and 
Paraguay Navigation Company," sailed 
from New York, but was injured by 
gales, and was condemned on the coast 
of Brazil. 

1853. May 1. A congress of the 
Argentine Confederation proclaimed a 
constitution and took steps ^sss. Pope Pius 
to secure the return of Bue- -^-y: prohibits the 

. , ,, , sale of "Uncle 

nos Ayres to the contedera- rom^, cabi,r in 
tion. The constitution was Ms dominions. 
like that of the United States. Urquiza 
was made president for six years. 

1853. May 6. An accident occurred 
on the New York and New Haven 
Railroad, by the running of a train into 
an open drawbridge. Many were killed 
and drowned. Accidents at this time 
■were very numerous. Modern safeguards 
Avere not knowii. 

1853. June 6-9. Great riots occurred 
in Montreal and Quebec, occasioned by 
the lectures of Gavazzi against the 
church and pope of Rome. They were 
suppressed by the military. 

1853. July 14. A great World's 
Fair was opened in New York in a 
Crystal Palace built specially for it. 
The building was of glass and iron in 
the form of a Greek cross, 365 feet long 
each way, and 150 feet ,§55. Napoleon 
wide. The exhibition was ^^^- "^''"owi- 

edged by Russia, 
open about tour months. Austria, and 

Nearly 3,000 exhibitors Prussia. 



1845-1859.] THE INCREASE 

came from abroad. A great effect was 
produced on American industries. Pres- 
ident Pierce was present at the opening. 

1853. July 14. Com. Perry having 
arrived at Japan with his expedition, 
landed, and committed the letter sent by 
the president of the United States to the 
charge of the Imperial commissioners. 

1853. July 15. An earthquake de- 
stroyed 6oo persons at Cumana, Ven- 
ezuela. 

1853. Aug. 8. John Fletcher Boot, 
a Cherokee warrior who had been con- 
verted and had become a powerful 
preacher in his own tongue, died at the 
age of sixty years. He was licensed and 
ordained by the Methodist church, 

1853. Aug. 11-14. Great heat pre- 
vailed through the United States. In 
New York 400 deaths occurred in four 
days. 

1853. Oct. 4. The largest merchant- 
man in the world, named the " Great 
Republic," was launched at East Bos- 
ton, Mass. It was of 4,000 tons burden. 

1853. Oct. 26. A massacre of Capt. 
Gunnison and his party, was committed 
by the Indians in Utah. 

1853. Dec. 9. A mob destroyed the 
1853. War be- I'ailroad track near Erie, 
t-ween Russia and Penu. Botli men and 
women jomed m the as- 
sault, which they again carried out on 
Dec. 27. 

1853. Dec. 30. The StaflFordshire, 
from Liverpool for Boston, was lost near 
Cape Sable, with 177 lives. 

1853. Dec. 30. A treaty with Mex- 
ico secured to the United States an 
additional part of Arizona, adding about 
30,000 square miles to the public territory. 

1853. Kansas-Nebraska Bill. This 
bill was introduced into congress, and 
provided for two new territories, declar- 



OE SECTIONALISM. 



515 



ing that the old compromise of 1S30 
was rendered void by the ,^5^ Liberty of 

compromise of 1S5O, and press curtailed by 

that the inhabitants of the "' ''"'S^» <""• 
territories must decide the question of 
slavery. This bill split the whig party 
forever. The northern whigs became 
known as anti-Nebraska men. The 
passage of the bill brought on the famous 
Kansas struggle. 

1853. Successful Whaling. The re- 
ceipts of two whaling vessels from New 
Bedford, and one from Fair Haven, were 
ov^er $400,000. This pur- ^^^^ ^^^^^ 
suit had passed into the strikes in Eng- 
hands of the United States, ^""''■ 
till the whalers of New England com- 
manded the seas. Since 1861, however, 
the discovery of petroleum and the war, 
with other causes, have reduced the 
jDrofits and extent of this line of shipping. 

1853. Dr. Kane sailed from Boston 
in the " Advance," with a company of 
seventeen men, among whom was Dr. 
Hayes. After many hardships and 
dangers they anchored for the winter in 
Rensselaer Bay, and were frozen in. 
The energy of Dr. Kane kept the men 
in comparatively comfortable condition 
for two seasons. In the third they escaped 
in open boats, and returned to Boston, 
where they arrived Oct. 11, 1855. 

1853. Kit Carson successfully drove 
6,500 sheep across the Rocky Mountains 
into California. 

1853. Paper collars for men's wear, 
appeared for the first time in New York. 
Their use spread very raj^idly. 

1853. The present fire service of the 
United States was first put on an efficient 
basis at Cincinnati. A ^§55. cholera in 
steam fire engine was built Europe. 
by A. B. Latta, and was the origin of 
further success in that direction. This 



516 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



first one weighed twelve tons, and was 
partly propelled by its own steam. 

1853. The yellow fever broke out at 
New Orleans, and destroyed nearly 
1 5,000 lives along the coast cities. 

1853, The insurance company swin- 
dle was at its height, and the fruits be- 
gan to appear in the numerous failures. 
Scores of mutual companies went down, 
and by 1S60 the worst of it was over. 
But it had a great run until people learned 
wisdom. The business was done in a 
wild manner, without any secure basis 
whatever. 

1853. Santa Anna was recalled to 
Mexico, and made president once more, 
in spite of the fact that he had shown 
i855. ser^ere himself to be an unwise 
earthquakes in man. Enthusiasm every- 
where marked his recep- 
tion. But he soon showed signs of es- 
tablishing himself as dictator, and thus 
alienated the sympathies of the true 
republican citizens from himself. 

1853. The Spanish government 
pledged itself to suppress the slave trade 
in Cuba. 

1853. Paraguay was recognized as 
independent by Great Britain, France, 
Sardinia, and the United States. 

1853. An exploration of Honduras 
was made by an expedition from the 
United States, with reference to an inter- 
oceanic railway. 

1854. Jan. 5. The steamer San 
isbi. Great fires Francisco, with a force of 
in Turkey. United States troops on 
board, foundered at sea. Two hundred 
and forty perished. Seven hundred were 
rescued. 

1854. Jan. 9. The Astor Library in 
New York city was opened, with 70,000 
volumes. 

1854. Jan. 20. The steamer Tayleure, 



of the White Star Line, was wrecked oin 
the Irish coast with the loss of 370 lives. 

1854. January. Mobs of women at 
different times this month renewed the 
riots along the Erie railroad. 

1854. Feb. 1. A great fire at Quebec 
desti'oyed the Parliament House, which 
contained the library and the philosophi- 
cal apparatus of the government. 

1854. Feb. 5. The lowest tempera- 
ture ever recorded by man ^^^^ Thegreat 
was felt by Dr. Kane while Gatigcs canal in 

. ^ . '• c- •.^', c^ 1 India opened, 

wmtenng m Smith s Sound. 
His best spirit thermometer showed 100* 
below the freezing point of water. He 
was then in latitude 78° 37' N. 

BIRTH OF REPVBLIC^IX P:iRTY. 

1854. Feb. 29. The first movement 
for the organization of the Republican 
party in the United States took place in 
the edifice owned and occupied by the 
Congregational Church of Ripon, Wis.^ 
on the evening of this day. The whig 
party had been broken up by its defeat 
in 1852. The Nebraska bill was about 
being passed, and the convictions of 
whigs, free-soilers, and democrats, \vho 
were opposed to the extension of slavery, 
were rapidly increasing in clearness and 
power. Still there was no movement. 
In this state of affairs Major Alvan E. 
Bovay, of Ripon, Wis., anticipated the 
passage of the Nebraska bill bv a can- 
vass of his neighbors and friends to secure, 
if possible, some concert of action among 
men of all parties in the formation of a 
new party based upon the non-extension 
of slavery. It can be proved that Major 
Bovay had as early as the spring of 1S53 
predicted the organization of such a 
party, and proposed the name of " Re- 
publican " for it, as having associations 
which would universally attract men to 



1845-185'J.] 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



517 



it. But it was not till this date that a 
meeting was held to bring this result to 
pass. Deacon William Dunham of the 
Congregational Church, was made mod- 
erator. There was a very free expression 
of sympathy with the intended move- 
ment, and a unanimous adoption of the 
following historic resolutions: 

Whereas, The Senate of the United States 
is entertaining, and from present indications is 
likely to pass, bills organizing governments for 
the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, in which 
is embodied a clause repealing the Missouri 
Compromise Act, and so admit into these terri- 
tories the slave system with all its evils, and 

Whereas, We deem that compact irrepeala- 
ble as the Constitution itself: Therefore, 

Resolved, That of all outrages hitherto per- 
petrated or attempted upon the North and 
freedom by the slaveholders and their natural 
allies, not one compares in bold and impudent 
audacitv, treachery and meanness, with this, the 
Nebraska bill, as, to the sum of all its other vil- 
lainies it adds the repudiation of a solemn com- 
pact held as sacred as the Constitution itself for 
a period of thirty-four j'cars; 

Resolzvd, That the Northern man who can aid 
and abet in the commission of so stupendous a 
crime, is none too good to become an accom- 
plice in renewing the African slave trade, the 
service which, doubtless, will next be required 
of him by his Southern masters, should the 
Nebraska treason succeed ; 

Resolved, That the attempt to overthrow the 
Missouri Compromise, whether successful or 
not, admonishes the North to adopt the maxim 
for all time to come, "No more compromise 
with slavery ; " 

Resolved, That the passage of this bill, if pass 
it should, will be the call to arms of a great 
Northern party, such an one as the country has 
not hitherto seen, composed of Whigs, Demo- 
crats and Free-Soilers; every man with a heart 
in him united under the single banner cry of 
*' Repeal ! Repeal !" 

Resolved, That the small but compact pha- 
lanx of true men, who oppose the mad scheme 
upon the broadest principle of humanity, as 
well as their unflinching efforts to uphold pub- 
lic fiiith, deserve not only our applause, but oiu- 
profound esteem ; 

Resolved, That the heroic attitude of Gen. 
Houston, amidst a host of degenerate men in 
the United States Senate, is worthy of honor 
and applause. 

The building in which this meeting 
was held is now occupied by a German 
society, the Congregational church hav- 
ing erected by its side, a larger and 
costlier stone structure. After the Ne- 



braska bill had passed the Senate, but 
before it had passed the House, another 
meeting was held in the school-house at 
Ripon, under a call signed by fifty-four 
citizens. The whig and free-soil town 
committees were dissolved at this meet- 
ing, and a new committee of five chosen 
for the new party. They were A. E. 
Bovay, J. Bowen, Amos Loper, Abra- 
ham Thomas, and Jacob Woodruff. 
Politically three had been whigs, one a 
free-soiler, and one a democrat. This 
mo\'enient within a very few months 
spread in the surrounding region and 
state. In June of this year the name 
Republican was adopted in Michigan by 
the state convention, and sooti the country 
was alive with it. 

The course of affairs in Ripon is given 
at some length in the " Rise and Fall of 
the Slave Power in America," by the 
late Hon. Henry Wilson of Massachu- 
setts, who says, " Thus early did the men 
of that frontier town inaugurate a move- 
ment which was destined to sweep and 
control the nation, and which did sw^eep 
the country, and change entirely the 
policy of the government." (Vol. II. 
pps. 409-410.) Major Bovay, Mr. J. 
Bowen, and others, who attended and 
carried through the above meetings, are 
present residents of Ripon, still in the 
vigor of life. 

1854. March 1. The City of Glas- 
gow, from Liverpool to Philadelphia, was 
lost at sea, with 480 lives. 

1854. March 23. A commercial 
treaty betw^een the United States and 
Japan was concluded. 

1854. April 15. The Powhatan, 
from Havre to the United States, was 
lost in the Atlantic, with 311 lives. 

1854. April 16. An earthquake en- 



518 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



tirely destroyed the city of San Salvador, 
in Central America. Two hundred lives 
were lost, and $4,000,000 of property, 
in less than a minute. The city has 
been rebuilt on the same site. 

1854. April 25. Slaves were emanci- 
pated in Venezuela. 

1854. April 30. The first railroad 
in Brazil was opened. Great ceremonies 
were held, both the emperor and empress 
being present. 

1854. May 1. The Mercedes, a 
Pei'uvian war ship, was lost off Callao, 
with 700 lives. 

1854. May 26. A riot took place in 
Boston at the attempt to arrest a fugitive 
slave. Other riots occurred through the 
country at different times this year, for 
different reasons. 

1854. June 5. A reciprocity treaty 
is^i. Eastern betwccn Canada and tlie 

affairs ffroiv _ _ . , „ . , 

-.,orse. Crimean United States was signed. 
-varopene.i. It opened the markets of 

toff '^ the states to Canadian farm- 

ers, and gave agriculture and its associ- 
ated trades a new impetus. 

1854. June 12. The U. S. ship 
Cyane bombai'ded Greytown, Central 
America, because the authorities of the 
place refused to make reparation for 
United States property which had been 
destroyed. 

1854. June. The first kerosene oil 
company in this country began operations 
at Newtown Creek, L. I. The manu- 
facture increased rapidly. Bituminous 
coal was used. 

1854. July 13. The U. S. war-sloop 
Cyane bombarded and burned the town 
of San Juan, Nicaragua. 

1854. July 13. The battle of Guay- 
mas was fought between the Alexicans 
and a body of Frenchmen under Count 
Raousset de Boulbon. The latter was 



taken prisoner, and in a few days was 
shot. 

1854. Sept. 17. The City of Phila- 
delphia, from Liverpool, was lost off 
Ca^DC Race, with an unknown loss of life. 

1854. Sept. 27. The U. S. mail 
steamer Arctic was run down by the 
French steamer Vesta, with a loss of 360 
lives. It occurred off Newfoundland. 

1854. Nov. 24. The Ocean, of Boston, 
w as burned in Boston harbor, with a loss 
of 35 lives. 

1854. Dec. 20. A treaty was signed 
between the Argentine Republic and 
Buenos Ayres, by which the latter re- 
mained separate, but allied. 

1854. An American exploring party 
under Lieut. Isaac C. Strain, crossed the 
Isthmus of Darien. They ^§54, snccessfur 

took but ten days' food be- insurrection 

^ against the royal 

cause of the reported ease ministry in 
of the journey. But their ■s>««- 
trip was attended by the most terrible 
suffering. The route was found imprac- 
ticable. 

1854. Traces of Franklin were dis- 
covered not far from Great Fish River. 
Bodies were found, and ^^^^- " I'xmacn- 

. . ' • 1 late Conception 

some articles wmch had „^ //,^ viro-i„,'^ 
Sir John Franklin's name proclaimed as a 

dogma by Pope 

upon them. 1 he report 01 />/,„ /y 
these things was obtained from the Es- 
quimaux by Dr. Rae. 

1854. The cholera visited the United 
States and carried off 2500 persons in 
New York alone. 

1854. Ostend Manifesto. A paper 
was published by the American ministers 
to England, France, and vSpain, who met 
at Ostend in Belgium, and declared that 
there could be no peace for the United 
States till Cuba was acquired. 

1854. Filibusters under Costa in- 
vaded the province of Buenos Ayrec. 



1845-1859.1 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



519 



1854. An act providing a government 
for the British Virgin Islands, W. I., 
passed parliament. There are 50 of 
these British islands, liaving 95 square 
miles in all. 

1854. The Newfoundland colonial 
government chartered the New^ York, 
Newfoundland, and London Telegraph 
Company. 

1855. Jan. 28. The first train passed 
over the Panama Railroad. An Amer- 
ican company built this road at a cost of 
$7,500,000. Its length is 47^. miles. 

1855. The Waterwitch, a United 
States vessel sent out to make explora- 
tions upon the Parana River, was fired 
upon by a Paraguayan fort, and one man 
1855. Sehastopol was killed. A return fire 
t^^iien. took place. The United 

States sent out a large fleet and demanded 
reparation. Paraguay finally agreed to 
pay according to the arbitration of 
Urquiza, of the Ai-gentine Confederation. 
The surveys of Capt. Page were com- 
pleted in i860. 

1855. Feb. 3. The Fugitive Slave 
Law was pronounced unconstitutional by 
the U. S. District Court of Wisconsin. 

1855. February. A financial panic 
spread throughout California. 

1855. March 14. The first train 
passed over the Suspension Bridge at 
Niagara. This bridge has a span of 821 
feet, and its track is 245 feet above the 
water. Its capacity is 12,000 tons. 

1855. April 7. The largest steam- 
ship in the world, named the Adriatic, 
was launched at New York. 

1855. Aug. 6. A riot occurred in 
Louisville, Ky., between the Americans 
and some foreigners upon election ques- 
tions. 

1855. August. Plan of Ayutla. The 
liberal party in Mexico, under tlie leader- 



ship of Alvarez and Comonfort, pro- 
claimed a new government, including 
several radical reforms. Reactionary 
movements at once took place against 
Santa Anna, who had re- 1^55. Kars taken 
turned to the country and ^y ^''^ ^ussia,is. 
been made dictator through his alliance 
with the church party. He seemed to be 
trying to establish himself in the govern- 
ment for life, and make himself an em- 
peror. For a year or two the struggle 
had been going on, and finally triumphed 
comjDletely. Santa Anna fled, and steps 
were at once taken to put the govern- 
ment on a firmer democratic basis. A 
republican assembly chose Alvarez for 
president. 

1855. " Bleeding Kansas." Through 
the spring and summer of this year the 
soil of Kansas was the field of a great ex- 
citement. As soon as the action of con- 
gress was apparent, it was seen that the 
side which wished to hold it must settle it 
with emigrants who could control it at 
coming elections. Hence a stream of 
settlers began pouring in from the North, 
and another from Missouri and other 
Southern states. The conflict began at 
once. Depredations were of frequent oc- 
currence, and bands which became known 
as " border-ruffians," raided upon the 
towns and villages which were rapidly 
growing up. Murders were committed, 
and property destroyed during this year, 
but still the free state men would not de- 
part from the field. It was a fearful 
struggle, marked by blood all along its 
trail. It was only decided as it was be- 
cause the South had fewer real settlers to 
send into the new state than the North had, 
hence while the former could for a time 
cause great terror, it must in process of 
time be necessarily out voted whenever a 
fair exi^ression by ballot came. It was 



520 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



one of those fearful struggles in the his- 
tory of the United States which have 
been caused by the opposite feelings 
of different sections toward slavery, 
feelings which have been the strongest 
in their hold of an}' known to our 
government. On Nov. 29, 1S54, the 
bands of Missouri voters who came 
across the border just to deposit their 
ballots, carried the first election of a 
delegate to congress in favor of the pro- 
slavery candidate. They likewise took 
the same effectual measures for the elec- 
tion of a territorial legislature in the 
spring of this year. Not many free state 
settlers were yet in the field. This legis- 
lature adopted in July, 1855, the laws of 
Missouri for a State Constitution, adding 
a series of penalties for any one who at- 
tempted to interfere with slavery. The 
heat of the* struggle now came on. In 
September a convention was held at 
Topeka, and renounced the previous elec- 
tions and their results. A new delegate 
was sent to Washington, but congress 
admitted the pro-slavei*y delegate. In 
the following January state officers were 
elected by the Free State settlers under a 
constitution adopted at Topeka. Appli- 
cation was made for admission as a state 
under this free constitution, but was not 
granted. The U. S. government fully 
committed itself now to the maintenance 
of the pro-slavery laws of Kansas, the 
president issuing a proclamation to that 
effect. For about four years the struggle 
continued over the formation of a constitu- 
tion and the admission of Kansas as a 
state, and it was not till 1S61 that the 
latter result was effected. 

1855. Oct. 11. Dr. E. K. Kane 
reached New York on his return from 
his Arctic exploration. He had now been 
gone two and one-half years, and had 



experienced all the difficulties of Arctic 
navigation. An enthusias- ^^^^- Nkhoiasi. 

Cziu- of Russia, 

tic reception was given him ,/;,,,/ 
wherever he went. He was recognized 
on both sides of the Atlantic as an emi- 
nent explorer. His voyages will ever re- 
main a treasured possession of the country 
from which he sailed. The long expos- 
ure had weakened his system, and his 
health began to fiiil. The climate of 
Cuba was tried, but in vain. In less than 
two years from this time he was in his 
grave. He died Feb. 16, 1S57, 'ig^^' 
thirtv-six years. 

FILIBU8TERISM. 

1855. Oct. 15. The filibuster, Wil- 
liam Walker, who had been led to enter 
Nicaragua for purposes of power, took 
the city of Grenada. Only sixty-two 
followers were with him when he landed 
in June, but natives had joined his force. 
His attempts continued for a little less 
than two years, during which time he put 
himself into the presidency, but at once 
excited great commotion by his exercise 
of arbitrary power. In 1S57 he was 
taken into custody by the United States. 
A proclamation against filibustering was 
issued by President Pierce in December, 
1S55. Walker had in 1S53 made an at- 
tempt to conquer Sonora, but had failed. 
The United States government put him 
on trial on the charge of breaking the 
laws of neutrality, but he was acquitted. 
His efforts in Nicaragua were brought on 
through the solicitation of some wander- 
ing Americans, who had private ends to 
serve in that province. At first he was 
accepted as an efficient aid to the support 
of democratic principles. He was after- 
ward joined by adventurers from the 
United States, until he had a foixe of 
1,200 men. Then came the stej^s which 



1845-1859.] THE INCREASE 

secured his downfall. But the end had 
not yet come. With seeming rashness 
he again, after his release, made his way 
to Nicaragua, and was arrested by 
United States authorities within a month. 
But he was not held, and set out from 
Mobile for a new attempt. An arrest 
now took place at the mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi, but without any other result than 
an acquittal. In iS6o he managed to 
start out into Honduras with similar de- 
signs, but came to an end by arrest and 
execution. The career of this filibuster 
is an instance of the many which have 
marked our history in South American 
states, and in Cuba. They were espe- 
cially numerous after the war between 
Mexico and the United States had closed. 
The term filibuster comes into our lan- 
guage from the Spanish Jilibusteros^ a 
term by which pirates were known. In 
English, however, it came to be applied 
only to such adventurers as tried to secure 
power in the former Spanish American 
jDrovinces of the continent. Of all these, 
William Walker was by far the most 
famous. 



OF SECTIONALISM. 



521 



1855. Nov. 22. Law of Juarez. 

President Alvarez of Mexico proclaimed 
this statute, and for the first time in Mex- 
ico established the equality of all citizens 
before the law. Class legislation was 
abolished. The great mass of people 
were pleased with the new enactment. 
A great step was taken in the renewal 
of Mexico. 

1855. Dec. 23. The " Resolute," a 

British vessel which had been sent out in 

search of Sir John Franklin, and had been 

abandoned in Arctic seas, 

J855. Industrial 

exhibition at WaS brOUgllt tO NcW Lou- 

Paris opened. ^Jqj^^ Couu., by a whaliug 
vessel. The United States refitted her 



and sent her across the ocean to the Eng- 
lish government. Now comes a pleasant 
part of the story. In November, iSSo, 
there was received at the White House, 
Washington, as a present to President 
Hayes, an elaborate and beautiful writing 
table made from the wood of which the 
Resolute had been composed. 

1855. Dec. 24. The province of 
Buenos Ayres w^as invaded by Gen. 
Flores and a band of Argentine refugees. 
They were driven off by Gen. Miti'e, 
who pushed on into the province of 
Santa Fe. This complicated troubles 
between the two governments, and led to 
the annulling of all the former treaties 
made. 

1855. December. President Alva- 
rez of Mexico, who had succeeded Santa 
Anna in August, himself resigned, and 
was succeeded by Comonfort. 

1855. American Reapers. A trial 
between reaping machines of all nations 
was instituted at Paris, France. Ma- 
chines were present from England, the 
United States, and Algiers. The Amer- 
ican showed entire superiority, cutting, an 
acre of oats in twenty-two minutes, while 
it took the English sixty-six minutes, and 
the Algerine seventy-two. Enthusiasm 
on the part of witnesses was unbounded. 
A trial between threshers v\^as held soon 
after in England, and again in France, 
with similar results. The American ma- 
chine, to those looking on, seemed to de- 
vour the sheaves. 

1855. The Associated Press was 
formed in New York by the daily papers, 
in order to distribute the telegraphic news 
inost expeditiously. 

1855. Castella overthrew the presi- 
dency of Echenique in Peru, and seized 
the government, in which he served by 
reelection until 1S62. He abolished 



522 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



slavery, and instituted other needed 
reforms. 

1855. Cholera morbus raged through- 
out Brazil, and tlestroyed thousands of 
lives. 

1856. Jan. 23. The Pacific sailed 
from Liverpool for New York, and was 
never heard from. There was a loss of 
1 86 persons. 

1856. Jan. 30. The Chilian war 
steamer Cazador was lost, with 318 lives. 

1856. Feb. 2. A great contest oc- 
curred in the House of Representatives 
over the speakership. After a close battle 
for nine weeks, N, F. Banks was elected 
this day, by the plurality of three votes. 

1856. Feb. 19, The John Rutledge, 
from Liverpool for New York, was sunk 
by an iceberg, with an unknown loss of 
life. 

1856. Feb. 22. "Know Nothing" 
Convention. .V new party had arisen in 
the United States with a secret organiza- 
tion, and pledged to oppose foreigners. 
It had been growing up for a long series 
of years, and called itself the American 
or Native American party. It advocated 
naturalization only after a residence of 21 
years in the country, as in the case of 
children, and advocated the election to 
oilice of native born citizens. Its dele- 
gates were elected in secret conventions. 
1S56. July 12. For a long time it held in 

The Crimea . . 

evacuated. many sections a balance ot 

power. A convention was held at this 
date, from which one-fourth of the dele- 
gates withdrew upon an anti-slavery 
issue. The remainder nominated Millard 
Fillmore of New York, for president, and 
Andrew J. Donelson, of Tennessee, for 
vice-president. This was the only presi- 
dential campaign in which the party pre- 
sented candidates. 

1856. February. Mormon Troubles. 



An armed body of Mormons forced 
Judge Drummond, of the U. S. district 
court, in Utah, to adjourn his session 
without date. The officers appointed by 
the United States all fled the territory be- 
cause Brigham Young so excited the 
people against them, and declared that he 
alone would be governor. For five years 
these troubles had been growing up, and 
Brigham Young had openlv defied the 
laws of the United States. 

1856. March 15. The Camden ferry- 
boat from New York, was wrecked, and 
30 lives lost. 

1856. March 20. The invasion of 
Costa Rica, headed by Schlessinger and 
William Walker, was defeated. At a 
later day the latter gained some slight 
advantage. 

1856. April 15. A riot occurred on 
the Panama railroad, and thirty passen- 
gers were killed. 

^ss^iriT o.r su.m'ER. 

1856. May 22. Charles Sumner,. 
U. S. senator froni Massachusetts, while 
writing at his desk in the senate chamber, 
after the adjournment of that body, was 
approached by Freston S. Brooks, L^nited 
States representative from South Caro- 
lina, and beaten with a cane before he 
could extricate himself from his seat, 
until he fell senseless upon the floor. 
Fermanent injuries ^vcre inflicted in this 
fearful assault. Although Senator Sum- 
ner was abroad for some years, and had 
the treatment of skillful phvsicians in the 
Old and New World, he never fully re- 
covered from the effect upon his system. 
The reason of the outrage was in a criti- 
cism which Senator Sumner had offered 
upon Senator Butler of South Carolina, 
in referring to Kansas aff"airs. Brooks 
was a relative of Butler. The House of 



1845-1859.] 

Representatives censured Brooks, who 
resigned liis seat, and was unanimously 
reelected by his constituents. Anson 
Burlingame, a member of the House, 
from Massachusetts, made the severest 
criticisms of any upon Brooks, and was 
challenged therefor, at once by the latter. 
Burlingame immediately accepted, and 
named Navy Island, above Niagara Falls, 
as the place of meeting, and rifles as the 
weapon. Brooks would not go thither 
because of having to pass through an ex- 
cited North. The meeting, therefore, 
never occurred. Brooks, upon returning 
to Columbia, S. C, Aug. 29, was granted 
a public reception and presented with a 
cane. On the third of November Sena- 
tor Sumner was received with great 
joublic acclamation at Boston. 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



523 



1856. June 2, The democratic con- 
vention met at Cincinnati and nominated 
James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, for 
president, and John C. Breckinridge of 
Kentucky, for vice-president. The con- 
vention condemned " Know-nothingism." 

1856. June 17. The republican 
convention was held at Philadelphia. 
isb6. Aiexaudtr jt declared in favor of in- 

//. crozvned em- . , 

feror of Russia, tcmal miprovcmcnts, and 
of the right of congress to prohibit sla- 
very and polygamy in the territories; also 
of admitting Kansas as a free state. 
John C. Fremont of California, w^is 
nominated for president, and William L. 
Dayton, of New Jersey, for vice-president. 

1856. July 12. A submarine cable 
was laid between Cape Breton and New- 
foundland. 

1856. July. A safe belonging to the 
American Express Co., and lost on the 
steamer Atlantic in 1852, was raised by 
a Buffalo diver, with comparatively un- 
injured contents. 



1857. Aug. 10. A violent storm 

com2:)letely engulfed Lost Island, a sum- 
mer resort on the coast of Louisiana, for 
three days, with a loss of 173 persons. 

1856. Aug. 21. The Charter Oak, 
Hartford, Conn., was blown down during 
a heavy gale. 

1856. Oct. 8. An election riot oc- 
curred in Baltimore, and nine persons 
were killed, 

1856. Oct. 10. The "sewing- machine 
war," in which numerous suits had 
arisen between Singer on the one side, 
and Wheeler and Wilson with Grover 
and Baker on the other, was settled by 
these parties agreeing to use each other's 
points and make common cause against 
all other infringers thereafter. This is 
sometimes known as the Albany Agree- 
ment. 

1856. Nov. 2. The Lyonnais, from 
New York, was lost in the Atlantic, with 
134 lives. 

EIGHTEENTH PRE8IDEKTML CAMPAIGM. 

1856. Nov. 4. In the election of 
this year Buchanan and Breckinridge, 
the democratic candidates, had 174 elec- 
toral votes and 1,838,169 popular votes; 
Fremont and Dayton, the rejDublican 
candidates, had 114 electoral votes, and 
1,341,264 popular votes. Fillmore and 
Donelson, the Know-Nothing candidates, 
had 8 electoral votes, and 874,534 popu- 
lar votes. The latter carried Maryland 
alone. The republican party was now 
growing up very rapidly, and absorbing 
the elements which were opposed to 
slavery. Neither candidate had a major- 
ity of the popular vote at this election. 



1856. Nov. 10, The New York and 
Newfoundland Telegraph line was 

opened to St. John's, a distance of 1715 



524 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT, 



miles. A submarine cable had been laid 
during the summer between Nova Scotia 
and Cape Breton, and one from Cape 
Breton to Newfoundland. These are 
now a part of the international line. 

1856, Dec. 6. A United States 
squadron fired on and destroyed Barrier 
Forts, near Canton, China, because of aii 
attack upon an American boat. 

1856. Dec. 24. The only snow that 
^vas ever known in Cuba, fell in the in- 
terior of the island. The weather was 
the coldest ever experienced. 

1856. Kansas War. A terrible war 
raged in Kansas this year, between the 
slave state and the free state settlers. 
There were frequent raids made by the 
former. Lawrence and Ossawattomie 
were nearly destroyed. It was in this 
year that John Brown acquired a reputa- 
tion for fearless partisan warfare. With 
small bands of men he often held large 
numbers at bay. Especially did he prove 
successful with his little force of thirty 
men at the attack which was made by 
500 upon Ossawattomie. He was always 
afterward known as " Ossawattomie 
me. Great Browu." At the first of 

earthquake in this year President Pierce 
"- ' had recognized the pro- 

slavery legislature of Kansas. United 
States troops \vere ordered to obey the 
governor in enforcing the laws of this 
legislature. A free state legislature was 
broken up by these troops on July 4, 
at Topeka. In September, Geary of 
Pennsylvania, assumed the office of 
governor, and quieted the affixirs of the 
state somewhat. 

1856. A type-setting machine was 
invented bv Timothy Alden. 

1856. A power-loom for weaving 
Axminster carpets, was patented by 
Alexander Smith and Halcyon Skinner. 



Their establishment was set up at Yon- 
kers, N. Y., and is the only one in the 
country. 

1856. The Sorghum Mania. The. 
sorghum plant, or Chinese sugar-cane, 
was introduced into America for the pro- 
duction of molasses. It was much called 
for during the next few years. Many 
claimed that it would displace sugar-cane, 
but it is now principally used for syrup. 
1856. The California Vigilance Com- 
mittee again tO(jk the law into their own 
hands, because of increasing lawlessness. 
The number of the committee was en- 
larg-ed to several thousands of the leadinsf 
citizens, and executions were again held. 
The ground alleged for such action, 
which was taken in an entirely deliber- 
ate manner, and with considerable oppo- 
sition from local authorities, was that the 
administration of the laws provided no 
security for society. Crime became 
once more abashed by this uprising of 
the people. 

1856. The most valuable diamond 
ever found \n the United States was 
picked up opposite Richmond, Va., at 
Manchester, on the James River. It 
weighs 33.7 carats, but has been injured. 
1856. The first Black Hawk horse 
died at Bridport, Vt., aged twenty- 
three years. He had been sold when 
four years old, for $150. At nine years 
he trotted five miles in sixteen minutes, 
winning $1,000. The secretary of the 
Massachusetts State Board of Agricul- 
ture has the skeleton of this horse hang- 
ing in his office at the State House, 
Boston. 

1856. A political treaty was formed 
by Peru, Chili, Ecuador,and Costa Rica, 
on account of William Walker's filibus- 
tering expeditions. Costa Rica declared 
war upon him. 



1845-1859.1 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



525 



1856. A treaty was formed between 
Honduras and Great Britain for the 
guarantee and protection of the Hondu- 
ras Inter-Oceanic Railway, 

1856. San Salvador took the title of a 
republic later than all the other Central 
American states. 

1857. Jan. 23. The Heaviest Man. 
Miles Dardcn, a man weighing at his 
death over i,ooo pounds, died in Tennes- 
see, at the age of fifty-nine years. He 
was born in North Carolina in 1798, and 
gi"ew to be 7 ft. 6 in. high. At the age 
of forty-seven he weighed 871 pounds. 
He worked until he was fifty-five years 
old, and was probably the largest man of 
whom there is any record. 

1857. Jan. 30. A mysterious murder 
of Dr. Harvey Burdell of New York, 
took place in his own residence. A Mrs. 
1851. Eariii- Cunningham was tried for 
f/f,%"/.S'" the crime, but was acquit- 

ktlledtiftOO per- ' ^ 

sons. ted, although the evidence 

was very strong that she committed the 
deed in order to secure Dr. Burdell's 
property, through a pretended private 
marriage with him. 

XEW C0X8TITUTI0.y OF MEXICO. 

1857. Feb. 3. A constitutional con- 
vention which had been in existence a 
year, at last swore to a constitution which 
was afterward promulgated, and has since 
been the law of the land. It was strictly 
republican in principle, and j^rovided for 
a president to be elected for four years, 
his term to begin Dec. i, 1857. With 
the adoption of this by the " advanced 
party " of the country, began what is 
known as the " war of reform,'" brought 
on by the opposition of corrupt men, 
M57. December, during which life and prop- 
Etisriishatu erty were scarcely safe any- 

Frencli captured •' j j 

Canton, China, whcrc withiu Mexican 



limits. Mexico has every variety of 
temperature and soil, and much mineral 
wealth. Her scenery is beautiful. When 
her full liberation comes, she will be a 
worthy part of the life of the continent. 



1857. Feb. 12. George Peabody 

gave $300,000 to establish in Baltimore 
a free Literary and Scientific Institute. 

1857. Feb. 19. An expulsion of 
four members from the United States 
House of Representatives for corrupt 
conduct took place. They were from 
New York and Connecticut. 

1857. March 4. James Buchanan 
was inaugurated president of the United 
States, and John C. Breckinridge, vice- 
president. 

BBED SCOTT DECISION. 

1857. March 6. The United States 
Supreme Court gave a decision which 
gi'eatly agitated the North, and widened 
the gulf between North and South. 
Dred Scott was a slave who had lived for 
four years with his master in Illinois, and 
afterward for a while in Minnesota, in 
both which states slavery was illegal. 
He was then carried back to Missouri, 
and was whipped at some time. Scott 
entered a suit against his master for 
assault, pleading that he had become 
free by having lived in two free states. 
He won his case by the decision of the 
Missouri Circuit Court. It w^as appealed, 
and came up in process of time before 
the bench of the United States Supreme 
Court. The decision of this ^^^y j^^ , ^ 
court afiirmed that negroes Rebellion in /«- 
were things or chattels, 
" had no rights which white people were 
bound to respect," could be carried by an 
owner wherever he pleased, and had no 
standinsf in court which enabled them to 




[026] 



CYPRESS GROVE IN MEXICO. 



1845-1859.] 

sue. It also declared the Missouri Com- 
promise unconstitutional and void. A 
minority of the justices dissented from 
this view. Roger B. Taney was chief- 
justice at the time, and supported the 
decision. 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



527 



1857. June 26. The Montreal was 

lost near Quebec, with 250 li\cs. 

1857. July 4. " Dead Rabbit" Riot. 
A great riot occurred in New York, 
which originated in some legal proceed- 
ing concerning the police force. It took 
its name from the " roughs " and rowdies 
of " Five Points," who arc known as 
*'dead rabbi>ts." The riot continued 
through the night of July 3, and until 
night of July 4. Eleven persons were 
killed. 

1857. Aug. 5. The fix'st attempt to 
lay a submarine cable across the Atlantic 
began at Valentia, Ireland, by means of 
the British ships Leopard and Agamem- 
non, with the American ships Niagara 
and Susquehanna. Only a few miles 
i857 Aii<r 6. had been laid, when a break 
Napoieoti III. occurrcd. This was mend- 

(ind Ens' enie vis- ■> i ., i , 

i'ed ^teen Vic ^^'> ^"^^ ^hc VCSSCls WCUt OU 

toria. their way for 300 miles, 

when another break occurred, and the 
enterprise was abandoned till the next 
year. 



PtIXIC of 1857. 
1857. Aug 24. A failure of 



the 



" Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Com- 
pany " took place, and proved to be the 
first act in the panic which swept through 
the commercial world so fiercel}-. Many 
1857. Sept. 14. ^auks wcrc everywhere 

DeJii in India gooU forCcd tO SUSpCud. The 

capture, . causc of the disaster was 

chiefly in the rage for land speculation, 
which had prevailed like a fever through 
the country. Paper cities abounded, 



and unproductive railroads were opened. 
At last the crisis came. The land was 
convulsed from one end to another. 



1857. Sept. 8. The steamship Cen- 
tral America, from Aspinwall for New 
York, with five hundred and seventy -nine 
persons on board, foundered in a terrible 
gale off Cape Hatteras. One hundred 
and fifty-two only were saved. Over 
$2,000,000 treasure was lost. 

1857. Sept. 15. Brigham Young 
issued his pi'oclamation against the 
United States troops which had been 
sent out to maintain order in the 
province, and urged the people of Utah 
to resist them. The troops were har- 
assed after their entrance into the terri- 
tory of Utah, by Mormon raiders. Sup- 
ply trains were cut off, and cattle stolen. 
Winter quarters were prepared on 
Black's Fork, near Fort Bridger. Alfred 
Cumming, who had been appointed gov- 
ernor, and was with the army, declared 
the territory to be in rebellion. 

1857. Sept. 23. The first step in the 
great religious revival of 1S57 and 1S58 
was taken in the establishment of a bus- 
iness men's prayer meeting in the third 
story lecture room of the old Fulton Street 
church, at twelve o'clock noon, by Mi*. 
J. C. Lanphier, who was serving as city 
missionary for the church. For one half 
of the hour Mr. Lanphier was alone. 
Five persons came in during the last half. 
One week from that time twenty v\'ere 
present. Two weeks, nearly forty were 
there. At the close of this third meet- 
ing one was appointed for the next day, 
inaugurating the Fulton Street daily 
prayer meeting, which has never ceased 
to be held. It was not long before 



528 



P OLI riCA L DE VEL OF ME NT, 



meetings were heUl in other churches, 
and the city began to be alive with them. 
About the same time with the Fulton 
Street meeting, one was established in 
Plymouth Church, Brooklyn. During 
the spring of 1858 the revival attained 
great jwwer all over the land. Churches 
were ever3'where aroused, and converts 
made by thousands. 



1857. Sept. 25-26. The banks of 
Philadelphia suspended payment, and 
were followed in cjuick succession by 
banks through all the surrounding region. 

1857. Oct. 13-14. The banks of 
New York suspended payment after a 
terrible run ujDon them by thousands of 
depositors. The banks of Massachusetts 
went down in the second clay. 

1857. Nov. 2. Unemployed work- 
men in New York held a large mass 
meeting. Their distresses during the 
panic were great. They held another 
Nov. 10. 

1857. Dee. 12. The banks of New 
York resumed payment, and were soon 
followed by others, so that the blackest 
part of the crisis seemed past. During 
the year ending Dec. 25 there had been 
5,123 commercial failures, with liabilities 
amounting to $291,750,000. 

1857. Dee. 17. Gen. Zuloaga pro- 
nounced against the constitution of INIcx- 
ico, and rmder the lead of the church 
party aided Comonfort, who had been 
inaugurated president of the republic 
on Dec. I, in trying to secure absolute 
power. 

1857. Kansas Troubles. The free 
state legislature of Kansas tried to meet 
in January, but were broken up by 
United States troops again. Gov. Geary 
resigned because of difficulty with the pro- 
slavery legislature. Robert J. Walker 



of Mississippi, was made governor. The 
United States House declared the acts of 
the Kansas pro-slavery legislature " cruel, 
oppressive, illegal and void." The Senate 
refused to concur in this. 

1857. The National Association of 
Base Ball Plaj-ers ^vas organized, and 
established a uniform svstem of rules for 
the whole country. The rules had foi'- 
merly varied in different states. This 
association has been divided ^vithin a fe\\' 
years into professional and amateur 
societies. 

1857. A process for condensing 
milk was patented by Charles Alden, 
who has since invented processes for 
drying fruit by evaporation so as to retain 
every valuable element in them. 

FEXMXISM. 

1857. The Fenian Organization was 
founded for the first time in America at 
New York, by Michael Corcoran, Mi- 
chael Doheny, and James O'Alahoney,, 
under the name of the Emmet Monu- 
ment Association. Similar societies al- 
ready existed in Ireland, where they 
were known as Phoenix societies. The 
name Fenian, afterward adopted, was 
taken from Fionn or Finn, who com- 
manded a kind of Irish militia in the 
third century. In 1S58, isoi-is57. 
James Stephens, the chief Eugene Sue, 
promoter of the brotherhood, visited 
New York from Ireland, and helped the 
club then organize more fully, v/ith 
John O'Mahoney as president. 



1857. A great contest of mowers 

under the auspices of the United States 
Agricultural Society, was held at Syra- 
cuse, N. Y. Forty mowers were put 
into the trial. The Buckeye won the 
victory. 



1845-1859.J 

1857. Central Park, New York. The 

New York legislature set apart the land 
in the upper part of New York city, for 
a permanent free park. Frederic Law 
Olmsted and Calvert Vaux provided 
plans for its improvement, and work has 
been constantly going on at great ex- 
pense to beautify the grounds and make 
them an attractive public resort. 

1857. The seat of government for 
Canada was placed permanently at 
Ottawa. 

1858. Jan. 19. Mexican Troubles. 
Gen. Zuloaga had just now forsaken 
President Comonfort, who was obliged 
to flee for his life. The former took the 
administration upon himself. But Benito 
Juarez, who had been made chief-justice 
under the new constitution, and who, ac- 
cording to the provisions of that docu- 
ment was legally president in the absence 
of the one chosen as such, removed to 
Guanajuato, and was there recognized as 
president of the republic. He, however, 
1795-1S58. had no safety against the 

ArySc/ieffer. church party, and therefore 
had to shift for himself. He was at 
last made prisoner by his guard, who 
pronounced in fovor of the old regime, 
but was afterward set at liberty. 

1858. Jan. 24. Two United States 
vessels, named Lizzie Thompson and 
Georgiana, were seized by Peruvian ves- 
sels while loading guano on the coast of 
the province of Arequipa. It led to com- 
plications, but Peru has afforded redress. 

1858. Feb. 22. A Washington Mon- 
ument at Richmond, Va., by Crawford, 
was inaugurated. 

1858. April 30. Congress voted to 
i8n8. Jan. 31. admit Kansas to the Union 
Great Easi^rn under the Lccompton con- 

launcned at Lon- '■ 

don. stltutlon, which was pro- 

slavery, with the condition that it should 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



529 



have certain valuable jDubllc lands if It 
would adoj^t that constitution by a vote 
of the people. It had previously been 
rejected by a majority of 10,000 votes. 

1858. May 1. Convention of Rivas. 
The states of Nicaragua and Costa Rica 
formed a treaty with a representative of 
the French government, agreeing on the 
formation of an interoceanic canal com- 
pany by the latter, and making the nec- 
essary stipulation for the construction of 
a transit of this kind. This was after- 
ward commended by the British gov- 
ernment. 

1858. May 4. Three Years' War 
in Mexico. Chief-justice Juarez once 
more established himself in the govern- 
ment at Vera Cruz. The country w^as 
overrun by the forces of the opposing 
party, but Juarez began the effort which 
ended in January, iS6i,In his triumphal 
entry into the City of Mexico, as the 
savior of the republic. 

1858. May 11. Minnesota was ad- 
mitted to the Union as the ISaS. Great East 

thirty-second state. It has ^"'^^ '^''^"-^ 

-' ivent out of ex- 

83,531 square miles, and istence. 
439,706 Inhabitants In 1S70. Its motto 
is, " L'EtoIle du Nord." " The star of 
the North." 

1858. May. The college regatta 
association was formed by a convention 
of oarsmen fiom Harvard, Yale, Brown, 
and Trinity. Regattas were held annu- 
ally until 1870. 

1858. June 10. A president's mes- 
sage announced the peaceable settlement 
of the Utah difficulties. 

1858. June 13. The Pennsylvania 
was wrecked in the Mississippi River, 
and 100 lives lost. 

1858. June 13. A treaty of friend- 
ship between the United States and 
China was signed at Tien-Tsin. 

34 



530 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



1858. June 19. A severe earthquake 

occurred in the valley of Mexico, de- 
stroying the aqueduct which brought 
water into the city, andi doing much 
other damage in other places. 

1858. July 14. The Turkish admi- 
ral, Mehemet Pacha, and his suite, after 
an extensive tour through portions of the 
United States, sailed from Boston. 

1858. Aug. 2. British Columbia 
was separated from the Hudson's Ba}' 
isos. Palmer- Company, and incorporated 

ston\. ministry ^^ ^ distinct Colouial gOVem- 

closed. Lord ^ 

Derby succeeded. mCUt. Gold had bcCU fouud 

within its limits, and a permanent colony 
planted. The previous centers had 
merely been trading stations. 

1858. Aug. 3. The people of Kansas 
by a full vote, refused to accept the Le- 
compton constitution with its provisions 
for slavery, even with the inducement 
held out to them by congress in a free 
gift of valuable lands. 

1858. Aug. 11. The first annual 
convention of the National Teachers' 
Association was held at Cincinnati. 

^TL±XTIC C^BLE. 

1858. Aug. 13. After another faith- 
ful attempt to lay a telegraphic cable 
across the Atlantic, success seemed to 
crown the labors to that end. A first 
trial was made and \vas broken up by a 
storm, but on Aug. 5 the 
line between Valentia, Ire- 
land, and Newfoundland, 
was completed. Communi- 
cation was at once held l)e- 
tween Enghind and America. Upon 
Aug. 17, Queen Victoria sent a message 
of congratulation to President Buchanan, 
who replied with a similar sentiment. 
The success of the enterprise was a mat- 
ter of great rejoicing in both continents. 



1858. July 12. 
First yezv in 
British Parlia- 
ment. Baron 
Rothschild en- 
tered House of 
Commons. 



But the communications afterward grew 
more difiicult, and finally ceased entirely 
about the first of September. It was 
eight years before another cable was laid, 
and permanent success reached. Sub- 
marine cables now run in all directions. 

1858. Aug. 27. The slave vessel 
Echo was captured and carried into 
Charleston, S. C. The rescued negroes 
were taken to Liberia on the United 
States steamship Niagara. The grand 
jury of Columbia county, S. C, refused 
an indictment against the Echo. 

1858. Sept. 1. The quarantine sta- 
tion on Staten Island, N. Y. harbor, was 
destroyed by the citizens, who regarded it 
as a nuisance. 

1858. Sept. 13. The steamship Aus- 
tria, of the New York and Hamburg 
line, with five hundred and thirty-eight 
persons on board was burned ^§.5,9 j^„^^ ^^_ 
in mid-ocean while on a 
voyage to New York. A 
bucket of tar used in fumi- 
gating the ship took fire 
and communicated the 
flames to everything around. Only sixty- 
se\'en were rescued from the wreck by 
passing vessels, making this one of the 
most terrible disasters ever known in 
ocean navigation. 

1858. Sept. 16. The first overland 
mail ever started for California from the 
East left St. Louis. 

1858. Sept. 21. The steam frigate 
General Admiral, built for .^^^ ^,,^,,^^, 
the Russian government, to kill Emperor 

1 1 1 , -KT -V' 1 Napoleon HI. 

was launched at New 1 ork. 

1858. Oct. 5. A great fire consumed 
the Crystal Palace, New York, while an 
annual fair was in operation. Its contents 
were entirely lost. The fire began in a 
lumber room and spread with such amaz> 



Forty-five Chris- 
tians massacred 
at Jeddah, Tur- 
key. Jeddatt 
ajterrva rd bom ■ 
barded by Eng- 
lish steamer. 



1845-1859.] 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



531 



ing rapidity along the highly seasoned 
185S. Nezo " di- pitcli pine floors, the cases 

vorce court- ^^^^ ^^^^ ^j^.^^ j^^ ^^^^ ^^ 

opened in I^on- ' 

don. hour the whole building 

was in ruins. It was a so-called fire- 
proof building, but it went like magic. 
It was with difficulty that the visitors 
escaped from harm. 

1858. Oct. 15. Parker Cleaveland, 
" the father of American mineralogy," 
died at Brunswick, Me., at the age of 
seventy-eight years. He was born at 
Rowley, Mass., Jan. 15, 1780, and was 
graduated at Harvard College, in 1799. 
In 1S05, after having served for two 
years as tutor at Harvard, he was elected 
professor in Bowdoin College, a position 
1858. First rail- which hc held for 53 years, 

road in Egypt, , . , . . 

the Suez. "^ spitc of u'cquent solicita- 

tions to accept situations elsewhere. His 
main subject of study and instruction was 
natural science, and in 18 16 the first edi- 
tion of his work on mineralogy was 
issued. He acquired a world-wide repu- 
tation, and was elected a member of six- 
teen different scientific and literary socie- 
ties in Europe. He only failed, for rea- 
sons in connection with himself, in attend- 
ing three recitations during his long term 
of service in Bowdoin. 

1858. Oct. 20. A brutal prize fight 
took place at Long Point Island, Lake 
Erie, between John Morrissey, since 
member of congress, and John C. Heenan, 
for a wager of $3,500. The former was 
declared the champion of America. 

1858. Nov. 28. Three hundred 
Africans were landed from the yacht 
Wanderer at Brunswick, Ga. 

1858. Dec. 21. Faustin was banished 
by the revolutionists of Hayti, and Gen. 
Jeffrard made president in his place. 

1858. Vineland, N. J., was founded 
by Mr. Charles K. Landis. It was laid 



out into fine streets, and the lots were 
sold subject to certain specified conditions 
which related not only to the building 
thereon, but to the general life of the 
community. The success has been great. 
Intoxication and poverty are unknown, 
and there is scarcely any need of a police 
or fire department. Taxes are very low. 
The soil was poor, but the place has been 
made a city of well-regulated homes and 
industrious people. 

1858. Mount Vernon, the home of 
Washington, was sold to the " Ladie«:i' 
Mt. Vernon Association," for $200,000, 
with the intention of making it a place of 
resort. Money has been laid out upon it, 
and two or three rooms in the house re- 
main as they were when Washington 
died. 

1858. Paul C. Morphy, the American 
champion chess-player, twenty-one years 
of age, visited Europe, and obtained vic- 
tories over the best players in England, 
and on the continent. He became the 
champion of the world. Upon his return 
he received a magnificent ovation. He 
has since been a practising lawyer in New 
Orleans. 

1858. The first sleeping-car seen on 
Ainerican railroads was run this year, but 
was not at all satisfactory. 

1858. The American Bank Note 
Company was formed by a combination 
of the engraving companies of the United 
States. It has controlled a large share of 
the work in engraving bank notes. The 
w^ork of counterfeiting is more difficult 
because of this combination. 

1858. A record of Franklin's expedi- 
tion up to the time when the ships were 
abandoned, was found in a cairn at Point 
Victery. Sir John died June 11, 1847. 
The ships were abandoned April 22, 
1848, and 105 men started for Great Fish 



532 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



River. They evidently (lied of stai"vation 
along the way, as appears by the dis- 
covery of skeletons at different j^oints. 

1858. Valuable gold diggings were 
found in western Kansas, and emigration 
at once began to flow in. Many persons 
suffered great hardships. There was also 
a great gold excitement during the year 
in Washington and Oregon territories. 

1858. Dr. Linares became dictator of 
Bolivia for two years, till overthrown and 
imprisoned. 

1858. Guayaquil in Ecuador was 
blockaded by Peruvian vessels, but the 
difficulties between the two powers which 
had been of six years' standing, were soon 
terminated. 

1858. Paraguay River was declared 
open to the mercantile marine of all 
countries. 

1859. Jan. 1. Gen. Zuloaga abdi- 
cated in Mexico in favor of Gen. Miguel 
Miramon, who began his attempt to sub- 
due the constitutional party under Juarez. 

1859. January. The independence 
of Uruguay was secured by a treaty with 
Brazil and the Argentine confederation. 
The province had been peaceful since 
the fall of Rosas in 1852. It was now 
on the verge of a fresh crisis in its affairs. 

1859. Jan. 10. Cuba. A bill pro- 
viding $30,000,000 for the work of secur- 
ing Cuba as a part of the United States, 
1769-1859. ^V'lS introduced into the U. 

Humboldt, g. congress by Mr. Slidell. 
This was a part of the long effort to get 
that island for the sake of adding to the 
slave territory of the United States. 

WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT. 

1859. Jan. 28. William H. Pres- 
cott, one of our most eminent American 
historians, died in Boston, aged sixty-two 
years. He was bom in Salem, Mass., 



May 4, 17960 His early boyhood was 
spent in the place of his birth. In 1808 
the family removed to Boston, and the 
young William was at once put into the 
best training school of the time, in that 
city. Here he received the drill in 
classics which followed him all his life. 
He entered Harvard, a bright, hearty, 
young man, and pursued his studies with 
ordinary diligence. In his junior year an 
incident occurred which colored his whole 
subsequent life. As he was i8oo-i859. 
going out from dinner one ^°'''^ Macaulay. 
day at Commons, with a crowd of laugh- 
ing students, he turned his head to look 
behind him, and at just this instant a crust 
of dry bread thrown by some one, struck 
him in the open eye. This accident 
caused the entire loss of the sight of this 
eye for his lifetime. It also caused severe 
attacks at times in the other eye. For 
the most of his career Mr. Prescott could 
manage with difficulty to use the remain- 
ing eye, and at best the help afforded by 
it was partial and unsatisfactory. It, 
however, drove him to a great discipline 
of memory, and in his best days it was 
possible for him to comjDose and revise 
about sixty pages of history in his mind. 
A writing machine became his constant 
companion after a time, although at all 
times during his work on his histories he 
employed a secretary. For well-nigh 
half of his life he received little aid from 
eyesight. A tour abroad occupied him 
after graduation from college. When in 
America again he was married, and be- 
gan the consideration of his lifework. 
Law was thrown out of the question, and 
before a great while he began to think of 
history. As a preparation he began the 
task of reviewing his studies, especially 
in grammar, and in the 1803-1S59. 

Robert Stephen- 

modern languages. His .on 



1845-1859.] 

reading- first turned toward a life of 
Moliere, but at a later day he selected 
the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, as 
his first field. He collected materials at 
great trouble, much of it in Spanish, and 
employed a secretary whom he taught to 
read the text without being able to under- 
stand it. For ten years he worked in the 
inost painstaking way, and at last put his 
work before the public with much mis- 
giving. But the work was no sooner 
issued than his reputation began to 
spread. People who had thought that 
this man, almost blind, had been amusing 
himself with some studies for his own re- 
lief, found that he was doing a work few 
well men could do. In the same way his 
other works were prepared. Public 
honors flowed in upon him, and he was 
known widely at home and abroad. Mr. 
Prescott was a genial, conscientious, 
methodical man, and subjected himself to 
his own demands most untiringly. He 
was of a tall stature, and easy manner. 
A very fine private library was collected 
by him, especially in the lines of his 
study. His life is a lesson of untiring 
diligence in the inidst of great suffering. 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



533 



1859. Feb. 14. Oregon was the 

thirty-third state to be received into the 
Union. It has 95,374 square miles, and 
90,923 inhabitants in 1S70. The motto 
of the state is, "Alis volat propriis." 
" She flies with her own wings." 

1859. Feb. 27. Philip Barton Key, 
District Attorney for the District of 
Columbia, was shot on the street in 
Washington by Hon. Daniel E. Sickles, 
on the charge of alleged intimacy with 
the latter's wife. The matter became 
known to Mr. Sickles through the con- 
fession of Mrs. Sickles. Great excite- 
ncjent was caused over the country by 



this terrible tragedy, and when the trial 
of Mr. Sickles came on, little else was 
talked about anywhere. The jury re- 
turned a verdict of " Not guilty," and 
Mr. Sickles has since been prominent in 
the Civil War, where he nae-issg. 
obtained the rank of major- ne^uincfy. 
general, and has served as minister to 
Spain. The husband and wife were 
reunited, but Mrs. Sickles failed in health, 
and died before many years. 

1859. March 18. Miramon besieged 
Vera Cruz in the attempt to overthrow 
Juarez and the constitutional party. But 
the effort was unsuccessful. The men 
now in charge of the republican forces 
were men of great wisdom and executive 
ability. 

1859. March 29. An earthquake 
destroyed a large part of Quito, S. A. 
During this year Guayaquil was destroyed 
by fire. 

1859. April 4. The Juarez govern- 
ment in Mexico was recognized by Mr. 
McLane, the United States commissioner, 
who negotiated a treaty therewith. It 
was now gaining in power every day. 

1859. May 6. Rich gold deposits 
were found in the Pike's Peak region, 
and inaugurated the Pike's Peak fever. 
Settlers and miners poured in from all 
directions. 

1859. May 11. The slave trade was 
discussed by a Southern convention held 
at Vicksburg, and was . the subject of 
resolutions favorable to its re-openino-. 

1859. May 16. A great fire raged 
at Key West, destroying no dwellings, 
and $3,750,000 worth of property. 

1859. July 1. An aerial trip from 
St. Louis to New York, a distance of 
1,300 miles, was made by Wise, the bal- 
loonist. 

1859. July 5. A new constitution, 



534 



POLITICAL DE VELOPMENT. 



prohibiting- slavery, was framed in Kan- 
sas by a convention of delegates who as- 
sembled at Wyandotte. 

1859. July 9. Vancouver's Island 
■was taken possession of by Gen. Harney, 
in behalf of the United vStates. 

1859. July 12. The confiscation of 
1859. Franco- churcli pi'operty was de- 
^ ,. creed bv luarez, who was 

Treaty oj peace " ^ 

siffiied July 11. leader of the republic in 
Mexico. Tlie church brought all its 
forces to bear in defeating the movement 
for the constitution of 1857. 

RUFUS CHOtITE. 

1859. July 13. This eminent Amer- 
ican lawyer and advocate died at Halifax, 
Nova Scotia, at the age of fifty-nine 
years. He was born in what is now the 
town of Essex, Mass., Oct. 1, 1799. His 
bo3'hood was spent in the freedom of his 
home, where he became known for great 
sensitiveness, and a keen sense of humor. 
His memory showed itself even in his 
early days as being very i-emarkable, for 
while apparently glancing over a book, 
he would be gaining an excellent idea of 
its contents, and would retain it. This 
made him a bright student. But he was 
also faithful in work when it was his to 
do about the place owned by his father. 
For a few months he studied at Hampton 
Academy, and then entered Dartmouth 
ColJege, where he was graduated in 1819, 
after a course of great application, and of 
high honor. He served as tutor one 
vear, then studiecl law, and finally began 
practice in Salem, Mass. Political honors 
soon came to him, but after a term in the 
state house of representatives, one in the 
state senate, and one in the United States 

iHhi). July 25. 1"'0"'56 of representatives, he 
strike in London declined further election. 
y III trs. p^^. ^1^^ ^.^^^ ^^ j^.^ j.^^^^ save 



in 1841, when he was sent to the United 
States senate, he continued the practice 
of his profession, and rose to eminence in 
it. His powers as an advocate were vei"y 
great. During his entire life he main- 
tained his study of the classics, and was 
at home in such lines of study, as well as 
in English literature. His reputation 
rests upon a few eloquent speeches and 
addresses. His accomplishments were 
imdoubtedly rather of the popular and 
transient, than the solid and enduring 
kind. 

1859. July. A civil war raged in 
Venezuela, and Gen. Monagas, dictator 
for eleven years, was overthrown. 

1859. July. Extreme heat during 
this and the previous month, made Cali- 
fornia almost unendurable. 

HORACE MANX. 

1859. Aug. 2. This eminent Ameri- 
can educator died at Yellow Springs, 
Ohio, at the age of sixt3'-three years. 
He was born at Franklin, Mass., May 4, 
1796, and grew up in the midst of cir- 
cumstances which develojDcd and aided 
the finer characteristics which he pos- 
sessed. As a boy he was pure, and free 
from the vices of boyhood. His nature 
was religious from the start, and religious 
things took a dee^D hold upon him. At 
twelve years of age he met iso5-is59. 
with some decided experi- Tocquniih. 

ence which gave tone and color to all his 
after life. His peculiar views, partaking 
of those of the so-called liberal sects, 
first took shape at that time. Yet he 
was a true boy, full of fun, and fond of 
recreation. At last he was fitted for 
college, and entered Brown University, 
Providence, R. I., and graduated in the 
class of 1 819. Close application to study 



184r>-1859.] 

during these periods nearly ruined his 
physical system. His life was a long 
struggle against the threatening results. 
After serving as tutor for a while, he 
studied law, and began practice in Ded- 
ham, Mass. But political life opened 
before him in 1837 in an election to the 
legislature of his state, and here he first 
began to show the full characteristics of 
his manhood. From this time on his 
activity in reform and education was 
constant. He would never lay down the 
work. For eleven years from 1837,116 
was secretary of the state board of edu- 
cation. Many features of school life 
were subjected to his thorough super- 
vision. In the interests of this work he 
visited EurojDe to study school systems. 
His zeal w^as unflagging. For the eleven 
years he labored for the schools fifteen 
hours a day, winter and summer, with 
never a day's vacation. In 184S he suc- 
ceeded John Quincy Adams in congress. 
Here he labored for freedom, and was 
returned till 1853, when he was nomi- 
nated for governor of Massachusetts by 
the free-soil party, but was defeated. An 
election as president of Antioch College, 
in Ohio, was given him at the same time, 
and he accepted it. Here unremitting 
labors began to wear upon him, but he 
knew no cessation in his effort to try the 
experiment of co-education, as he thought 
successfully. In his death hour he had 
the students and others called to him, that 
he might give them his last burning ad- 
vice. Then he died, or rather was con- 
sumed by his own arduous labors. He 
acted throughout all his life under the 
power of the words with which he closed 
a baccalaureate address to his students 
this very summer: "Be ashamed to die 
till you have won some victory for hu- 
manity." 



THE INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



535 



1859. Aug. 14. A revolution occurred 
in Costa Rica, and President Mora was 
overthrown. 

1859. Aug. 16. Flora Temple trotted 
two miles in harness in Brooklyn, N. Y., 
in 4 m. 50^ sec. 

1859. Sept. 21. A duel was fought in 
California, between David C. Broderick, 
U. S. senator, and Hon. D. S. Terry, a 
California judge. The former was killed. 
The opposition of Mr. Broderick to sla- 
very, and remarks which he had made 
upon the subject, were the cause of the 
challenge from Mr. Terry. The latter 
fled from San Francisco, but returned in 
due time, and in 1S80 was put upon the 
list of electors for Hancock and English 
in the presidential campaign. Strange 
to say he was the onlv democratic elector 
in that state who was defeated, and it is 
said that he owes his defeat largely to the 
remembrance of that duel. 

1859. Sept. 29. A great auroral 
display took place, and was accompanied 
by an extensive magnetic disturbance 
through the United States. ^^^^^ <,.^^.„ ^^. 
Telegraph lines became dares war on 

, 1 . , Morocco. 

useless, and operators at 
Washington and Philadelphia, and other 
places, received shocks. An unwonted 
solar outburst took place at the same 
period. 

1859. Oct. 4. The people of Kansas 
ratified the new constitution by a majority 
of 4,000, 

jOHy £Row.rs r^/d. 

1859. Oct. 16. An event of great 
interest to all who were concerned in the 
slave question took place on the evening 
of this day, in the capture of the U. S. 
arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Va., by John 
Brown, who had been prominent in 
Kansas troubles, and twenty-one compan- 
ions, five of whom were negroes. Brown 



536 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



had formed the great purpose of libera- 
ting the slaves, and in the attempt to carry 
it out he seems to have miscalculated the 
forces upon which he could rely. Brown 
was a New England boy, reared from 
his fifth year in Ohio. From the time 
when he was forty years of age he seems 
to have meditated very much upon the 
project of freeing the slaves. His nature 
was religious, and the purpose took the 
deeper hold upon him. When the 
Kansas difficulties grew up four of his 
sons were in that state, and the father 
thought the time had come for the inau- 
guration of his great enterprise. He 
therefore went to Kansas, and was soon 
known there as a fearless fighter. His 
little forces often did great service in the 
free-state cause. At one time he assisted 
1859. Telegrams j^ liberating a number of 

from India to . -.,. 

Encriand. slavcs \\\ Missoun. In 

planning, however, for a more extensive 
movement, he decided upon Virginia as 
the scene of action, as he could there get 
control of large amounts of weapons by 
the capture of Harper's Ferry, and could, 
in case of war, have the advantage of the 
mountains in which to maintain himself 
and his forces. He trusted also, that after 
the arsenal was taken, large numbers of 
slaves would flock to his side. With 
these things in view, he appeared in the 
vicinity of Harper's Ferry, and secured 
the lease of a farm. Here his force 
gradually joined him, and finally reached 
the number composing it at the time of 
the attack. Suspicions began to creep 
about before long that some enterprise 
was on foot with these men. Brown 
learned of these, and therefore hastened 
his descent upon Harper's Ferry one 
week. Oct. 24 had been the chosen day. 
But it was finally agreed on Sunday, the 
1 6th, that no further delay would be ad- 



visable, and the little company proceeded 
at dark to the town of Harper's F^erry. 
The street lights were first extmguished, 
and then the arsenal was taken from the 
three men who served as watchmen. 
Persons about the town were made pris- 
oners, among them being Col. Washing- 
ton and other prominent citizens. A 
train from the west was detained till 
morning. Brown seemed perfectly cer- 
tain of success, and was confident of as- 
sistance. To those who wished to know 
his object, he openly said he was going 
to free the slavcs, " by the authority of 
God Almighty." The arsenal was made 
headquarters, and the prisoners confined 
within it. About sixty in all were taken. 
It was not long before some of the citi- 
zens began to appear with w'eapons, and 
firing soon occurred. This continued 
through the forenoon without forcing the 
surrender of the arsenal. The besiegers 
constantly increased in numbers, and all 
escape became impossible. Brown's 
forces were reduced during the day to 
a very small number, but he strove to in- 
spire his companions, and displayed great 
self-possession in the very presence of his 
impending doom. Col. Robert E. Lee, 
with a company of U. S. marines and 
two pieces of artillery, reached the scene 
during the night. The end had now 
come. B}' a strong assault in the morn- 
ing the place was captured, and after the 
doors had been beaten down. Brown and 
his companions were taken into custoch', 
not without a severe struggle. The un- 
daunted old leader was himself severelv 
wounded by being knocked down and 
bayoneted. On the 27th the trial began 
before the courts, and Brown, because of 
physical weakness, was obliged to lie on 
a cot during the time. In four days he 
was found guilty, and ordered to be hung 



1845-1859.] 

on Dec. 2d. He steadily disclaimed all 
evil intent upon lives or property, and 
seemed to have expected after his pro- 
ject was known, that he would have 
little difficulty in gaining enough follow- 
ers to make his way easy. His days in 
prison were spent in receiving visits. All 
offers of consolation or religious help 
from those who upheld slavery were in- 
dignantly rejected by him. No dismay 
overcame him, but he was full of dignity 
iind fearlessness to the last moments. 
The kiss which he gave the little negro 
child as he left the prison for his execu- 
tion, has been told of over the world. 
All who saw him were struck with his 
bearing, and have since testified to the 
■character and sincerity of the man. No 
spirii of ill-temper was visible in him. 
Gentleness marked him in all his last 
utterances. His remains were conveyed 
by the sorrowing widow to North Elba, 
N. Y.,and at that place Wendell Phillips 
■spoke in a funeral oration of eulogy upon 
the deceased. The whole country was 
alive with excitement over this tragedy. 
It was preached about by press and 
pulpit, and passed into a song which was 
afterward used with great effect. 

1859. Nov. 15. A brilliant meteor 

attracted great attention throughout the 
eastern United States. 

WHSHLYGTCIV IBVLYG. 

1859. Nov. 28. This eminent Amer- 
ican author, of world-wide reputation, 
died at his residence, named Sunnvside, 
near Tarry town, N. Y., aged seventy-six 
years. He was born in New York, 
April 3, 1783. A bi-ief school life, till 
he was sixteen years old, then a study of 
law, and an attempt to write for the 
papers, marked the early life of Irving. 



711 E INCREASE OF SECTIONALISM. 



537 



He traveled abroad, tried for three days 
to become a painter with Washington 
Allston, at Rome, and upon his arrival 
home was easily led to fresh literary at- 
tempts. His career now be- ^^^^- ^''^^ >''-'■ 

, P, , . . , lis^ious revival 

gan and flowed steadily on {„ j^,i„„a. 
in the production of the works which are 
known so widely and fully. Some of 
his volumes have an international repu- 
tation. He lived to see 600,000 of his 
volumes sold in America. His works 
command a steady sale. Irving was kind 
and gentle in all his ways, both of life 
and conversation. His name is a literary 
treasure. 



1859. Dee. 6. A Kansas election 

was held under the new constitution. It 
was carried by the free-state men, who 
chose Charles Robinson governor. 

1859. A great Rodman gun of 15 
inch bore, and weighing 49,000 pounds, 
was cast at the Fort Pitt Iron Works, 
Pittsburg, and placed in Fortress Monroe. 
The same works have since cast a 20 
inch gun capable of throwing a 1000 lb. 
shot. 

1859. Putnam Forged Horse Nails. 
The first machine which successfully 
forged horse-shoe nails after the manner 
of blacksmiths, was jjut into operation bv 
Silas S. Putnam at Neponset, Mass. He 
had formed the idea nine years before, 
but had been unsuccessful till the present 
trial. The machine gave the nail about 
sixty blows. This nail was adopted by 
the United States during the Civil War 
as the standard nail. 

GBE^T COMSTOCK LODE. 

1859. The Comstock silver mine was 
discovered in Nevada, United States, by 
James Fennimore, who was known as 
" Phinnev," and Henry Comstock. 



538 



POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT. 



These men were prospecting^ in the 
region, and at once tiled claims to the 
tract. But neither of them realized the 
value of the " rind." So Phinney sold 
out his share to Comstock for a pinch of 
gold dust and a mule. Comstock after- 
ward parted with the whole claim for a 
comparatively small amount. The find- 
ing of this lode was the origin of the 
silver excitement. By 1866 $70,000,000 
worth had been taken from this lode. It 
has been the richest mine in the world, 
but is now reduced in the quality of ore, 
and the difficulty of extracting it, so that 
other mines are now attracting increasing 

attention. 

OIL FEVER. 

1859. The first oil well in America 
was bored on Oil Creek, Penn., at Titus- 
ville, by Messrs. Bowditch and Drake, of 
New Haven, Conn. They obtained 400 
gallons a day from a depth of 71 feet. 
The oil rose at once to the surface. The 
" oil-fever " innnediately spread over the 
country, and soon scores of wells were 
being bored. Some wells began to flow 
3,000 gallons a day. Petroleum became 
the subject of talk, and of experiments 
everywhere. Railroad cars were con- 
structed specially for its transportation. 
Refineries were built, and a great trade 
grew up. Fortunes were made and lost 
in speculation. 

COLORADO POTATO BEETLE. 

1859. This pest which had been 
known in certain small localities, first 
began to attract public attention, and 



from this time it has been a prominent 
subject of consideration by all agricultu- 
rists. The migrations of the beetle began 
now. Soon it was in Nebraska and 
Iowa. It reached and passed the Missis- 
sippi in 1865, and traveled on, ravaging 
Illinois, Wisconsin, then Indiana and 
Michigan in 1867, and Ohio in 1868. 
In 1875 it had accomplished its great 
tour, and reached the edge of the Atlantic. 
Its first depredation on cultivated potatoes 
was west of Omaha one hundred miles. 
Half the continent had been crawled 
over in fifteen years. No efforts sufficed 
to close lip the pathway of this great 
enemy to the potato crop. 



1859. The pope conferred upon Arch- 
bishop Kenrick of Baltimore, and his as- 
sociates in that position, the "primacy of 
honor," by which they take precedence 
of all other Catholic clergy in the country. 

1859. The right of search was again 
the subject of correspondence between 
the United States and England. Several 
merchant vessels had been searched near 
Cuba by British cruisers, ujDon suspicion 
of being slavers. Congress passed reso- 
lutions, and armed vessels were ordered 
to the region of the gulf. But at last 
England disavowed the act of her officers, 
and gave up the right of search. 

1859. A treaty with Paraguay was 
made by the United vStates and closed 
troubles of long standing. A fleet had 
been sent to Paraguay in 1S5S, but was 
rendered unnecessary. 




PART VI. 



IJ^TIOpii GUISES. 



1860-1868. 




[539] 



SoUTTZU S'TMJsr OJP TMU ^I^TUSZIC. 



*' Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Loj-d: 
He is trampling ont the vintage ivhere the grapes of wrath 

are stored ; 
He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword. 
His truth is marching on. 

" I have seen him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps ; 
They have builded him an altar in the evenifig dews ajid damps ; 
I can read his righteojis sentence by the dim andjlari?ig lamps. 
His day is marching on. 

'■'• I have read a fiery gospel, writ in bur^iished rows of steely 
' As ye deal zvith my contemners., so with you my grace shall deal ; 
Let the Hero., born of xvoman., crush the serpent zuith his heel. 
Since God is marching oJii' 

" He has soztnded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat ; 
He is sifting out the hearts of ?nen before his jtidgment seat ^ 
O, be szvift, my soul, to answer him! be jubilant my feet ! 
Our God is marching on. 

" /;/ the beazdy of the lilies Christ zvas born across the sea, 
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and 7nej 
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free. 
While God is inarching on?"" 

— ^JULIA WARD HOWE. 



[540] 



SECTION XIX. 
TirU nUSOnT to AS^MS, /860-7862. 



THE United States now became the 
field of a great conflict. The pas- 
sions which had been gathering 
strength since 1820 now burst out 
into uncontrolled violence. It seemed at 
first doubtful what form the issue would 
take in the different parts of the Union. 
The South relied on many sup2:)osed 
friends at the North to help make their 
way out of the Union easy and successful. 
Many speeches at the North at first 
dwelt in distinct words with great favor 
upon the right of secession. But the 
firing upon Sumter and kindred acts, 
developed an unexpected strength of op- 
position in the North. In many battles, 
however, during this opening period, the 
North had the severe discipline of defeat. 
She had not at first half realized her task. 
In Alexico the great crisis came on 
through foreign intervention. The strug- 
gling republic had well-nigh more than it 
could endure. But brave hearts "fought 
the fight, and kept the faith." In New 
Grenada after years of comparative 
peace the liberals and conservatives be- 
came arrayed against each other. The 
crisis there passed sooner. Lesser crises 
occurred in other of the South and Cen- 
tral American Republics. It was a time 

26 



of the balancing of powers in a great 
part of the continent. 



1860. Jan. 1. Tree negroes were 

banished from Arkansas by a law of this 
date. 

PEMBERTOK MILL HORROR. 

1860. Jan. 10. The great manufact- 
uring city of Lawrence, Massachusetts^ 
was smitten by a disaster which carried 
death and suffering into many humble 
homes, and made a thrill of terror run 
through the land. It was very nearly 
five o'clock in the afternoon when the 
hundreds of operatives scattered through 
the great structure felt an unsteadiness of 
the floors, and seemed to themselves to be 
standing upon swaying timbers. The 
machinery also ran queerly for a few 
moments or seconds. Soon the knowl- 
edge burst on every mind ^^^0. Jan. 7. 

, , 1 M T /- 11 Rebellion ill 

that the buildmg was fldl- /„</,-^ ,^^,^^_ 
ing, and before anything could be done or 
the situation be more than realized, the 
timbers and walls were bursting apart, 
the floors disappearing in the gulf below, 
and human forms being swallowed up 
with the rattling looms, in a terrible 

541 



542 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



plunge of death. The first thing which 
many in the middle and lower stones 
knew of the impending catastrophe was 
the descent of the uj^per story machinery 
and beams through the ceiling of the 
rooms in which they were employed. 
This left them no time to escape, and they 
were stricken down where they stood. 
In a few minutes the sight was awful. 
Portions of human forms could be seen 
through the outer ruins. Soon flames 
began to ascend, and in a short time they 
were sweeping the whole pile. Men 
worked heroically. Fire-engines poured 
floods of water, but they could do little 
to mitigate the horror of the scene. 
About one hundred persons had lost their 
lives. Several hundred persons were in- 
jured in various ways. The suffering and 
destitution caused by this accident lasted 
for months. It is notable in the history 
of calamities. 

1860. January. Anna Dickinson 

made her first public speech in a meeting 
of the Progressive Friends of Philadel- 
phia on "Woman's Rights and Woman's 
Wi'ongs." She has since been on the 
platform a great deal, has taken part in 
political campaigns, within a few years 
has been upon the stage, and has written 
one or two novels. 

1860. Feb. 1. A long contest for 
the speakership of the U. S. House of 
Representatives which opened on the pre- 
vious 5th of December, was closed by the 
election of William Pennington of New 
Jersey, a republican. During these eight 
1860. Jan. lo. wccks much angry debate 

Decree in Austria • j i„ i • • • i 

• ■ .,■,>,. was uidulged m, nispn-ed 

gir'ing '■^rights ^ t v 

tothejezvs. bv the cxcitemcnt over 

John Brown's raid, and by Hinton R. 
Helper's recent book upon " The Im- 
pending Crisis," a work which undertook 



to show that the South suffered in every 
way from the presence of slavery within 
it. The arguments were founded on 
statistics. 

1860. Feb. 19. The steamer Hun- 
garian, from Liverpool to Portland, was 
Avrecked on Cape Sable, with a loss of 
205 lives. 

COrODE I.YVESTIGjITIOM. 

1860. March 5. A committee was 
appointed by the U. S. House to investi- 
gate charges of corruption against the 
administration in trying to secure the 
passage of a vote favoring the Lecompton 
constitution in Kansas. The committee 
making the examination under the pro- 
tests of the president, afterwai'd reported 
that the charges were sustained. The 
matter ended in debate. 

1860. March 7. Gen. Miramon at- 
tacked Vera Cruz in an attempt to carr\' 
the city. His vessels in the harbor were 
ca^Dtured the same day by the U. S. cor- 
vette Saratoga. 

J^IF^XEF^E EMBASSY. 

1860. March 28. A grand Japanese 
Embassy, the first ever sent by that na- 
tion to any other po\ver, visited the 
United States to exchange the ratification 
of the treaty between the two govern- 
ments, and express the great isao. Universal 
desire of the emperor of suffrage in Cen- 

_ ^ ... tral Italy- Italv 

Japan for contmued amity recogiii'zed by ' 
and good- will. The am- r.ngiandand 

, France. Victor 
bassadors, who were Ot Emanuel pro- 

noble blood, were brought (/"'""-d king. 
to this country with tlieir large train of 
attendants, and were carried back again 
in U. S. vessels of war. They arrived 
this day at San Francisco, and were met 
with great honor. In May they reached 



1860-1862.] 

Washington, and were publicly recei\ed 
by President Buchanan, in the White 
House. After a further stay of a few 
weeks in the large cities, where they 
closely watched everything they saw, 
they sailed for Japan June 30, having 
cemented more firmly the good relations 
between the two powers. 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



1860. April 23. The democratic 
national nominating convention met at 

Charleston, S. C, but no choice of candi- 
dates could be arrived at, because of the 
profound difference of opinion upon the 
course which should be pursued in apply- 
ing the doctrine of" popular sovereignty" 
to the question of slavery. The dele- 
gates from several slave-labor states 
seceded from the convention, and ad- 
journed to meet at Richmond, Va. The 
northern delegates also adjourned to meet 
at Baltimore in the same month. 

PO^Y EXPRESS. 

« I860. April. The '^^ony Express" 
was established as part of a mail line be- 
tween New York and San Francisco, by 
way of St. Joseph, Mo., and Sacramento. 
Between these two places 
the distance was traversed 
by fleet horsemen, each of 
whom went sixty miles. The %veight 
carried was not to exceed ten pounds, 
and the charge was $5 in gold for a 
quarter of an ounce. The riders were 
paid $I300 a month. The distance be- 
tween New York and San Francisco 
was made in fourteen days. This enter- 
prise lasted two years, till the telegraph 
was erected. 



I8GI. 3fajf. 
Massacre of 
3,000 Christians 
at Dainascus. 



1860. May 1. Gen. Zuloaga being 
encouraged to make the attempt, con- 
demned Miramon because of his failure 



to overthrow Juarez, 
himself president. 



and 



543 

proclaimed 



THEODORE PARKER. 

1860. May 10. Theodore Parker, a 
clergyman of the Unitarian church, died 
at Florence, Italy, whither he had gone 
in pursuit of health, aged forty-nine years. 
He was born at Lexington, Mass., and 
was brought up to work during his boy- 
hood. He gradually fitted for college, 
aiding himself by teaching school, and 
studying as he had oppor- iseo. Cavour 
tunity. During his college ^-'j^d to be prime 

J ^ ^ minister oj Sar- 

course he only presented dinia. 
himself at examination. He afterward 
studied divinity at Cambridge, all this 
time making his study of languages very 
extensive. His ni'st settlement occurred 
at West Roxbury, in 1S37, over a Uni- 
tarian church. His mind was very active, 
and his views began to be very indi- 
vidual. His life was now gi'owing in 
intensity every minute. He was an 
omnivorous reader, without being a pro- 
found scholar. He could get the sub- 
stance of a page of print as rapidly as 
many readers can get the substance of a 
line. An alienation grew up between 
him and his Unitarian brethren, and Mr. 
Parker raised up a congregation of his 
own in Boston, when a society was or- 
o-anized under him. Mr, Parker's great 
claim on the remembrance of men is be- 
cause of his stalwart service in advocat- 
ing the rights of humanity. He was 
closely connected with the life of Boston 
in its stormy period of agitation over the 
slavery question, and was a leader in in- 
fluence. In theology his views grew in 
the line of anti-supernaturalism, and in- 
curred the hostility of large numbers. 
His Influence in this respect is not lasting. 
His health gradually failed, and he began 



544 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



to preach with ditiiculty. He sailed 
abroad, but without permanent relief, and 
at last died in the prime of life. 



1860. May 16. The Eepublican 
nominating convention was held at 
Chicago in a great building erected for 
the purpose, and known as the " Wig- 
-. n 7 ;v wam." Abraham Lincoln 
proclaims him- of IlHuois, was nominated 
^^f dictator o) ^^^ president, and Hanni- 

Sicily. Ajler- 1 ' 

-vard enters bal Hamlin of Maine, for 
Naples, and then ^jce-president. A protcc- 

left Victor Em- i _ ^ 

amiet to retain tivc tariff, internal improve- 
the power. nicnts at national expense, 

the " Homestead Bill," and a Pacific 
railroad, were commended in the plat- 
form. 

1860. May 19. The " Constitutional 
Union party "held its nominating con- 
vention at Baltimore. John Bell of 
Tennessee, was nominated for president, 
and Edward Everett of Massachusetts, 
for vice-president. This was the old 
" American " party. Its platform was 
" The Constitution of the country, the 
Union of the States, and the enforce- 
ment of the laws." 

1860. May 29. The first expedi- 
tion of Charles Francis Hall sailed from 
New London, Conn., consisting of one 
whaling vessel, named George Henry, 
under the command of Capt. Buddington. 
The aim was to search for Sir John 
Franklin. Mr. Hall found no trace of 
the lost explorer, but studied the Esqui- 
maux very thoroughly; and when he 
returned to the United States in two 
years, he brought with him an Esqui- 
maux man and wife, who were very 
much attached to him. 

1860. June 1. The manumission 
of slaves was forbidden by a law of 



Maryland, to take effect on and after this 
date. 

1860. June 3. A great tornado 
swept across portions of Iowa and Illi- 
nois, damaging a large amount of prop- 
erty, and almost sweeping whole settle- 
ments out of existence. 

1860. June 18. The Democratic 
convention met in Baltimore, and after 
an unsuccessful attempt on the part of the 
seceders at Charleston to re-enter the 
body, an attempt which con- is60. Reformers 

1 11 O J- U <7«rf a^ritators 

sumed sevei al dav-s, otephen , " , , 

•' ' ■■■ condemned by a 

A. Douglas of Illinois, was Papal hull. 
nominated for president, and Herschel V. 
Johnson of Georgia, for vice-president» 
The platform of this party threw the 
responsibility for the extension of slavery 
upon the territories, and upon the U. S. 
supreme court. 

1860. June 28. The delegates from 
the slave-labor States, when they found 
they could not regain their lost foothold 
in the democratic convention, met at 
Baltimore and nominated John C. Breck- 
inridge of Kentucky, for president, 
and Joseph Lane of Oregon, for vice- 
president. 

" GREAT EASTERN" AT XEW YORK. 

1860. June 28. At last the vessel 
which, during its construction, launching, 
and first ocean trials, occasioned more 
talk and wide-spread interest than any 
other vessel ever afloat, arrived in Ne\v 
York harbor from its trip across the 
Atlantic. As soon as she neared the 
city, people by thousands began to crowd 
all available space on vessels, wharves, 
and housetops. Before she passed the 
bar Mr. Murphy took command of her 
as pilot, and brought her safely across 
that dangerous point. The monster 
sailed up the harbor, and after having 



1860-18G3 ] 

gone lip North River to Forty-fifth 
Street, turned, and came to her wharf. 
Here she lay for some weeks, occasionally 
making excursions to Cape May or else- 
where, in order to exhibit her working. 
The Great Eastern is 680 feet long, and 
is of 18,915 tons burden. J. Vine Hall 
was in command of her. In her ocean 
voyage she made from twelve to four- 
teen knots an hour. Four thousand 
passengers can be made comfortable 
within her. The greatest service of 
this great steamer was in laying the 
Atlantic cable in after 3^ears. 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 545 

PRI.YCE OF WtILES IX AMERICA 



1860. July 1. Charles Goodyear, 

whose service in discovering the method 
of vulcanizing India rubber, has made him 
famous, died, aged fifty-nine years. The 
patents ^vhich he took out in different 
countries were very costly to him in the 
end, and he failed to acquire any prop- 
erty as a reward for his labor. Others 
have profited by his invention more than 
he did. He, however, received grand 
medals at London in 1851, and at Paris 
in 1855. Napoleon III. bestowed upon 
him the cross of the Legion of Honor. 

1860. July 9. Dr. Isaac I. Hayes, 
who had been with Dr. Kane, sailed from 
Boston on an Arctic exploring trip in 
the schooner United States, of 133 tons, 
v/Ith fourteen persons accompanying 
him. He pushed north through Smith 
Sound, and by great exertions with 
sledges he reached land in lat. Si'' 37' 
N., from which they saw open water 
beyond. This trip stands very high in 
Arctic expeditions, and honors were con- 
ferred on Dr. Hayes by foreign societies. 

1860. July 20. A great meteor 
was seen in many portions of the 
northern United States. 



1860. July 24. The Prince of 
Wales landed at St. John's for an 
American tour. He spent several \vecks 
in Canada, and was everywhere received 
with great enthusiasm. In the United 
States he was met at Chicago, St. Louis, 
New York, Boston, and other cities, with 
vast crowds of people. He spent a time 
in the West, in hunting, at which he 
showed himself an adept. At Washing- 
ton he was met very warmly by Presi- 
dent Buchanan, and visited the different 
departments of government. An excur- 
sion was made to Mount Vernon, where 
the royal visitor stood silently before the 
tomb of Washington. During his stay 
in New York, the First Phoenix or 
Fenian regiment, the 69th National 
Guard, refused. to parade. At Boston he 
held a pleasant interview with Ralph 
Farnham, the last survivor of the battle 
of Bunker Hill. The Prince sailed from 
Portland, Me., in the month of October, 
for Ensfland. 



1860. Sept. 8. The Lady Elgin, a 

lake steamer, collided with a sailing 
vessel named Augusta, and sunk in Lake 
Michigan, with a loss of 297 persons, 
many of them being from Milwaukee. 
Only about one-fourth of her passengers 
were saved. 

1860. Oct. 12. A magnificent ball 
was given in New York at the Academy 
of Music, in honor of the Prince of 
Wales. Between three and four thou- 
sand persons were present, and the oc- 
casion was one of the finest ever seen in 
America. A similar ball was given 
in his honor. In Boston, with equal display 
and success. 



546 ■ NATIONAL CRISES. 

mXETEEXTH PRERIDEXTML CAMP>IIG.^ 



1860. Nov. 6. This campaign ended 
in the election this day of Abraham 
Lincohi and Hannibal Hamlin, the re- 
publican candidates. The canvass had 
been very exciting, because of the num- 
ber of candidates, and the increasing- 
bitterness over the question of slavery. 
Lincoln and Hamlin had an electoral 
vote of i8o, comprising all the northern 
states except New Jersey, which cast 
three for Lincoln and four for Douglas, 
and a popular vote of 1,866,352. Breck- 
inridge and Lane had 72 electoral, and 
845,763 popular votes. Bell and Everett 
had 39 electoral, and 589,581 popular 
votes. Douglas and Johnson had 12 
electoral, and 1,375,157 popular votes. 
No one had a majority of the popular 
vote. The cry that a sectional president 
had been elected, at once spread through 
the southern states, and threats of seces- 
sion were uttered by leading southern 
men. 

REJ'OL UTIoy '^R Y . UESS.^ GE. 

1860. Dec. 3. The message of Pres- 
ident Buchanan to congress dealt largely 
with the slavery question, and declared 
that all the troubles which now culmi- 
nated in the antagonism of the North and 
the South were caused by anti-slavery 
agitators at the North ; that all which 
the South wanted was to manage its 
own institutions, in its own way. He 
declared against the right of voluntary 
withdrawal from the Union, but affirmed 
the right of revolutionary resistance, and 
forcible secession. He proposed certain 
legislation to guard and perpetuate the 
rights of slave-holders. This message 
was like a firebrand in the midst of 
tinder. John P. Hale of New Hamp- 
shire, condensed the message into three 



propositions : First, " South Carolina has 
just cause for seceding from the Union ; 
second. She has no right to secede ; third, 
We have no right to prevent her from 
seceding." 

HOUTH CtLROLIXtL SECEDES. 

1860. Dec. 20. An ordinance of 
secession was passed by a state conven- 
tion of South Carolina, which had been 
called after the election of Lincoln. The 
ordinance was in the form of a I'epeal of 
the act of May 23, 17S8, ratifying the 
Constitution. South Carolina senators 
and other federal officers at once resigned. 
Some of the United States property in 
the state was immediately occupied and 
held. 



1860. Dec. 21. The excited con- 
dition of the country, especially as de- 
tailed in the President's message, was 
referred as a subject of consideration to a 
House committee of thirty-three, and a 
vScnatc committee of thirteen. 

1860. Dee. 26. Major Robert Ander- 
son, who was stationed at Fort Moultrie 
with a force of 1 1 1 Federal soldiers, re- 
moved his command because of the in- 
security of that fortification, to Fort 
Sumter, a much stronger position. He 
did it in the secrecy of night, and when 
the morning dawned he exhibited the 
stars and stripes to the wondering eyes of 
the inhabitants of Charleston. This step 
caused great rejoicing at the North, and 
great vexation at the South. 

1860. The eighth census of the 
United States gave a population of 
31,443,321 inhabitants. It was taken at 
a cost of $1,922,272.42. The rate of 
increase since 1850 had been 35.11 per 
cent. 

1860. A second light-house was 



1860-1862] 

completed on Minot's Ledge, off Boston 
harbor. It was built of stone, with 
great difficulty, but with great solidity. 
Several years had been occupied in the 
worlv. 

1860. Ladies for the first time made 
the ascent of Pike's Peak, Colorado. 
There were two in company with several 
gentlemen, and they successfully accom- 
plished the task, although at gi'eat risk. 
One of the ladies was a Mrs. W. J. 
Williams, formerly Miss Addie Smith, 
of Milford, N. H, She was killed 1879, 
May 30, by the tornado which swept over 
Kansas. 

1860. The Spencer Repeating Rifle 
was patented by a young Boston me- 
chanic. A magazine exists in the butt 
of the gun, which contains seven car- 
tridges, capable of being discharged in 
twelve seconds. 

1860. A mile register to be attached 
to the heel of a boot or shoe, to record 
the distance walked, was patented by B. 
S. Herring, of Portsmouth, Va. 

1860. The Parrott gun was first 
brought to notice by Mr. Parrott, who 
operated the foundiy at Cold Spring on 
the Hudson. The first ones were small, 
but larger ones were afterward intro- 
duced. One of them which hurled a 
ball five miles into the city of Charleston, 
S. C, has been widely known as the 
" Swamp Angel." This gun has the 
breech strengthened by a band of iron. 

1860. A revolution broke out in 
Colombia against President Ospina. It 
was supported by liberals under Gen. 
Mosquera, and proved to be the most 
important crisis in the history of that 
province. War continued through this 
year. 

1860. A treaty between Nicaragua 
and the United States made San Juan a 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



547 



free port under the sovereignty of Nica- 
ragua. 

1860. An invasion of Ecuador was 
made by Castilla, jDresident of Peru, who 
endeavored to put one of his own sub- 
ordinates, named Franco, into power in 
tliat country, but the latter soon fled from 
Ecuador. 

FIRST dCT OF ir>LR 

1861. Jan. 9. The Star of the West, 
which had been secretly loaded with 
supplies and soldiers for Fort Sumter, 
was fired upon by a battery on Morris 
Island, two miles below Fort Sumter, 
on her way up Charleston harbor, and 
was prevented from reaching her desti- 
nation, which had already become known 
beforehand to the authorities of South 
Carolina. 



1861. Jan. 9. Mississippi passed an 
ordinance of secession. 

1861. Jan. 11. Florida passed an 
ordinance of secession. 

1861. Jan. 11. Alabama passed an 
ordinance of secession. 

VICTORY OF JUAREZ. 

1861. Jan. 11. After a campaign 
in which Miramon had been defeated 
in different engagements, Chief-Justice 
Juarez entered the City of Mexico in 
great triumph. This man ^ggi. February. 

of eminent wisdom began Victor Emanuel 
, . . , n ^ • declared Kina^ of 

to realize the success of his jt^j^ ^^, jt^^J^, 
endeavor to establish the pariiametu. 
constitution, and inaugurate popular re- 
forms. In March he was elected presi- 
dent by a popular vote, against Tejada. 
His highest wisdom was given to the 
condition of the country. His first re- 
forms were the suppression of ecclesiasti- 
cal orders, and the confiscation of church 
projDcrty. 



548 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



1861. Jan. 19. Georgia passed an 
ordinance of secession. 

1861. Jan. 22. Thirty-eight cases 
of arms were seized in New York as 
they were being put on board a vessel 
for Savanah, Ga. They were afterward 
given up, as it could not be proved that 
the persons to whom they were being 
shipped, were disloyal. Five northern 
vessels seized in 
Georgia, in re- 
taliation, were 
also released. 
But it was now 
found that many 
arms had gone 
South this way. 

1861. Jan. 
26. Louisiana 
passed an ordi- 
nance of seces- 
sion. 

1861. Jan. 
28. John B. 
Floyd, secretary 
of war, was in- 
dicted by the 
grand jury of 
Washington, for 
defrauding the 
U. S. govern- 
ment, in aiding 
the South to pro- 
cure arms. He 
fled to Vii'ginia. 




1861. Feb, 1. Texas passed an or- 
dinance of secession. 

1861. Feb. 4. A Peace Congress 
met in Washington at the invitation of 
Virginia, and had I'epresentatives from 
thirteen northern states, and seven border 
states. Resolutions intended to be con- 
ciliatory toward the South were passed, 
but congress would not adopt the recom- 
mendations. A 
constitution al 
amend men t, 
however, was 
passed instead, 
at the suggestion 
of Douglas, by 
which congress 
could never leg- 
islate upon sla- 
very in the states. 
This amend- 
ment was never 
ratified, how- 
ever. 

During these 
months congress 
was a scene of 
leave-taking on , 
the part of mem- 
bers from South- 
ern States, who 
bade farewell as 
they went to 
their homes. 



JEFF. DAVIS. 



Howell Cobb, secretary of the treasury, 
had also injured U. S. government by his 
sympathies with the secession movement. 
1861. Jan. 29. Kansas was the 
thirty-fourth state to be received into the 
Union. It has 78,841 square miles, and 
364,399 inhabitants in 1870. Its motto 
is " Ad astra per aspera." " To the stars 
through difficulties." 



COXFEDER^TE SmiES OF :1MERIC± 

1861. Feb. 4. A convention was 
held at Montgomery, Ala., composed of 
forty -two delegates from six states. After 
several days' consideration a provisional 
government was erected under the above 
title, with Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, 
as president, and Alexander H. Stephens 



1860-1862.] THE RESOR 

of Georgia, as vice-president. Prelimi- 
nary steps were taken toward the estab- 
lishment of government departments. 
The constitution of the Confederacy re- 
sembled the U. S. constitution, save that 
it was arranged to expressly favor slavery, 
and discountenance tariffs. The provi- 
sional government was afterward made 
permanent. 

1861. Feb. 18. Gen. Twiggs sur- 
rendered the entire United States prop- 
erty and munitions in Texas to the au- 
thorities of the state, because, as he said, 
*' he wished to avoid even the possibility 
of a collision between federal and state 
troops." The surrendered property con- 
sisted of all supplies, and was valued at 
$1,209,500. In other parts of the South 
the state authorities had occupied federal 
property wherever possible. They thus 
gained great supplies, amounting in all 
to many millions of dollars. 

LI.YCOL.VS I.V^ UGURATIOK. 

1861. March 4. In spite of the fears 
of many, and the threats of some, Abra- 
ham Lincoln was inaugurated president 
of the United States, and Hannibal 
Hamlin, vice-president. Mr. Lincoln had 
left his home at Springfield, 111., on Feb. 
1 1 , and had spent several days in accept- 
ing ovations at different cities along his 
route. His friends in Illinois had fore- 
boded ill for him. While passing through 
Pennsylvania he was advised to omit 
stopping at Baltimore, because of certain 
indications of mob violence there. Tak- 
ing a train in the night, with the knowl- 
edge of none save a very few confidential 
friends, he passed immediately on to 
Washington, where he arrived Feb. 23. 
There were fears of violence even now, 
but none occurred, and a peaceful inau- 



T TO ARMS. 549 

guration took place. A small number of 
troops were in the city as a guard. The 
new president's message was wise and 
pacific. 

1861. March. Stars and Bars. The 

Confederate States adopted a flag com- 
posed of three horizontal bars, the two 
outer ones being red, and the middle one 
white, with a blue union, upon which 
were nine stars in a circle. 

1861. March. A disastrous earth- 
quake visited the Argentine Republic, 
destroying 12,000 persons. 

FORT SUMTER EVtICUtITED. 

1861. April 14. The presence of 
Maj. Anderson in Fort Sumter had been 
a constant annoyance to the South. A 
demand for its surrender was made on 
the nth by Gen. G. T. Beauregard, in 
command of the southern forces, but was 
refused. On the 12th a fire was opened 
upon it from batteries lying about it in 
different directions. The first gun was 
fired by an old man named Edmund 
Ruffin. The force in the fort was small, 
and the fittings of it were insuflicient. 
The bombardment began to reduce it in 
security very much. But still the brave 
leader held out till the next day. Several 
thousand shot and shell were thrown into 
the fort, which was at times on fire. 
The magazine was endangered, and in- 
juries were inflicted by the explosion of 
an exposed service magazine. At last 
terms of evacuation were agreed upon, 
and the defenders prepared to leave. 
They marched out with their arms and 
saluted their flag, just before it was taken 
down to be carried with them, with a 
discharge of fift}^ guns. The shores and 
city were crowded with spectators during 
this bombardment. A United States 



550 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



fleet was then on its way by sea for the 
relief of Sumter. This event gave full 
vent to war. 



1861. April 15. A proclamation 

calling for 75,000 troops from the militia 
of the several states, was issued by Presi- 
dent Lincoln, " to suppress combinations, 
and cause the laws to be duly executed." 
Men and money soon began to be offered 
very freely. Mass meetings Avere at 
once held through all the North. Sev- 
eral border states refused to furnish men 
inider this call. 

1861. Api'il 17. A blockade procla- 
mation was issued by President Lincoln, 
declaring the southern ports to be in a 
state of blockade. 

1861. April 17. Virginia passed an 
ordinance of secession in her state con- 
vention, by a vote of 88 to 55. United 
vStates property \vas at once seized, and 
men called forth. 

BLOODSHED IX H^LLTIMORE. 

1861. April 19. A great crisis came. 
From many of the northern states troops 
were ready to start for the front. Sev- 
eral companies from Pennsylvania were- 
the first to reach Wasliington. On their 
passage through Baltimore on the i8th, 
a mob threatened them somewhat, but 
made no serious attack, though they 
came near to it several times. Rut on 
the next day, when the 6th Massachusetts 
Regiment arrived on its way to Wash- 
ington, a mob of thousands was waiting 
for them, and during the transfer ^from 
one depot to the other, a severe fight oc- 
curred, in which tlirce soldiers were 
killed, one was mortally wounded, and 
others injured. The ti'oops abstained 
from returning fire as long as possible, 
but at last were forced to defend them- 



selves. Nine Baltimoreans were killed. 
Some Pennsylvania troops without arms 
did not get across the city, and were 
forced to return to Philadelphia. The 
other troops passed on, and were received 
at Washington with great delight through 
fear that the confederate forces were 
preparing to advance on the city. The 
troops were posted in the Capitol, which 
was prepared for defense. 



1861. April 21. Gosport Navy- 
Yard, at Norfolk, Va., with most of the 
shipping, was destroyed as far as it could 
be by Capt. McCauley, who withdrew 
the Union forces at the time, because of 
an intended seizure by Virginia forces. 
Much of the property, however, remained 
uninjured. The place was occupied and 
liccame very important to the South. 

1861. April 26. The Maryland 
legislature at a special session refused to 
pass an ordinance of secession, but passed 
resolutions which were intended to put 
the state into a neutral position. 

1861. May 3. Additional troops to 
the number of 42,000, were called for by 
the U. S. government for a period of 
three years. At the same time an in- 
crease of the regular army and navy Avas 
provided for. 

1861. May 6. A convention of Ten- 
nessee passed an ordinance of secession 
to be submitted to the people in June, 
which was done. There was a majoritv 
in favor of secession, although East Ten- 
nessee cast a majority against it. 

1861. May 6. Arkansas passed an 
ordinance of secession without waiting to 
submit it to the people, as had been at 
first agreed. 

1861. May 13. Loyalty of West 
Virginia. A mass convention was held 



^ueen Viiioria 
proclaimed 7icu- 
tra lily ill Amen 
can affairs. 



1860-1862.] 

at Wheeling, Virginia, by the inliabi- 
tants of the western counties of the 
state. The secession of Virginia was 
strongly condemned, and another conven- 
tion provided for, which met June ii. It 
was agreed to erect a new state, and on 
1861. May 13. J'^i"^ ^o statc officcrs wcrc 
elected, Francis H. Pierpont 
being chosen governor. Mr. 
Pierpont borrowed $i 3,000 
on his own credit, with which to raise 
troops for the defense of the new state of 
Kanawha. 

1861. May 14. George B. McClel- 
lan, who previously had command of 
the Ohio troops, was appointed major- 
general of the Ohio River volunteers, 
including those from West Virginia. He 
was ordered to drive out the opposing 
forces from West Virginia, and then ad- 
vance on Harper's Ferry. 

1861. May 16. Benjamin F. Butler 
was appointed major- general of the 
department of East Virginia, and was 
ordered to Fortress Monroe, to take 
charge of the forces gathering there. He 
had been commandins: the route throu£fh 
Maryland by way of Annapolis, had re- 
stored the railroad and protected it, and 
by a bold stroke had, two days before 
this appointment, occupied Baltimore, to 
the surprise of all parties. The Unionists 
of Baltimore hereafter held the sway. 

1861. May 20. Sewell's Point Con- 
flict. The Potomac flotilla, consisting of 
four armed propellers, including the flag- 
ship Thomas Freeborn, was organized 
by Capt. J. H. Ward, a navy veteran of 
forty 3'^ears' service. He was put in com- 
mand and sent to Hampton Roads to 
report to Commodore Stringham. On 
the route he was fired upon by a rebel 
battery at Sewell's Point at the mouth of 
the Elizabeth. The attack was aided by 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



551 



2,000 Virginia troops, but the battery 
was silenced, and the men compelled to 
flee. 

1861. May 21. North Carolina 
passed an ordinance of secession. 

1861. May 23. The first rebel flag 
taken in the war was obtained by William 
McSpedon of New York, and Samuel 
Smith of Long Island, who had seen it 
flying at Alexandria, from their position 
at Washington across the Potomac. 

1881. May 23. Joseph E. Johnston 
was appointed by Jefferson Davis to the 
command of the Confederate troops at 
Harper's Ferry, the key to the Shenan- 
doah Valley. 

1861. May 24. Occupation of Ar- 
lington Heights, Va. The first great 
movement of Union troops in the war 
took place in the passage of about 13,000 
men across from Washington to the soil 
of the Old Dominion at Alexandria. 
They moved in three columns, the first 
under General McDowell, crossing at 
Georgetown. As the men passed oxcv 
the high aqueduct bridge, the moon 
struck full upon this array of arms, and a 
most beautiful spectacle was presented to 
the crowds of spectators who were eagerlv 
watching the affliir. The confederates 
were already advancing toward Wash- 
ington, but the pickets on the Virginia 
side gave way to a part of the forces 
which were pushed on toward Manassas 
Junction. The remaining troops were 
sent down the river to aid the second 
division which was crossing Long Bridge 
under Gen. Mansfield, in seizing and forti- 
fying Arlington Heights. The third 
division was sent down the river on two 
schooners under Col. E. E. Ellsworth, 
who advanced and took possession of the 
place after exchanging a shot with the 
Virginia skirmisiiers, who immediatelv 



552 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



fled. A large amount of rollingr stock on 
the Alexandria and Orange Railroad was 
seized, and thirty-five cavalrymen were 
taken prisoners. Alexandria was now in 
sole possession of the national forces. The 
whole movement was made just in time, 
as the confederate troops would probably 
have seized Arlington Heights within a 
few hours. Col. Ellsworth seeing a con- 
federate flag still flying after the occupa- 
tion, from the roof of the Marshall House, 
entered the building, and hauled down the 
flag. As he was coming down the stairs 
on his return, he was shot dead by the 
landlord, named Jackson. In an instant 
Jackson fell dead by a shot from one of 
Ellsworth''s companions, named Frank E. 
Brownell. Ellsworth's death thrilled the 
North, and a purse of money was made 
up by Virginians for Jackson's family. 
This event seemed to prophesy a long 
and bloody contest. 

1861. May 24. "Contraband of War." 
Three negroes escapctl from work on the 
fortifications of the confederate troops, and 
made their way over to the Union lines 
at Fortress Monroe. Gen. Butler, before 
whom they were brought, said, " These 
men are contraband of war; set them at 
work." This phrase was at once adopted 
as solving the question of receiving ne- 
groes into Union lines, 

1861. May 25. General Sanford, in 
command at Arlington Heights, issued a 
proclamation to the confused inhabitants, 
stating that those who attended to their 
customary work should not be disturbed. 
He made Lee's fine residence his head- 
quarters, and informed the owner that 
great care would be taken of his home. 

1861. May 27. Newport-Newce. 
Gen. Butler sent a detachment from 
Fortress Monroe, under Col. Phelps, to 
erect a battery on the promontory at 



Newport-Newce, which guarded the 
James River channel. The steamer 
Harriet Lane was there to protect them. 

1861. May 27. General McDowell 
was appointed to succeed Gen. Sanford, 
and also to command all the forces in 
Virginia. 

1861. May 28. Mount Vernon. It 
was ordered that the greatest care should 
be given to Washington's tomb, and the 
Mount Vernon Estate. This order was 
strictly observed through the war, by both 
South and North. 

1861. May 29. Captain Ward, after 
reducing the battery placed at Sewell's 
Point to sweep Hampton Roads, reported 
to Stringham, and then moved up toward 
Washington, capturing two schooners on 
the way, with fifty rebel soldiers. 

1861. May 31-June 1. At Acquia 
Creek the southern forces were attacked 
by Capt. Ward with the Potomac flotilla. 
Robert E. Lee had been placed in com- 
mand of all the confederate troops in 
Virginia. Hidden batteries had been 
erected at Acquia Creek, fifty-five miles 
below Washington, to guard the Potomac, 
and prohibit navigation; but they were 
discovered and silenced by Ward with the 
gunboats Anacosta^ Freeborn and Reso- 
lute^ till his long-i-ange ammunition was 
exhausted, and then he withdrew. The 
next day he returned accompanied by the 
Pawnee^ which was struck by nine balls 
in a hot contest of several hours. Not 
much damage was done on either side. 
Whenever Ward stopped firing, the bat- 
tery began again. 

1861. June 1. Battle of Fairfax 
Court House. Seventy - five cavalry- 
men, under Lieutenant Tompkins, were 
ordered from Arlington Heights to re- 
con noiter the position of the enemy at 
Fairfax Court House. A severe skir- 



1860-1862.] 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



553 



inish ensued. Tompkins lost six men- 
one killed, five wounded and missing, 
and twelve horses. He captured five 
armed prisoners and two horses, and 
killed about twenty of the enemy, among 
Avhom was CajDt. John Q. Marr, who 
\vas " the first soldier of the South to 
haptize the soil of the Old Dominion 
with patriotic blood." 

1861. June 3. The confederate 
privateer Savannah, after having seized 
one or two defenceless prizes, attacked 
the Perry, off Charleston harbor, mis- 
taking her for a merchant vessel. But 
she was captured by the Perry. The 
Savannah was the first vessel bearing a 
confederate flag that was captured in 
the war. 

1861. June 3. Battle of Philippi. 
On the evening of May 26th, Col. Kelley 
crossed the Ohio to Wheeling, with 
eleven hundred men, and moved toward 
Grafton. Col. Porterfield commanding 
fifteen hundred confederates here, re- 
treated to Philippi. Kelley arrived at 
Grafton on the 30th, and forming a 
junction with some fresh forces, started 
in pursuit. The forces were arranged 
in two columns — one under Dumont to 
move almost directly south to Philippi, 
a distance of twelve miles ; and the other, 
under Kelley, to take a circuitous route 
toward the east. On the afternoon of 
June 2d they started, aiming to reach 
Philippi at the same time, and make the 
attack at four o'clock in the morning. 
A heavy rain rendered the night dark, 
and the march burdensome. Dumont 
x^rrived first and planted his cannon to 
command the bridge over the Tygart's 
Valley River. Fearing that Porterfield 
would escape. Col. Landers, representing 
Gen. McClellan, ordered the artillery 
to open on him. Dumont's infantry 



marched double quick down to the 
bridge where Porterfield had concen- 
trated his troops. They " drove in the 
pickets, dashed across the bridge, and 
carried a fatal panic into the ranks of 
their opponents." Kelle}- had been mis- 
led by his guide, and having heard the 
booming of Landers' cannon, arrived just 
in time to flank the fugitives on the 
opposite side of the town. Three hun- 
dred and eighty stands of arms, a regi- 
mental flag, some valuable papers, and a 
large amount of baggage, were captured. 
The only injury to the Union troops was 
an almost fatal wound of the brave Col. 
Kelley, who recovered, and lived to fill 
the rank of brigadier, to which he had 
been appointed several days before. 

STEP HEX ± DOUGLAS. 

1861. June 3. Stephen Arnold 
Douglas, a prominent American states- 
man, died at Chicago, 111., aged forty-eight 
years. He was born at Brandon, Vt., April 
23, 1S13, and was left fatherless when two 
months old. He was obliged to work 
during his boyhood until his health failed. 
An academical education was obtained, 
and he began the study of law at Canan- 
daigua, N. Y. In 1833 he went west; 
after teaching and study he was admitted 
to the bar. That his success was re- 
markable can be measured from the fact 
that within a year from his admission he 
was elected attorney-general by the state 
legislature of Illinois. He continued in 
the service of the state and in private 
practice, for a series of years. In 1837 
he was defeated for congi'ess by five votes. 
In February, 1840, at the age of twenty- 
seven, he was made one of the supreme 
judges of Illinois. Several terms of ser- 
vice in congress gave him a prominence 



554 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



ill many important measures. He de- 
fended the compromise measures of 1S50, 
both in consrress anel at home amonij his 
constituents. At a later day, however, 
he steadily opposed the pro-slavery Le- 
compton constitution of Kansas, because 
he saw it did not represent the will of 
the majority of the people of that state. 
Mr. Douglas had at this time a debate 
with Mr. Lincoln on the stump in Illi- 
nois, which has stood at the head of all 
such efforts in our country. In all his 
public life he aimed to promote the 
interests of his constituents. In i860 the 
northern section of the democratic party 
gave him 1,300,000 popular votes for 
president. His last influence was thrown 
fully on the side of the Union. He said 
there was no other way for a patriotic 
man to act. Mr. Douglas w^as com- 
monly spoken of as " the little giant." 



1861. June 5. Engagement at Pig 
Point. The Harriet Lane, Capt. John 
Faunce, was sent by Butler to ascertain 
the strength of Pig Point, a confederate 
battery nearly opposite Newport-Newce. 
The shallow water would not allow her 
to approach nearer than eighteen hun- 
dred yai'ds. Many of the thirty shots 
that were fired in forty minutes, fell 
short, while she got the desired informa- 
tion at her own expense, being struck 
twice by the long range guns of the 
battery. Five of her men were wounded. 
Gen. Butler desired to seize the Weldon 
railroad from Suffolk to Norfolk and 
Petersburg, which was the great connec- 
tion between Virginia and the Carolinas. 

1861. June 10. Battle of Little 
Bethel. Brigadier-General Pierce was 
ordered on Sunday, the 9th, to take 
two regiments from Camp Hamilton, 



near Fortress Monroe, and ^^^i. jimeio. 
march at nisfht toward the , ,'-'\ ' 

» proclaimed iieti- 

Bethels, where he \\'ould be traHty. 
joined by a detachment from Newport- 
Newce. Butler ordered both detach- 
ments to arrive in time to make the 
attack at dawn on the 10th. It was 
arranged for the column which might 
possibly make the attack first, to shout 
" Boston!" and they would be answered 
by the second column with the same. 
All the men were to have white rags 
tied on their left arms. Colonels Town- 
send and Bcndix advanced simultaneously 
with their respective forces toward Little 
Bethel. The meeting was in a thick 
wood, while it was yet dark. The 
watchword and badges had not been 
given to Bendix. Thinking TownsendV 
men to be the confederates, as the latter 
had woin white badges at times, he 
ordered his men to fii'e. Townsend re- 
turned the fire, supposing it was the 
enem}' in ambush, and then retreated a 
short distance, when the mistake was 
discovered. Two of his men were killed, 
and several wounded. The fifty rebels 
that were posted there became alarmed, 
and fled to Big Bethel, five miles distant. 
1861. June 10. Battle of Big 
Bethel. Gen. Pierce sent back to Fort- 
ress Monroe for reinforcements. The 
confederates were commanded by Cols. 
Hill and Magruder, and were reported 
to be four thousand in number, with 
twenty heavy cannon. Gen. Pierce 
joushed forward with his weary troo^Ds, 
He drew up his line of battle within a 
mile of the confederate entrenchments, 
at half-past nine o'clock. The enemy 
opened the contest with a fire from their 
battei'y, but it fell so wide of the mark 
that the Union troops returned a loud 
cheer, and advancetl to the attack. The 



1860-1862.] 

confederates were steadily driven back, 
when Townsend, on their left, made a 
fatal blunder, and retired a short distance. 
Greble, who had charge of the national 
artillery, had exhausted his ammunition, 
and thus the attacking army was weak- 
ened and forced to retreat. At this junc- 
ture the reinforcements from Fortress 
Monroe arrived, increasing Pierce's army 
to twenty-five hundred, while the enemy 
had only eighteen hundred. The fi'esh 
troops wei'e ordered to the front to cover 
the retreat, which was conducted in good 
order. The rebel cavalry pursued for 
six miles, and then their whole army 
withdrew to Yorktown. Sixteen of the 
Union army were killed, among whom 
was the brave and beloved T^ieutenant 
Greble, thirty-four wounded, and five 
missing. The enemy's loss was slight. 
Censure imjustly rested on Pierce, who 
proved a stable and efficient commander 
through the entire war, after rising again 
from a private soldier. Gen. Butler's 
brilliant career was also darkened. 

1861. June 11. Skirmish at Rom- 
ney Bridge. The wrath of the northern 
people at the Big Bethel defeat, was 
somewhat appeased the next day by a 
victory at Romney Bridge. It was 
gained by the bold dash of Colonel Lew 
Wallace, and his eager and well-disci- 
plined regiment of Indiana Zouaves, who 
had a special grudge against Jefferson 
Davis, their old colonel in the Mexican 
war. The colonel slipped out from 
Grafton on the night of the loth, and by 
an vuifrequented mountain route, came 
down on the rebels unexpectedly, com- 
pelling them to flee and abandon their 
batteries at Romney, twenty-three miles 
from Cumberland. All the inhabitants, 
except the negroes, fled with the troops. 
The effect was satisfactory, as the con 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



555 



federate general, Johnston, thought that 
this movement was only a prelude to 
something greater, and abandoned Har- 
per's Ferry within three days. 

1861. June 18. Battle of Boon- 
ville, Mo. While these stirring events 
were going on in Virginia an active part 
was being played by the confederates in 
Missouri. Gov. Jackson, by a misrejDre- 
sentation of his purpose, called out fifty 
thousand state militia for aid to the con- 
fedei"ates, and placed Ex-Governor Price 
in command. National troops under 
Gen. Harney were ordered there. He 
was soon succeeded by Gen. Lyon, who 
ascertained that a confederate force was 
encamped at Boonville. He proceeded 
thence and put them to flight, taking 
two cannon, twenty prisoners, several 
horses, and a lot of military stores. Jack- 
son, who had the command, continued 
the flight for fifty miles. 

1861. June 27. The Baltimore 
secessionists tried to take possession of 
the city, in conjunction with the police 
force, and thus wrest Maryland from the 
Union. But the troops were mustered 
out under Ex-Governor Banks of Massa- 
chusetts, and the attempt was prevented. 

1861. June 27. Engagement at 
Matthias Point. Having heard that the 
confederates had planted a strong bat- 
tery at Matthias Point, Capt. Ward pro- 
ceeded to that place from Acquia Creek, 
with his Potomac flotilla. He landed 
part of his forces, after reducing the place 
with his guns, and driving off the skir- 
mishers. While throwing up a strong 
redoubt he espied a large reinforcement 
coming over a hill. He then withdrew 
to the ships, and was preparing to leave, 
when, while sighting a cannon, he was 
mortally wounded by a shot from the 
shore. His forces sustained no damaa-e. 



556 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



1861. June 30. The privateer 
Sumter ran the blockade at New Or- 
leans, and very soon made havoc among 
U. S. merchantmen in the West Indies. 
She finally entered the port of Gibraltar 
where she was at once guarded by the U. 
S. gunboat Tuscarora, and afterward by 
the Kearsage. She was finally aban- 
doned by her crew, who entered the Ala- 
bama at Liverpool. 

1861. July 2. Battle of Falling 
Waters. About the first of June Gen. 
Patterson took command of the Union 
forces at Chambersburg, with a view to 
making Harper's Ferry his headquarters, 
and driving away the confederates from 
Maryland Heights. Johnston, the con- 
federate commander, as has been seen, 
evacuated Harper's Ferry, and retired to 
Marjdand Heights. But General-in-chief 
Scott called on Patterson for troops to 
defend the Capital, and his army was 
1805-1861. reduced to ten thousand 

Afrs. Brovjiiing. j-^yv troops, against greatly 
superior numbers of the enemy. After 
much delay and uneasiness Patterson fol- 
lowed up Johnston, who was on his way 
to Winchester. At Falling Waters the 
advance guard of the national troops, 
under Colonel J. J. Abercrombie, fell in 
with that of Johnston. Jackson had 
the direct leadership of Johnston's ad- 
vance guards, and opened fire with the 
artillery and infantry. The confederate 
cannon were soon silenced, and Jackson 
fled to Hainesville, five miles distant. 
The victors pursued, but when Johnston 
Increased Jackson's already large detach- 
ment, the pursuit ceased. Reinforce- 
ments were then sent to Patterson, and 
he entered Martinsburg, where he re- 
mained several days. 

1861. July 5. Battle of Carthage. 
A Union force of fifteen hundred was 



raised in Northern Missouri, and Colonel 
vSigel put in command. On the 23d of 
June he moved southward to Springfield 
and thence to Sarcoxie, where he learned 
that Price was encamped with nine hun- 
dred confederates at Pool's Prairie. 
But Price moved on further south, and 
Sigel turned to engage Gov. Jackson's 
army, nine miles north of Carthage. He 
pushed on, and found Jackson's army of 
about five thousand with plenty of 
cavalry, but deficient in artillery, drawn 
up on a small knoll. Sigel advanced, 
broke his strong front by the artillery, 
and a gallant charge of infantry; but he 
was compelled to retreat by the over- 
whelming opposing force, with a loss of 
thirteen killed, thirty - one wounded, 
ninety prisoners, four cannon, nine 
horses, and a baggage wagon. The con- 
federate loss was about thirty-five killed, 
one hundred and twenty-five wounded, 
forty-five prisoners, eighty horses, and a 
number of shot-guns, with which the 
soldiers were armed. Sigel continued 
his retreat to Springfield, where he 
joined Gen. Lyon. 

1861. July 11. The U. S. Senate 
expelled ten of its members, and two 
days later the House expelled John B. 
Clark, of Missouri. 

1861. July 11. Battle of Rich 
Mountain, Va. The confederates still 
kept up a kind of partisan warfare in 
Virginia, which was doomed to become 
the seat of war. They sent out troops in 
all directions from their large camp at 
Manassas Junction, intent upon getting 
possession of the Potomac and Washing- 
ton city; protecting Richmond from 
threatened invasion; and driving Mc- 
Clellan from West Virginia, and Patter- 
son from the Shenandoah. McClellan's 
force at Grafton, his headquarters, was 



1860-1862.] 

twenty thousand. A detachment was 
sent out under General J. D. Cox, to 
check the Rebel general, Wise, in the 
Kanawha Valley ; and another under 
General Hill, to keep reinforcements 
from joining Johnston at Winchester. 
After a third detachment under Gen. 
Morris had been sent to Beverly, via 
Philippi, McClellan had but ten thousand 
men left. With these he advanced to 
Clarksburg, and then to Beverly. Morris 
was to reconnoitcr and to meet the enemy 
in front, while McClellan should attack 
them in the rear. Garnett, the confeder- 
ate commander, was strongly entrenched, 
both naturally and artificially. There 
was also a detachment of fifteen hundred 
under Col. John Pegram, which was 
strongly fortified at Rich Mountain Gap, 
on a very important highway, four miles 
in Garnett's rear. McClellan ordered 
Col. W. S. Rosecrans to reduce Pegram's 
position. Rosecrans started from Bev- 
erly early in the morning of the iith. 
Just as he was coming up in Pegram's 
rear he was greeted by a terrible volley 
from a hidden source, the attack having 
been found out and prepared for, by 
Pegi-am's scouts. At two o'clock in the 
afternoon Rosecrans sent out a small 
force to the attack. A severe fight en- 
sued, and the confederates came bound- 
ing from their entrenchments upon the 
besiegers, when three Indiana regiments 
arose from concealment in the grass, and 
as promptly drove them back at the 
point of the bayonet. The Union loss 
was eighteen killed, and forty wounded ; 
while the enemy lost about one hundred 
and forty killed, and many wounded and 
prisoners, about four hundred in all, in- 
cluding several officers. Rosecrans was 
then made brigadier-general. 

1861. July 12. Battle of Carrick's 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



557 



Ford. McClellan pushed up in Pe- 
gram's front in the evening of the iith,, 
purposing to attack him in the morning. 
He thereby relieved Rosecrans, who was 
in a most perilous position in the rear. 
But Pegram stole away during the 
night toward Beverly. This exposed 
Garnett's rear. His position thus weak- 
ened, Garnett left his heavy baggage 
and ai'tillery, and fled toward St. George. 
McClellan increased Morris' force, and 
ordered a hot pursuit. The enemy were 
overtaken at Carrick's Ford, where they 
made a stand, but were defeated with a 
loss of thirty killed, among whom was 
Gen. Garnett, and a large number 
wounded and prisoners, besides a large 
amount of provisions. The Union loss 
was two killed, and ten wounded. This 
ended the war in West Virginia. 

1861. July 14. Pegram's Surrender. 
After Garnett fled from Beverly, Pe- 
gram found that he could not escape, and 
on Sunday inorning he surrendered his 
nine hundred weary, half-starved troops, 
to Gen. McClellan. 

1861. July 17. Battle of Vienna. 
Gen. McDowell ordered a regiment from 
Alexandria to be stationed as pickets 
and guards along the railroad to Vienna, 
fifteen miles from the former place. On 
the lyth the regiment left on a train, 
and was scattered along the route. On 
entering the deep cut at Vienna, three 
hundred men that were left on the train 
were fired upon by masked cannon, just 
planted by the confederates, who had 
torn up the road. The troops left the 
train, and rallying in a wood near by, 
stood their ground. This alarmed the 
enemy, who fled, sustaining a considerable 
loss after a hot skirmish. Of the Union 
troops, five were killed, six wounded, and 
thirteen missingf. 



558 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



1861. July 19. Major- General Pat- 
terson was honorably discharged from 
the army of the Shenandoah, ajid Gen. 
Banks put in command. 

1861. July 21. Battle of Bull Run. 
'• On to Richmond ! " became the cry of 
the people after the army had had a 
number of engagements in Virginia, and 
iHio-1861. several thousand troops had 

Count Cavoiir. bccu scut to Washington. 
McDowell was at Alexandria, and John- 
ston's army was in the vShenandoah, 
guarded by Patterson's army. The 
main body of the confederates was at 
Manassas Junction, but they had forces 
stationed at Centreville and Fairfax 
Court House. The federal army ad- 
vanced in three divisions and encamped 
at Centreville, after the confederates had 
deserted it, on vSaturday night, June 20th. 
McDowell's army was about forty thou- 
sand, most of whom had enlisted for onlv 
three months, and their time had nearly 
expired, hence the cry " On to Rich- 
mond !" which became too strong for 
him. He was so positive that Gen. G. 
T. Beauregard's army at Manassas was 
much less than his own, that he did not 
ascertain its real strength. But Johnston 
avoided Patterson in the Shenandoah, 
and reinforced and took command of the 
army at Manassas, which was then about 
forty-five thousand. On Sunday morn- 
ing the federals moved to the attack, 
just as the confederates were preparing 
for the same act. The two armies came 
together at the Bull Run, four miles 
north of Manassas, and a most desperate 
conflict followed. The armies swayed 
like fields of grain before the wind, and 
the confederates were slowly driven 
back. But Jackson stopped and made a 
firm stand on a plateau in the rear, with 
vStanard's battery. It was here in a 



baptisni of fire that he received his cele- 
brated sobriquet — " Stonewall Jackson." 
It originated in the remark : " There 
stands Jackson like a stone wall." The 
battle raged till noon, when Johnston 
ordered more troops, under Kirby vSmith, 
from Manassas. They were delayed, 
but arri\ed just as the federals were 
gaining the victory. They poured in a 
cross fire, and the federals were swept 
from the field in utter route. Many of 
them did not stop till over the Long 
Bridge at Washington. The federals 
in action were about thirteen thousand ; 
the confederates about twice the number, 
they having received reinforcements all 
dav. The federal loss in killed, 
wounded, and prisoners, wns about 
thirty-five hundred. The confederate 
loss was about twenty-five hundred. 
This battle satisfied the cry of the 
Northerners, and assured them that the 
war would be long and bloody, and not 
" end in ninety days," as predicted. 
They ^vere to fight a j^eople as brave 
as themselves, and men afterward en- 
listed for " three years, or the war." 
Congress voted $500,000,000, and five 
hundred thousand men. 

1861. July 22. A state convention 
met in Jefferson City, Mo., and declared 
all the pi-ominent state offices vacant, 
as the occupants thereof \vere no longer 
promoters of the will of the people. A 
new election for governor, legislators, etc., 
was called. 

1861. July 22. Gen. McDowell was 
superseded by Gen. McClellan, as com- 
mander of the Potomac armv, after the 
Bull Run disaster. Rosccrans succeeded 
McClellan as commander of the troops 
in West Virginia. Gen. Lee took Gar- 
nett's place, and the commissions of Wise 
and Floyd were filled by competent men. 



1860-1862.] 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



559 



1861. July 28. Capture of the 
Petrel. The Petrel, a federal vessel 
which had surrendered to the confeder- 
ates in December of the previous year, 
was cajDtured in a very strategic manner 
hy the St. Lawrence, off Charleston 
harbor. The Petrel had avoided the 
blockade squadron at the harbor, and 
sailed out for prizes. She espied the St, 
Lawrence lying behind an island, and 
gave chase. The latter vessel assumed 
the appearance of a merchant vessel, and 
took to flight ; but when the Petrel 
came within proper distance of her, she 
turned and hurled three shots, which 
struck and sunk the pursuer. Part of 
the crew survived, and were imprisoned 
at Philadelphia. 

1861. July 29. Evacuation of the 
Kanawha Valley. Gen. Cox succeeded 
in forcing Wise from the Kanawha Val- 
ley. He retreated to Lewisburg. Here 
he w^as out-ranked by Brigadier-general 
J. B. Floyd. 

1861. July 31. Invasion of Illinois 
Checked. Early in the summer John 
C. Fremont was appointed over the 
Army of the West. At the time of his 
appointment (May 14th) he was in 
Europe. He brought over twenty thou- 
sand stand of arms for his department, 
but they w^ere appropriated for the Army 
of the Potomac. He then proceeded to 
St. Louis, and obtained by force enough 
money to arm the volunteers who were 
crowding into that place. A confeder- 
ate force of twelve thousand under Gen. 
Pillow, a major-general of the Army of 
West Tennessee, was preparing to cap- 
ture Cairo, and overrun Southern Illinois. 
Fremont mustered thirty-eight hundred 
men, and started down the river on eight 
steamers to reinforce Cairo. A rumor 
exaggerating the proportions of Fre- 



mont's army reached Pillow, and he 
retreated. Fremont arrived in safety, 
and strengthened the twelve hundred 
already there; and thus Cairo was saved. 

1861. July 31. The Grand Army 
of the Potomac was fully organized, 
equipped, and disciplined by the last of 
July,- and numbered one hundred and 
fifty-two thousand. Arms had been j^ur- 
chased in Europe, and this great army 
was now ready to avenge the Bull Run 
defeat. By March following, it was in- 
creased to two hundred and twenty thou- 
sand, but about thirty thousand were 
sick or absent. 

1861. Aug. 2. The Cherokee In- 
dians, in a mass meeting, gave in their 
allegiance to the confederate cause, in 
spite of the appeals of John Ross, their 
head chief. The Choctaws and Chicka- 
saws had already done so, and were rais- 
ing men. 

1861. Aug. 2. Battle of Dug Springs, 
Mo. Gen. Lyon, with about five thou- 
sand (nearly his entire army), moved 
out from Springfield to check the con- 
federates, who were advancing on that 
place. He halted in the valley of Dug 
Springs, nineteen miles southwest of 
Springfield. The line of battle was 
drawn up, and before long the foe ap- 
peared. A charge was made by the 
federal cavalry, under Stanley, which 
dashed the confederate infantry into 
fragments. The confederate cavalry ap- 
peared from the woods, but the federal 
artillery was brought to play upon them, 
and they were dispersed almost instantly. 
Everything was without hope now on 
the confederate side, and they fled with 
a loss of forty killed, and as many 
wounded. The federal loss was eight 
killed, and thirty wounded. After givino- 
chase, Lyon returned to Springfield. 



560 



NA TIONAL CRISES. 



ARMY BrlTIOm. 

1861. Aug. 3. At the foundation of 
the United States Government under the 
Constitution, the army ration was one 
pound of beef, or three-quarters of a 
pound of pork ; one pound bread or flour, 
half a gill of rum, brandy, whiskey, or 
the value thereof, and at the rate of one 
quart salt, two quaits vinegar, two 
pounds soap, and one pound candles, to 
every one hundred rations. This was 
changed from time to time, by increasing 
the amounts; one great change being in 
i8o2, to one gill of liquor instead of one 
half gill as before. In 1832 the liquor 
w^as displaced, and four pounds coffee 
with eight pounds sugar to every one 
hundred rations, substituted. This in- 
creased at a later day. At this date the 
ration v\^as made to consist of one pound 
and a half of bread or flour, or one pound 
hard bread; fresh beef as often as may 
be possible, in place of salt beef; beans, 
rice, hominy, twice a week; one pound 
of potatoes three times a week; tea to be 
substituted for coffee if desired, and other 
food provided for, to some extent. This 
ration was afterward found too large, 
and was diminished. The army was 
well fed throusfh the war. 



1861. Aug. 3. A proclamation was 

issued by the provisional governor of 
Missouri, which quieted the turbulence 
then existing, and restored comparative 
peace. Armed bands of secessionists 
carried on a partisan warfare in Northern 
Missouri; and groups of Union soldiers 
were trying to put them down when the 
proclamation was issued. 

1861. Aug. 7. Burning of Hamp- 
ton. Gen. Butler at Fortress Monroe, 
was drawn upon for troops for the de- 



fense of the capital, and to furnish them 
he reduced the foi'ces at Newport-Newce. 
and Hampton. Magruder took advan- 
tage of this to reduce Hampton, and 
moved with five thousand men from 
Yorktown on the 6th for that purpose.. 
But the news reached Gen. Butler, and 
he sent out a force for its defense. The 
force was beaten, and driven back. 
Magruder then ordered the citv to be 
fired. The next morning the town was 
in ashes, and the confederates had re- 
turned to Yorktown. This, with other 
things, blackened the cloud cast upon 
Gen. Butler at the Bethels, and he was 
formally deposed, and replaced by Gen. 
John E. Wool. 

1861. Aug. 10. Battle of Wilson's 
Creek, Mo. The confederates collected 
at Wilson's Creek, southwest of Spring- 
field, for the purpose of advancing on the 
latter place, after their defeat at Dug- 
Springs. With mutual consent Gen. 
McCulloch succeeded Gen. Price in the 
chief command of the army, which con- 
sisted of about twenty-three thousand. 
McCulloch ordered all the men who 
\vere fit for action to prepare for a march 
on Springfield at midnight of the 9th.. 
The pickets were taken in, and prepara- 
tions made, but a rain storm prevented 
the march. General Lyon, with only 
five thousand at the same time, after 
much hesitation, had ordered a march on 
the enemy, in order to save Missouri to 
the Union. On the 9th the Union army 
marched away in two columns, under 
Generals Lyon and Sigel. On the morn- 
ing of the loth they appeared at Wilson's 
Creek. Sigel gained the rear, and Lyon 
attacked the enemy in front, after driving 
in the skirmishers. The fierce contest 
then began. First one side and then the 
other, was driven in confusion, but ralliedi 



1860-1863.] 

again. The onset of the confederates 
was irresistible, hut the federal artillery 
mowed them down like grass. B}' a 
feint the confederates destroyed Sigel's 
batteries, and almost routed his whole 
force. Finally both armies came to a 
solid stand within a few feet of each 
other. In a hardly-fought, nearly hand 
to hand struggle, the confederates were 
compelled to retire under a melting fire 
from the federals. But thev held the 
field at a cost of three thousand men. 
The greatly reduced national troops then 
withdrew, and returned to Springfield. 
Their loss was between twelve and thir- 
teen hundred, among whom was the 
noble and gallant Gen. Lyon. 

1861. Aug. 28-29. Blockade of 
Hatteras Inlet. English blockade run- 
ners were supplying the confederates 
with provisions, at Hatteras Inlet. After 
Butler had been relieved of his command 
at Fortress Monroe, he apprised the na- 
tional authorities of this, and offered his 
services to command an expedition. He 
was given charge of some forces and the 
squadron of ten vessels under Commo- 
dore Stringham. They arrived, and be- 
gan a siege which lasted two days, when 
the forts of Hatteras and Clark surren- 
dered, with 715 prisoners, 25 cannon, and 
1,000 stands of arms. In the following 
September an attempt by the confeder- 
ates to regain the Inlet, was foiled. The 
national garrison was thus strengthened 
and made secure. 

1861. Aug. 31. An anticipated 
Emancipation in Missouri. Fremont 
issued a proclamation declaring martial 
law in Missouri, and also declaring the 
confiscation of property and the freedom 
of slaves belonging to all citizens who 
joined the secessionists. While the mar- 
tial law put down civil strife, the other 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



561 



parts created great consternation among 
the citizens of the state. 

1861. Sept. 4. Seizure of Columbus 
and Hickman. On the pretext of "an 
expectation that the national troops 
were about to invade the state " of 
Kentucky, Gen. Folk advanced with a 
confederate force, and seized and forti- 
fied Columbus and Hickman. Simon 
Buckner, a confedei-ate brigadier-general, 
proceeded with two or three regiments 
to seize Louisville. But the fii'eman of 
an engine escaped and carried the news to 
Gen. Anderson, the hero of Fort Sumter. 
Anderson immediately ordered out troops 
from Camp Joe Holt, near Louisville, 
and the movement was checked. 

1861. Sept. 6. Kentucky's neu- 
trality Ended, Major-General U. S. 
Grant, who had charge of military affairs 
near Cairo, took possession of Paducah, 
and thus ended Kentucky's neutrality. 
There was, however, up to this time, a 
Union majority of the people. 

1861. Sept. 9. The Battle of Car- 
nifex Ferry. After the confederates 
changed commanders in Virginia thev 
tried to get possession of West Virginia 
again. Gen. Floyd sent out a detach- 
ment which surprised and routed Col. 
Tyler's regiment at Cross Lanes, early 
in the morning of the 9th, killing and 
capturing two hundred men. He then 
moved southward to get around Cox ; 
but Rosecrans swooped down upon him 
at Carnifex Ferry, in the afternoon, with 
ten thousand men from Clarksburg. 
Floyd, after a severe battle, escaped in 
the night, leaving a large amount of 
ammunition and provisions. The feder- 
al loss in all was about two hundred; 
that of the confederates is not known, but 
was considerably less. 

1861. Sept. 11. A Slave Order. 



562 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



President Lincoln ordered that Fre- 
mont's Missouri proclamation should be 
modified so as to free only those slaves 
who were actually employed in the 
southern armv. 

1861. Sept, 12. The Capture of 
Lexington, Mo. After the battle of 
Wilson's Creek, Sigel continued moving 
northward from Springfield to RoUa. 
A dissension having arisen between Price 
and McCulloch, the latter withdrew his 
Texas troops from the state. But Price 
'enlisted more secessionists to fill the 
empty ranks, and then began a north- 
ward movement. Fremont discovered it 
and sent a force of twenty-eight hundred, 
under Col. J. A. ?vlulligan, to protect 
Lexington, which commanded the ap- 
proach by water to Ft. Leavenworth. 
After a terrible storm Price drew up 
before Lexington on the morning of the 
1 2th. With some difficulty he drove the 
federals into their entrenchnients. The 
contest then took the form of a siege. 
The confederates were reinforced to 
twenty-five thousand. Mulligan expected 
relief, but his courier was captured, and it 
did not come. At length (on the 20th), 
his communication and water supply 
having been cut off, he surrendered. His 
loss was fortv killed, and one hundred and 
twenty wounded. The confederate loss 
was twenty-five killed, and seventy-five 
wounded. The prisoners were put on 
parole. Mulligan was subsecjuently ex- 
changed, and offered a brigadier-general- 
ship, but declined, preferring to remain 
with his '' Irish Brigade " of Chicago. 

1881. Sept. 11-13. Cheat Moun- 
tain Skirmishes. Lee determined to 
open communication with Shenandoah, 
after the battle of Carnifex Ferry. He 
moved from Hiuitersyille on the nth, 
toward the mountains, where Gen. Rey- 



nolds, with a detachment of Rosecrans' 
army, was posted at Elk Water, Cheat 
Mountain Pass, and the Summit. Lee 
attacked him at these places, but was re- 
pulsed each time. The confederates 
were about five thousand, and the loss 
was one hundred killed and wounded, 
and ninety prisoners. Reynolds' force 
was about six hundred, and his loss was 
ten killed, twenty-four wounded, and 
sixty-four prisoners. 

1861. Sept. 13. The confederate 
privateer Judah, lying in Pensacola 
harbor, was boarded and destroyed by a 
force from the U. S. ship Colorado. 

DECISIVE SOUTH ±MERIC±y BRITTLE. 

1881. Sept. 17. The troubles which 
had been occasioning military move- 
ments of a more or less burdensome 
character for some years between Buenos 
Ayres and the Argentine Republic, of 
which Buenos Ayres had at times been 
a part, now came to an end by the final 
defeat of the Argentine forces at Pavon, 
by Gen. Bartolome Mitre. The difficul- 
ties in trying to remain a united people 
were a reflex of United States difficulties 
in the antagonism of separate parties. 
Buenos Ayres had wished to have a 
centralized government. The other prov- 
inces of the La Plata had wished a 
federation, revolted, and formed one. 
The former gained in the present battle 
something of a victory for its own idea, 
entered the Argentine Republic the next 
year, and has been the seat of the capital 
since. 



1861. September. The flag of the 
Confederate .States had been at times 
mistiiken at a distance for the Union flag, 
hence a battle flag was adopted, consist- 
ing: of a " red field charsfed with a blue 



1860-1862.] 

saltier, with a narrow border of white, 
on which were displayed thirteen white 
stars," 

1861. Oct. 3. Battle on the Green- 
briar. Lee left Gen. H. R. Jackson of 
Georgia, with three thousand inen on 
the Greenbriar River, at the foot of 
Cheat Mountain, to watch Reynolds. 
But Reynolds assumed the offensive, and 
on the night of the 2d moved on Jack- 
son's camp with five thousand men. He 
drove in the pickets and prepared to 
flank the enemy, but Jackson discovered 
the movement in time, and checkmated 
it. The federal loss was ten killed, and 
thirty-two wounded. Learning that re- 
inforcements were coming to Jackson's 
rescue, Reynolds withdrew to Elk Water. 
The confederate loss was over two 
hundred. 

1861. Oct. 5. A confederate force, 
in attempting to land in Pamlico Sound 
for an attack on the Union camp, v\^as 
shelled by the U, S. boat Monticello, and 
driven off with great slaughter, 

1861. Oct. 9. Events on the Gulf 
Coast, While these stirring events were 
going on in the north, others were tran- 
spiring on the Gulf. A small Union 
force under Col. Watson at Ft. Pickens, 
was making sad havoc with the con- 
federate navy-yards. They became the 
terror of the coast. The injured con- 
federates could bear their intrusions no 
longer, and prepared to avenge them. 
They proceeded up Pensacola Bay, to 
Deer Point, on Santa Rosa Island, with 
fourteen hundred picked men. A land- 
ing was soon made. They drove in the 
pickets at night, surprised the hundred 
and fifty New York Zouaves that were 
posted there, and plundered their camp. 
But the Zouaves were then joined by 
four companies from the fort, and drove 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 

back the assailants with a 



563 



^ailing fire, 
into their ships, one of which was sunk. 
The entire national loss was sixty-four; 
that of the enemy one hundred and fifty, 
including those who were drowned. 
The confederate iron-clad ram, Manas- 
sas, was then fitted up with a great iron 
prow or beak. It drove off" the bom- 
barding squadron, under Flag-officer 
McKean and Col. Brown, from Ft. 
McRae, and would have done great 
damage had it been under competent 
management. 

1861. Oct. 21. Battle of Ball's 
Bluff. The confederates by bold skir- 
mishing parties had planted their flag 
within six miles of Washington, and had 
made several sharp attacks isei. Oct. i. 
on Harper's Ferry. But ^^'"'"'" ^- 

^ •' crowned Kin^ of 

they were repulsed each Prussia. 
time, and finally dri\cn beyond Fairfax 
Court House. Hearing that the confed- 
erates had evacuated Leesburg, McClel- 
lan sent out a reconnoitering party of 
four thousand under Gen. C. P, Stone, 
w^ho had orders to make only a " demon- 
stration on Leesburg," Col, Devens was 
sent with seven hundred men from Stone's 
headquarters at Edward's and Conrad's 
Ferries, toward Leesburg. Col, Baker, 
a noted and esteemed representative from 
Oregon, was ordered from the Grand 
Army to Conrad's Feny, and then sent 
out with a small party to attract the 
enemy's attention from Devens. Havino- 
learned that Devens had had an engage- 
ment with the enemy, Baker concluded 
to join him. To do this he had to cross 
the Potomac. The transportation was 
exceedingly poor, and the movement 
dangerous. With great difficulty it was 
accomplished, and the two companies 
wei-e consolidated on the opposite bank. 
Baker took command of the whole force 



564 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



of nineteen hundred, acting as brigadier- 
general. The troops were hardly in line 
when the confederates came swarming 
out of the woods on all sides of the field. 
A terrible battle speedily followed. A 
misguided manoeuver on the federal left 
caused a rout, and the army was jDushed 
backward down the slippery, clayey 
bluffs, fifty to one hundred and fifty feet 
high. The two old scows that brought 
them over were soon sunk, and many of 
the soldiers were shot while in the act 
of swimming. Few reached the bank 
beyond. The loss to the federals was 
one thousand, of whom three hundred 
were killed. The confederate loss was 
three hundred. In the heat of the battle 
the gallant Baker fell, pierced by a dozen 
balls. After the battle Stone took com- 
mand in person. McClellan sent twenty- 
five hundred more men, and these held 
Harrison's Island. The confederates re- 
turned to Leesburg with their prisoners, 
and three Union cannon. That night 
the confederate camp-fire glowed with 
victory, while the Union soldier crawled 
off to his camp in sore distress. 

1861. Oct. 21. Invasion of Ken- 
tucky. Gen. Zollicoffer, with seven 
regiments of confederates, invaded Ken- 
tucky in the latter part of the month. 
He moved with great alacrity and 
caution ; but while he was raiding 
through the country almost unobstructed, 
he came upon a Union force of four 
thousand, just mustered under Colonel 
Garrard. On the 3ist Zollicoffer twice 
attacked them at Camp Wildcat in Rose 
Castle Hills, but he was j^romptly driven 
off each time, and then withdrew. Gen. 
W. T. Sherman was now appointed to 
command the Department of the Cum- 
berland. 

1861. Oct. 24. Battle of Spring- 



field. The surrender of Lexington 
caused much blame to rest on Fremont, 
But the number of his army had been 
greatly exaggerated, and he won vic- 
tories which would have been defeats 
with larger armies. He now resolved to 
take the field himself, and at the head 
of his army, pushed southward. The 
total number of federal troops in Mis- 
souri was about fifty -six thousand. Price 
retired to Arkansas, as McCulloch had 
deserted him, and other embarrass- 
ments were daily coming up. Gen. 
Jeff. Thompson had already been routed 
by Fremont on the 2ist. Just befoi^e 
Fremont arrived at Springfield, he sent 
Zagonyi with one hundred and fifty well- 
equipped cavahy to reconnoiter, and if 
he could, capture the place. Zagonyi 
made a daring strike. Nearly two thou- 
sand confederates were drawn up on the 
brow of a hill near the city. After a 
short exhortation to his devoted followers,. 
Zagonyi made a dart toward the solid 
lines ; and notwithstanding a destructive 
fire which killed eighty-four of their 
number, the brave riders struck terror to 
the heart of the opposing ranks, and com- 
pelled them to hastily retreat. This was- 
soon turned into a rout. The confeder- 
ate loss is not known. 

I.VTERFEREMCE WITH MEXICO. 

1861. Oct. 31. The Convention of 
London, held by England, France, and 
vSpain, to consider the losses experienced 
by their subjects in Mexico, agreed to 
send a joint expedition thither to urge 
the matter by force, if necessary. They 
had not been able to get what they 
thought to be satisfactory terms from 
President Juarez. The last of this year 
and the first of the next, troops from each 
nation landed in Mexico. But Spain and 



1860-1862.] THE RESORT TO ARMS. 

England soon withdrew their forces be- 
cause of having arrived at the prospect 
of a settlement by negotiation. France 
continued the effort, which resulted so 
disastrously for Maximillian. 



565 



UKITED STATES OF COLOMBM. 

1861. October. A convention was 
held in Bogota, S. A., by representatives 
of the liberal sections of New Grenada, 
and adopted a constitution under the 
above name. Mosquera was made pres- 
ident. The conservatives held the 
southern sections, and attempted to 
maintain a government of their own. 
The province was very much broken 
up, and the hostility of the two parties 
was very great. For over a ^^ear from 
this time civil war raged in considerable 
fLuy. 

1861. Nov. 2. Gen. Fremont, on 
account of the course he had taken in 
issuing his proclamation, and in many 
other respects, was superseded by Gen. 
Hunter. 

1861. Nov. 2. A secession ordi- 
nance was passed by a portion of the 
legislature of Missouri, who came to- 
gether for the purpose. 

1861. Nov 7. Naval Expedition 
against Port Royal Entrance, S. C. 
A very mysterious and imposing armada 
left Hampton Roads on the 39th of Oc- 
tober, for a secret destination. It was 
composed of fifty war vessels and trans- 
ports, and twenty-five coal vessels. The 
transports carried fifteen thousand troops 
under Brig. -Gen. W. T. Sherman; the 
naval forces were under Capt. S. F. Du- 
pont. After three days of delightful sea 
a terrible and shattering storm came up. 
The fleet was scattered, and many vessels 
had to throw overboard a few gfuns and 



stores, to lighten their burden. Sealed 
orders were on board each vessel. These 
were opened, and Port Royal was found 
to be th ir destination. 

The confederates held strong positions 
at Ft. Walker, on Hilton Head Island, 
and Ft. Beauregard, on Phillips' Island, 
with a flotilla under Capt. Tatnall, farther 
up the entrance. These forts were two 
miles apart. On the morning of the 7th 
the assailants pushed up between them 
and described a cuiwe, to avoid becoming 
a mark for the guns at the forts, which 
they fired upon as they passed. Such 
revolutions were continuously performed 
until a quarter past one, p. m., when the 
forts were silenced, and deserted by the 
besieged. They were then taken posses- 
sion of; Sherman's troops were landed, 
and Hilton Head Island made a point of 
supplies. The national loss was small; 
the confederate, fifty. The Wabash was 
struck thirty-four times, while in the forts 
" shell fell as fast as a horse's feet beat the 
ground in a gallop." Tybee Island, at 
the mouth of the Savannah River, was 
shortly afterward captured by Capt. 
Dupont without much effort; and the 
coast islands remained in possession of the 
federals. They also controlled the im- 
portant network of water communication 
in South Carolina. A large amount of 
cotton, guns, ammunition, etc., was left 
on the islands, and fell into national 
hands; but before the cotton could be 
secured, some sly confederates applied the 
torch to it, 

1861. Nov. 7. Battle of Belmont, 
Mo. Gen, Grant captured Smithland, 
at the mouth of the Cumberland River, 
and made some movements to cooperate 
with Fremont in Missouri. Learning 
that Polk had sent reinforcements from 
Columbus to Price, Grant moved down 



566 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



the river, with three thousand IlHnois 
volunteers, to take Behnont, oj^posite Co- 
lumbus, and threaten the latter place. 
He landed and formed his troops three 
miles above the city. He then moved 
forward to attack the confederates, whose 
camp was well pi-otected by felled trees 
witli the small branches cut off and the 
large ones pointed, and the points placed 
outward. But the federals drove the 
enemy back, charged over their sharp- 
ened sticks, and captured a large number 
of men, horses, and artillery. The con- 
federates made a gallant defense, but their 
ammunition was exhausted, and they suf- 
fered defeat. Polk tried to cut off Grant's 
return to the boats, but all attempts were 
averted, with great difficulty. The con- 
federate camp was fired, as the federals 
had no baggage wagons. The federals 
lost four hundred and eighty-five men in 
killed, wounded and missing ; the confeder- 
ates, six hundred antl thirtv-t\Vo. 

1861. Nov. 8. The Trent Aflfair. 
Davis appointed Messrs. Mason and Sli- 
dell, two noted slavery statesmen, ambas- 
sadors to England and France, who had 
acknowledged the confederate states as 
belligerents. With their private secre- 
taries they took passage on the Trent, a 
British mail steamer, from Havana, hav- 
ing escaped a blockade squadron at 
Charleston. Capt. Wilkes, of the San 
Jacinto (a U. S. mercliant vessel from 
the South Sea Islands) was informed, 
and lay in the Bahama Channel. On the 
Sth, just before noon, the Trent appeared. 
An order by the Jacinto to heave to was 
unheeded by the Trent, and a shell was 
fired across her bow, which brought her 
to terms. The envoys were taken back 
and imprisoned at Ft. Warren, near 
Boston. "Neutral" Engkind demanded 
the immediate release of the prisoners. 



After a protracted and hot debate in 
congress the prisoners were handed over. 

1861. Nov. 9. Battle of Piketon, 
Ky. A thousand confederates under 
Col. Williams, were encamped near 
Piketon, and Gen. Nelson marched with 
three thousand Unionists from the Big 
Sandy to attack and drive them out of 
the state, or make them surrender. An 
advance guard came upon some of 
Williams' pickets. The confederates fled 
after a short but severe skirmish, in 
which they lost forty killed, and a large 
numlicr wounded. The union loss was 
six killed, and twenty-four wounded. 
Williams fled from Piketon before an at- 
tack could be inade, and as Nelson had 
no cavalry, he could not pursue him. 

1861. Nov. 29. A Mistaken Proc- 
lamation. The military affairs in Mis- 
souri were taken charge of Nov. iS, by 
Henry Wager Halleck, w^ho succeeded 
Gen. Hunter; the latter was placed over 
the Kansas department. Thousands of 
refugees, the victims of poverty and dis- 
tress at the hands of Price, came flocking 
into the Union lines. By some means the 
confederates obtained knowledge of every 
movement of the Union armies. Hal- 
leck issued a proclamation on the 29th, 
which forbade the fugitive slaves to enter 
the lines, on the ground that they were 
the offenders. The proclamation was so 
adverse to the Union cause that it was 
soon countermanded. 

1861. Dec. 6. Beaufort, N. C, was 
occupied by the federal troops. The 
confederates had evacuated it after the 
naval battle at Hilton Head. 

1861. Dee. 14. Charleston Fire. 
On the night of the 14th a great con- 
flagration swept over Charleston, S. C, 
desti'oying several million dollars' worth 
of property. 



1860-1862.] 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



567 



1861. Dec. 19. Battle on the Black- 
water. In Missouri Pope gained the in- 
formation that a confederate force was 
north of him, near Milford, and sent a 
force to flank them. The affair took 
place on the Blackwater, opposite Clear 
Creek. L,ieutenant Gordon led the charge 
1861. Dec. 23. with cavalry, and with the 

Prince Albert 

jig^_ proper support routed the 

army of thirteen hundred, infantry and 
cavalry. The spoils were eight hundred 
horses and mules, a thousand stand of 
arms, and seventy wagon loads of sujd- 
plies. The captors then returned to 
Sedalia, sweeping the whole country 
west of that place. 

1861. Dec. 20. Blockade of Charles- 
ton harbor hy the " Stone Fleet." 
Twenty-five condemned merchant ves- 
sels were purchased by order of the secre- 
tary of war, and filled with granite. The 
copper bottoms were taken off, and holes 
bored below the water mark, and these 
holes plugged up. When they reached 
Charleston harbor the plugs were taken 
out and the vessels allowed to settle in 
such a way that they would produce dis- 
turbing currents, but not destroy naviga- 
tion. The whole affair was a failure, as 
the vessels either sunk in the sand or 
were carried out to sea by the strong 
currents. 

1861. Dec. 20. Battle of Dranes- 
viUe, Va. After the battle of Ball's 
Bluff the ravages and audacity of the 
confederates increased to immense pro- 
portions. Gen. McClellan sent out Gen. 
McCall on a foraging expedition, to 
wound them, and stop their incursions. 
While ravaging the country, the con- 
federates usually left a force at Dranes- 
ville. Upon this McCall determined to 
have revenge. He ordered Brigadier- 
General Ord, with four thousand men, 



aided by Brigatlicr Reynolds, to do the 
work. They moved toward Centerville, 
and while gathering forage were attacked 
by twenty-five hundred of the incursion- 
ists from Centerville, under Gen. Stuart. 
Their attack was promptly repelled. 
The loss in the engagement to the 
federals was six killed, and sixt}' 
wounded; to the confederates, forty-three 
killed, and one hundred and forty-three 
wounded. The federal gain was " a 
victory, sixteen wagon loads of excellent 
hay, and twenty-two of corn." This 
closed the campaign of iS6i. The con- 
federates had gained the battles of Bull 
Run and Wilson's Creek, the greatest of 
the year; they had possession of the im- 
mense national arsenals at Harper's 
Ferry and Norfolk. Columbus, Ft. 
Henry, Ft. Donelson, Bowling Green, 
Mill .Spring, and Cumberland Gap, 
which constituted a strongly-fortified line 
of defence, were in their possession. 
They had also been acknowledged as 
belligerents, which placed them on the 
same footing with the United States. 
They had 350,000 troops. The federals 
had mustered and drilled a large army of 
neai'ly 500,000, and made other exten- 
sive preparations for the war. They 
were successful in nearly all of the minor 
engagements, and had saved West Vir- 
ginia, Missouri, and Maryland. They 
had, in fact, thrown the whole South into 
a state of siege, both by land and sea. 
The federal plan agreed upon at last 
was to capture Richmond, blockade the 
southern ports, and open the Mississippi. 
1861. Web Printing Press. Mr. 
Bullock patented his printing press, 
which crowned all previous progress in 
this direction. The machine receives the 
paper from a roll, and cuts off each sheet 
as it proceeds. It also prints both sides 



568 NATIONAL 

before the sheet leaves the cylinders. 

1861. Shoddy. Some of the early 
regiments in the war were clothed in 
suits which were fine in appearance at 
first, but which pro\ed to be entirely 
without strength to hold together, because 
they were made of refuse matter pressed 
into the shape of cloth, but without the 
firmness of woven threads. It called 
down wrath upon some of the contractors. 

1861. Vassar College for young 
women, was founded at Poughkeepsie, 
N. Y. It ^vas named for Matthew 
Vassar, who gave it at the start $408,000. 
He afterward gave several hundred 
thousand dollai^s more. 

1861. Insurrectionary movements 
occurred in Honduras, but were sup- 
pressed by President Guardiola, who was 
assassinated before a long time. He had 
been extremely lenient in pardoning his 
ojDponents. Montes was made president. 

1861. Dec. 26. Ralph Farnham, the 
last survivor of the battle of Bunker Hill, 
died at Acton, jNIe., at the age of 105 
years, 5 months, 19 days. He was born 
at Lebanon, Me., July 7, 1 756. 

1861. December. Spanish troops 
from Cuba landed in ?vlexico at Vera 
Cruz, and were soon followed by the 
French and English forces. 

1861. The first iron-clad steam rams 
used in warfare by the United States 
were constructed upon the Mississippi by 
James B. Eads, a civil engineer. 

R^REY, THE HORSE T^MER. 

1861. It was during this year that 
John vS. Rarey began to get that wide 
reputation which caused so much talk for 
a few years over the subject of training- 
horses. He gave public exhibitions, in 
which he made the wildest steeds entirelv 
obedient to his will. Audiences were 



CRISES. 

carried away with amazement. In Lon- 
don, Paris, and in Russia, Mr. Rarey ex- 
hibited his skill before crowds of royal 
persons, upon animals the most vicious 
to be obtained, and with equal success in 
all circumstances. He claimed that kind- 
ness "was at the basis of his whole system. 



1862. Jan. 2. Mason and Slidell 

^vho had been taken on board the Eng- 
lish vessel named the Trent, on their way 
to negotiate for aid to the confederacy, 
were released by order of the British 
government, and sailed at once for Eng- 
land. Mr. Slidell afterward obtained 
aid for the .South, in France. 

1862. Jan. 7. Battle of Preston- 
burg, Ky. Gen. Don Carlos Buell raised 
a force of forty thousand men in Louis- 
ville to protect a number of important 
forts in Tennessee, and started southward 
from that place late in December of 1S61. 
Hearing that twenty-five hundred con- 
federates under Humphrey Marshall were 
encamped in the eastern part of Ken- 
tucky, he directed Colonel J. A. Garfield, 
with two regiments and three hundred 
cavalry, to dislodge them. Garfield man- 
aged the difficult and perilous march up 
the Big Sandy, admirably. Marshall 
fled further up the river at his approach, 
but ^vas overtaken and defeated by the 
pursuing cavalry at Jennis' Creek. Gar- 
field pushed on in pursuit till the con- 
federates halted in a strong position three 
miles above Prestonburg. In a skill- 
fully fought battle which lasted from one 
o'clock till dark, the confederates were 
forced from their position, with a loss of 
sixty killed, and about one hundred 
wounded and prisoners. The federal 
loss was only two killed, and twenty-five 
wounded. Because of his bravery and 



1860-1862.] 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



569 



skill on this occasion, Col, Garfield was 
made a Brigadier- General of volunteers. 

JOH.y TYLER. 

1862. Jan. 18. John Tyler, the 
tenth president of the United States, died 
at Richmond, Va,, aged seventy-one 
years. He w'as born in Virginia, March 
29, 1790. His parents were wealth v, 
and his boyhood was surrounded by all 
the advantages which wealth procures. 
In 1S07 he graduated at William and 
^lary College, and was soon admitted to 
the bar. He then passed successfullv 
through various offices in his own state, 
and was elected United States senator in 
1827. He remained such till 1836, when 
he resigned because his enmity to Gen. 
Jackson prevented him from acting on 
the resolution to remove the vote of cen- 
sure from Jackson's name, because of his 
removal of the U. S, funds from the U. 
S, Bank. In 1S40 Tyler was elected 
vice-president; at the death of Harrison he 
Avas suddenly called to be president. He 
now found himself in a difficult position, 
for his sympathies were largely w^ith the 
democrats, although he had been elected 
on the wliig ticket. His measures to 
keep the favor of all resulted in the loss 
of the confidence of each party. At the 
close of his term he was not reelected, 
and retired to his home in Virginia, 
Upon the outbreak of the rebellion he 
became identified with the South, and 
^vas elected to the confederate congress, 
in which body he was serving at the time 
of his death, 

1862, Jan, 19. Battle of Mill 
Spring. By this time Gen. Buell's army 
was increased to one hundred and four- 
teen thousand men, with one hundred 
and twenty -six j^icces of artillery. 



Thomas was ordered to attack the 
confederates at Beech Grove and Mill 
Spring, where there were ten thousand 
strongly posted under Zollicoffer. If 
success should crown his efforts there, 
he intended to penetrate Eastern Ten- 
nessee. He moved rapidly southward to 
within a few miles of Beech Grove, and 
disposed his troops in order of attack. 
Thomas had left a large detachment 
of his army at Somerset, under Gen. 
Schoepf. This ZollicofTer attempted to 
crush before the federal forces could 
again unite. The battle was begun and 
wore on nearly all day, with victory 
almost in the grasp of each army, several 
times. Toward evening the federal 
artillery began to tell, and a flank 
ba}'onet charge by a portion of the in- 
f^intry, decided the battle. In the dark- 
ness of the night the confederates slipped 
away, leaving supplies, ammunition, artil- 
lery, etc., behind. One hundred and 
ninety-two of the confederates were 
killed, among whom was Gen, Zolli- 
cofTer, sixty-two wounded, and eighty- 
nine taken prisoners. The federal loss 
was thirty killed, and two hundred and 
eight wounded. The enemy's line of 
defense was now pierced, and a key to 
Kentucky and Tennessee seized. 

1862. Jan. 27. Gen. Beauregard, 
as a dashing commander, was ordered to 
take charge of the confederate Army of 
the West, after the disastrous battle of 
Mill Spring. 

1862. Jan. 31. Foote's Flotilla. 
A naval armament of twelve gunboats, 
seven of which were ironclad, carrying 
one hundred and twenty-six heavy guns, 
was fitted out at St. Louis by the last of 
January, to cooperate with the Army of 
the West. Flag-officer A. H. Foote of 
the national navy, was put in command. 



570 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



1862. Feb. 6. Capture of Fort 
Henry. The bold strike of Gen. 
Thomas so paralyzed the confederates 
that they practically abandoned their 
line of defense east of Bowling Green, 
and strengthened the line westward. It 
also inspired the Union forces, so that it 
was concluded to consolidate the armies 
of Halleck and Buell in one grand attack 
on the enemy's principal strongholds. 
These were Island No. lo in the Missis- 
sippi, Columbus, Fort Henry, and Fort 
Donelson. Gen. Thomas pushed on 
toward Cumberland Gap, after the battle 
of Mill Spring, on a pretended invasion 
of Tennessee, in order to draw forces 
from Buell's front. Johnston ordered a 
large force from Bowling Green to 
check the movement, when Thomas re- 
treated, having accomplished his purpose.. 
Grant was delegated to command the 
expedition against Fort Henry. The 
fort was armed with rifle-pits on each 
side, and seventeen heavy guns, twelve 
of which could sweep the river. Foote 
movxd up the Tennessee to within twelve 
miles of the fort on Feb. 2d, convoying 
the troops on transports. Hidden torpe- 
does were fished out of the river by 
scouts, and two gunboats were sent for- 
ward to scour the woods for batteries. 
On the 6th the fleet moved to the attack, 
commencing a bombardment, while one 
of the divisions of the army, under 
McClernand, moved around to intercept 
a retreat to Fort Donelson. A heavy 
rain swelled the streams, and prevented 
this movement. The gunboats reduced 
the fort in less than an hour, and the 
enti-enched fled to Fort Donelson. A 
hundred artillerists and their guns were 
the fruits of the victory. 

1862. Feb. 7-8. Burnside's Expedi- 
tion against Roanoke Island. About 



the middle of January one hundred war 
vessels, transports, and gunboats, carry- 
ing sixteen thousand New England 
troops, under Gen. Burnside, set sail for 
parts unknown. On the voyage a ter- 
rible storm off Cape Hatteras wrecked a 
fine steamer, a gunboat, four transports,^ 
and a floating battery. The loss was 
four hundred barrels of powder, fifteen 
hundred rifles, eight hundred shells, and 
a large amount of supplies; but no lives. 
Roanoke Island was the destination. 
This was the key to all the important 
water communication of North Carolina ; 
but the sti'ong confederate batteries, 
covering vShallowbag Bay and Croatan 
Sound, had to be beaten down. At 
eleven o'clock on the yth of Februar}-, 
this work commenced. Fort Barlow 
and its batteries soon fell, and at mid- 
night the troops were landed. An attack 
was made early next morning, as the 
men were without shelter from the cold 
and rain during the night. There were 
only twenty-five hundred confederates in 
the entrenchments, but they held fast till 
the federal ammunition was exhausted,, 
when the latter made an irresistible 
bayonet charge. The onset was gal- 
lantly withstood for a time, but the over- 
whelming numbers of the federals soon 
forced the assailed to surrender. The 
confederates lost about three thousand 
prisoners, one hundred and forty-three 
killed and wounded, and forty-two large 
caliber guns. The federal loss was two 
hundred and seventy-two. 

1862. Feb. 9. Capture of Elizabeth 
City. Froni Roanoke the confederate 
flotilla pushed up the Albemarle Sound 
thirty miles to Elizabeth City, where it 
was confronted and destroyed, after a 
severe engagement of thirty minutes 
with CajDt. Rowan's fleet. All the ves- 



1860-186 >.] 

sels but one were burnt oi* captured by 
the federals, with'a loss of only two killed, 
and six wounded. 

1862. Feb. 16. Fort Donelson. 
Having been appointed over the Depart- 
ment of West Tennessee, which included 
all the territory from Cairo to Mississippi, 
Grant concluded to follow up immedi- 
ately the victory at Fort Henry. He 
deployed one of McClernand's brigades 
to hasten toward Fort Donelson, and halt 
within two miles of the place. A large 
part of the remainder of the army were 
convoyed to the fort by Foote's flotilla, 
around by Paducah. The flotilla arrived 
before the land force, and began a cannon- 
ade on the afternoon of the loth. A 
steady stream of shot and shell flowed 
from the gunboats in the river, and the 
batteries in the fort, for an hour and a 
half, v/hen the batteries were silenced. 
They afterward reopened fire with in- 
creased vigor, and compelled the boats to 
withdraw. The land troops, suffering 
from the intense cold, and almost without 
food or shelter, arrived and bivouacked 
that night on the bare ground. At day- 
light the next morning a heavy column 
of rebel infantry poured out upon the 
federal right wing. The terrible onset 
seemed irresistible at first, but, by degrees, 
the confederates were driven back. Grant 
then ordered Smith, with the left, to carry 
the enemy's entrenchments by assault. 
This having been done reinforcements 
were pushed forward, and the point gained 
was soon secured beyond recaptui'e. En- 
couraged by these successes Gen. Wallace 
advanced with the center and again 
pushed back the confederates, who made 
stubborn resistance. Night came on, and 
the fatigued federals slejDt once more on the 
frozen ground. But this did not lessen 
their enthusiasm. At dawn on the i6th 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



571 



everything had been arranged for a 
grand attack, when the confederate gen- 
eral commanding, Buckner, asked for an 
armistice to make'capitulation. Grant re- 
plied, " No terms except unconditional and 
immediate surrender can be acceptable. 
I propose to move immediately on your 
works." Buckner made several excuses, 
and then said that he was " compelled 
to accept the ungenerous and unchival- 
rous terms " which Grant proposed. The 
fort was surrendered with fifteen thou- 
sand prisoners, seventeen heavy guns, 
forty field pieces, and a large amount of 
supplies. The confederate loss in killed, 
wounded, etc., was one thousand two 
hundred and thirty-eight; the federal loss^ 
two thousand eight hvmdred and eighty- 
one. The eflfect was electrical, and the 
foundation of Grant's fame was lain. In 
Europe the confederate faith was shaken 
for the first time. The confederates 
evacuated Columbus and Bowling Green, 
falling liack to Corinth, the great rail- 
road center for Mississippi and Tennessee. 
Their forces were gradually collected here 
under Gens. A. S. Johnston and G. T. 
Beauregard. Grant was put in com- 
mand of the Union army, which ascended 
the Tennessee to Pittsburgh Landing, 
and Buell was ordered to his assistance. 
Kentucky and Tennessee were now lost 
to the confederates, the federals having 
taken possession. 



1862. Feb. 16. Nashville Panic. 

On the evening of the day on which 
Fort Donelson surrendered, the news was 
received at Nashville like an earthquake. 
Evacuation commenced at once, to make 
way for the victorious tread of the federal 
army. Stores were thrown open for the 
public to carry out goods, and bank vaults 
were immediately emptied. Emigra- 



572 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



tion to Chattanooga began with incredi- 
ble speed. Hack hire rose to twenty-five 
doHars an hour. The great Tennessee 
Iro'i Works ^vere destroyed, and other 
similar institutions followed the same fate. 
When Buell entered the place, all was 
desolation. 

1862. Feb. 21. The War in New Mex- 
ico. Twent3'-thrce hundred Texas Rang- 
ers, under Col. H. H. Sibley, invaded this 
territory. Several skirmishes were made, 
the greatest one at Valverde, where two 
thousand federals were defeated with a 
loss of two hundred. The Texans' loss 
was about the same, but the invasion 
was checked. 

1862. Feb. 25. Expedition to New 
Orleans. At the beginning of the ^-ear 
E. M. Stanton, the new secretary of 
War, and Gen. Butler, planned an expe- 
dition against New Orleans. By strenu- 
ous efforts Butler raised thirteen thousand, 
seven hundred men. This force was 
organized as the Department of the Gulf, 
with Gen. Butler at its head. It em- 
barked on the 35th of February and 
arrived at its destination a month later, 
rendezvousing on Ship Island, where 
Capt. D. G. Farragut was stationed with 
the navy. The army and navy remained 
there sometime after taking Biloxi and 
Pass Christian, before preparations for 
the siege and captui'e of New Orleans 
w'ere completed. 

1862. Feb. 25. Price's Exit from 
Missouri. Price having thought that he 
was out of immediate danger, had gone 
into winter quarters at Springfield, sta- 
tioning pickets twelve miles north, Ilal- 
leck concentrated his forces at Lebanon, 
under Gen. S. R. Curtis, and thereupon 
Price moved farther south, closely fol- 
lowed by Curtis. By successive skir- 
mishes and manoeuvers, Price was driven 



as far as Cove Creek on the 35th, so that 
Missouri was freed from the secessionists' 
armies. 

1862. Feb. 28. Florida and Georgia 
Expeditions. Having organized an ex- 
peditiini against Fort Pulaski, Commo- 
dore Dupont and General H. G. Wright, 
who had succeeded Gen. W. T. Sher- 
man, left Port Royal, their base of oper- 
ations, on an expedition against the forts 
on the Florida and Georgia coasts. 
Fernandina, Fort Clinch, Jacksonville, 
Darien, and St. Augustine, fell by easy 
victories to them. After garrisoning 
these forts they returned. The Union 
flag now waved over the entire Atlantic 
coast, except INIobile, Charleston, and 
Savannah. 

1862. Feb. 28. Confederate Priva- 
teers. The confederates were assisted 
by British privateers manned by confed- 
erate crews, under the commission issued 
by Davis, early in 1S61. One of these, 
the Nashville, became famous near the 
close of the 3-ear for the number of 
American vessels she had destroyed. 
But her career was closed by destruction 
on this date, after a death struggle with 
the IMontauk, Capt. Worden. 

1862. March 7. Battle of Pea 
Ridge, Mo. While the nation's flag was 
being planted in Tennessee and Ken- 
tucky, affairs in Arkansas were approach- 
ing a last great effort by the confederates 
to regain Missouri. The armies of Price, 
Van Dorn, McCulloch and Pike, were 
consolidated, making a total of about 
twentv-five thousand men, of whom two 
or three thousand were half-civilized In- 
dians. Van Dorn, as the most skillful 
and energetic general, took the chief 
command. Gen. Curtis' force was only 
eleven thousand, with fortv pieces of 
artillery. Van Dorn encamped in the 



1860-1863,1 

Boston Mountains till the 5th of March, 
when he made a vigorous march toward 
the federal forces at Sugar Creek, near 
Pea Ridge. In the afternoon federal 
scouts came in with the startling infor- 
mation that the enemy was approaching 
in large force. Curtis prepared a bold 
front for Van Dorn, but the latter moved 
around by Fayetteville in order to attack 
the federal rear, cut off their resources, 
and capture the whole army. The fed- 
eral scouts again betrayed the enemy's 
plan, and Sigel hastily conducted his train 
of supplies to Bentonville. On the morn- 
ing of the 7th Van Dorn had the situa- 
tion arranged to his desii'e. But Curtis 
rapidly changed fronts, and Van Dorn 
pushed forward in a terrible assault, only 
to be driven back with fearful loss. 
Again the confederates broke forward, 
only to meet with a second bloody re- 
pulse; but not without leaving their 
mark on the union lines. The struggle 
continued till dark, but was indecisive. 
The federal left was successful, but the 
right was compelled to retire slowly from 
a murderous charge of the Arkansas 
troops. A fierce artillery duel, in the 
afternoon, had a telling effect on both 
armies. During the night the confeder- 
ates succeeded in placing several batteries 
and large bodies of infantry on the side 
of a hill overlooking the federal lines 
from the north. If the confederates 
could hold their new position, the victory 
would be theirs. At sunrise Carr opened 
upon the hill with his batteries, while 
Sigel advanced with the infantry. Sigel 
succeeded in getting a position well to the 
front, under cover of thirty pieces of 
artillery, which were discharged with 
fatal accuracy upon the opposing bat- 
teries. After an incessant flow of tw^o 
hours, the iron hail from the federal s^uns 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



573 



became unendurable. The crowded 
ranks of the enemy were scattered, their 
artillery horses mown down, and the In- 
dians, made wild by the roar of battle 
and the sight of guns on wheels, became 
unmanageable. An infantry charge 
along the federal center and left, and a 
cross fire from the right, routed the con- 
federates, who fled in dismay down the 
narrow defiles of cross timber, pursued 
by cavalry. Thus ended one of the 
hardest fought battles, and most brilliant 
successes of the war. The loss to the 
confederates was two thousand; to the 
federals, about fourteen hundred. Price 
and Van Dorn fled into Tennessee, join- 
ing Beauregard at Memphis, while 
Curtis retired to Springfield. 

1862. March 8. Bell-metal for 
Cannon. Confederate artillery and iron 
became so scarce that Gen. Beauregard 
made a touching and sympathetic appeal 
to the people of the confederacy to follow 
the example of ancient nations, and bring" 
forth their bells and scraps of old iron 
for the purpose of making more heavy 
guns. The response was liberal. A 
New Yorker, impressed into the con- 
federate service, says: "Every church 
gave up its bell; courthouses, factories, 
public institutions, and j^kmtations, sent 
theirs. The people furnished large 
quantities of old brass of every descrip- 
tion — andirons, candlesticks, gas fixtures, 
and even door knobs. I have seen 
wagon-loads of these lying at depots 
waiting shipment to the foundries." 

MERRIMAG TlXD MONITOR. 

1862. March 9. The most hotly 
contested naval battle ever fought took 
place between the Merrimac and Moni- 
tor, in Hampton Roads. When the con- 
federates captured the navy yard at Nor- 



574 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



folk, the Menimac, which was the finest 
vessel in the yard, was scuttled and sunk. 
She was afterward raised, and fitted up 
with a sloping roof of interlapped I'ail- 
road iron, and an immense iron beak, so 
that she greatly resembled a huge house 
sunk in water to the eaves. Ironclad 
rams had done such effective work in the 
West, that the confederates concluded to 
try something on a grander scale for the 
total destruction of the United States 
navy. The result of their effort was 
the Merrimac. But this unconquerable 
monster had a contemporary in the 
*' Yankee cheese-box," as it was called 
by the confederates. This was the fa- 
mous Monitor. It was known that the 
Merrimac was building, and steps were 
taken by the government for the con- 
struction of a rival. Several plans for 
ironclad vessels were presented, but only 
three were accepted. Among these was 
one by Capt. John Ericsson. The 
government agreed to appropriate $275,- 
000 toward its construction, provided the 
vessel worked successfully. The Moni- 
tor was a hull, with a deck eighteen 
inches above water, covered with two- 
inch wrought iron plates on the top, and 
six-inch plates on the sides. It carried 
two eleven-inch guns in a round tower, 
twenty feet in diameter, and ten feet high, 
inclosed by a nine-inch covering of 
wrought iron. This tower revolved by 
steam, so that the guns could be trained 
upon an enemy, in any direction, making 
it the most formidable war vessel ever 
built. It was to be ready by the middle 
of January ; but the contractors were 
delayed forty days. The Merrimac ap- 
peared in Hampton Roads a little before 
noon on the 8th of March. She passed 
the heavy Union batteries, fearing their 
shot and shell no more than drops of rain. 



and made for the sloop of war Cumber- 
land, which she sunk by one stab from 
her great beak. The guns of the Cum- 
berland played vigorously upon her, but 
the shells glanced off, and fell harm- 
lessly into the water. The next victim 
was the Congress, which was forced to 
surrender. The wounded of this vessel 
were removed, and she was fired. It 
was now evening, and the Merrimac 
returned to Norfolk, confident of an easy 
victory over the remainder of the Union 
fleet the following day. That night the 
long looked-for Monitor appeared, and 
in the light of the burning Congress, ran 
up to the Minnesota, which was to be 
attacked by the Merrimac. Early on 
Sunday morning, the 9th, the Merrimac 
returned to finish her conquest. She 
bore down upon the Minnesota, and 
poured in a destructive broadside, when 
suddenly an unexpected little antagonist 
darted out to oppose the monster. Now 
began the terrible iron-clad duel. The 
participants were so close together that 
the fiery tongues of the opposing guns 
were interwoven. The Merrimac poured 
forth masses of iron weighing two hvm- 
dred pounds ; but these were smashed 
on the " cheese-box," and fell back on the 
deck of the Monitor like balls of soft 
clay. However, the pilot-house of the 
Monitor was struck twice with such vio- 
lence by the pi'ojectiles from the Merri- 
mac that some cement was shivered, 
striking Capt. Worden in the face. He 
was blinded for several days, and at one 
time his life was despaired of. The 
Merrimac was struck two or three times 
in the port-holes, by some well-aimed 
shots, and considerably disabled. She 
then turned her attention to the Minne- 
sota, which she fired by a few broad- 
sides. But the Monitor again interfered. 



1860-1863.] 

and she drew off. The Monitor pur- 
sued some distance, when the Merrimac 
turned and tried to run her down with 
her iron prow, which grated harshly 
over the Monitor's deck, giving the 
Merrimac the worst of the blow. After 
another desj^erate encounter, in v\^hich 
the heavy armor of the Merrimac was 
pierced, the Monitor retired a short dis- 
tance to draw up ammunition, when the 
Merrimac steamed off for Norfolk, with 
the utmost respect for her devoted antag- 
onist, which returned to Fortress Mon- 
roe. This battle cannot be over-esti- 
mated. It gave the death - knell of 
wooden war vessels, and brought a new 
era in the navy of the world. Had the 
Monitor failed to appear, the Merrimac 
would without doubt have captured 
all the sea-board towns on the 
Atlantic coast to Newfoundland, and 
perhaps destroyed the entire United 
States navy. 

1862. March 10. The Immobility 
of the Army of the Potomac created 
such uneasiness at the North, that 
President Lincoln found it necessary to 
order a movement toward Richmond. 
When McClellan proceeded down the 
river on the loth, on a flank movement, 
leaving an ample force to defend the 
capital, the confederates evacuated Ma- 
nassas. McClellan turned his course in 
that direction, but returned to Alexandria 
the following day, thus completing his 
circuit. 

1862. March 13. Capture of New 
Madrid. Having evacuated Columbus, 
the confederates strengthened their garri- 
sons at New Madrid, Island No. lo, and 
at the Great Bend of the Mississippi. 
Halleck stalled Pope down the river 
with a large force and eight guns to dis- 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 
lodsfe them 



575 

Pope arrived at New 
Madrid on the 3d of March; but finding 
the place ably defended, sent to Cairo for 
heavier guns, which came a few days 
later. The garrisoned troops, whose 
numbers had been increased to nine 
thousand, continued to strengthen their 
position on land, while Hollins, who had 
come up from New Orleans with his 
flotilla, prepared for the defense from the 
river. On the morning of the 13th Pope 
opened fire upon the gunboats and re- 
doubts. The guns of the enemy promptly 
answered, and the artillery duel was kept 
up all day. That night, in a fearful 
thunderstorm, the besieged took a speedy 
flight, leaving thirty-three cannon, several 
thousand stand of arms, a large quantit}- 
of ammunition, all their tents, and a 
number of horses and wagons. The 
next morning Pope entered, and took 
possession. 

1862. March 14. Battle of New 
Berne, N. C. While Pope was winning 
an easy victory in the West, Rurnside 
took an important step toward the seizure 
of Richmond. This was the possession 
of North Carolina's extensive water com- 
munication. Eager to increase his con- 
quest, Burnside embarked on the i3th of 
March with twelve thousand troops on 
transports, accompanied by gunboats, to 
capture Ne\y Berne, a commanding port 
on the Neuse River. Under cover of a 
brisk cannonade from the gunboats. Burn- 
side landed his troops and -drove the con- 
federates from their entrenchments. On 
their flight the confederates burned the 
bridge over the Trent, thus preventing 
immediate pursuit. The federal loss in 
this battle was about six hundred, killed 
and wounded. The confederate loss was 
considerably less, including two hundred 
prisoners. 



576 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



1862. March 23. Battle of Kerns- 
town. Late in February Gen. Banks 
sent a force to re-occupy Harper's Ferry, 
also Charleston and Leesburg. After 
Stonewall Jackson evacuated Manassas 
he retired uj) the Shenandoah, followed 
by Shields. On the 23d of March 
Shields overtook and defeated him at 
Kernstown, inflicting a considerable loss. 
But Jackson had reinforcements at hand, 
and Shields did not dare to press the 
pursuit. 

1862. April 1. Removal of the 
Army of the Potomac to Fortress 
Monroe. The savage naval duel be- 
tween the Merj'iniac and ^lonitor put a 
new phase on affaii's at Washington. 
The capital was relieved of what seemed 
to be a protracted siege. In obedience 
to the decision of a council of war, Gen. 
McClellan changed his base of operations 
against Richmond to Fortress Monroe. 
Twenty thousand men, under Gen. 
Wadsworth, were left for the defense of 
the capital. McClellan's force was re- 
duced to one hundred and twenty thou- 
sand, besides Gen. Wool's force. 

1862. April 6-7. Battle of Shiloh, 
or Pittsburgh Landing. After the battle 
of Fort Donelson, Grant determined to 
get possession of the railroads that com- 
municated with the East, and ultimately 
open the Mississippi to the Gulf. Corinth 
vi^as the center of the great railroads 
which he intended to siege, and therefore 
his first objective point. The confeder- 
ate army at this place did not exceed 
eleven thousand efTective men. These 
he determined to capture before they 
could be reinforced; but the jealous Hal- 
leck caused a delay by trying to relieve 
him of his command. A portion of 
Foote's flotilla had been sent from Fort 
Donelson to Pittsburgh Landing, on the 



Tennessee, and Gen. C. F. Smith had 
advanced to this place, disposing his 
troops in a manner to deceive an ap- 
proaching enemy. On either side of the 
river were scrub oak forests reaching far 
back over gentle elevations. By easy 
marches Buell advanced from Nashville 
toward Corinth, to cooperate with Grant.. 
The full force of the latter was about 
thirty-three thousand. Meantime John- 
ston and Beauregard were vigorously at 
work fortifying their position. They 
strained every nerve to raise and disci- 
pline an army strong enough to face the 
storm that was brewing. Price antl 
Van Dorn, from Arkansas, joined them,, 
and by great exertions their army was 
increased to forty thousand. Johnston 
resolved to attack Grant at Pittsburgh 
Landing before he could be joined by 
Buell. The army advanced slowh', 
owing to inclement weather and bad 
roads. After two days' weary travel 
thev arrived in front of the federal army 
on Saturday night, April 5th. The dash 
and daring of Johnston were soon to be 
joined against the firmness and determi- 
nation of Grant, in a death struggle for 
victory. At dawn the next morning, a 
Sabbath too calm and bright to be broken 
by battle, the confederates came swarm- 
ing out of the woods, rushed back the 
pickets, and thoroughly surprised the 
federal camp. Many of the federal sol- 
diers were at breakfast, some were only 
half-dressed, and the officers particularly, 
were not up yet. But lines were soon 
formed, regiments and brigades rapidly 
brought into position, and guns brought 
to bear upon the enemy, while Shei'man's 
division, on a ridge in the rear, gallantly 
withstood the onslaught. Against these 
newly formed lines the confederates 
hurled themselves with tremendous force. 



1860-1862.] 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



577 



The federals wavered, but mustering 
new courage, repulsed the enemy. Again 
and again the confederates rushed for- 
ward, with greater violence than ever. 
Unable to withstand these terrible as- 
saults, the federals fell slowly back, ob- 
stinately disputing every inch of ground 
over which they passed. Thus the con- 
flict raged for twelve hours, when the 
federals were pushed to the very brink of 
the river. Things were becoming des- 
perate. The federals had lost their camp 
and baggage, and now the whole army 
was about to be cut up in detail. Grant 
massed his artillery on a ridge, and about 
it gathered the fragments of regiments 
for the final stand. To approach this 
the confederates had to cross a deep and 
miry ravine. The shells from the gun- 
boats in the river now ploughed through 
the confederate i-anks with fearful slaugh- 
ter, and they were soon melted away by 
the deadly discharges of artillery and 
musketry from above. They fell back, 
and thus ended the day's fight. That 
night, in the midst of a drenching rain, 
Buell's army arrived. Eai^ly in the 
morning the fresh troops were poured on 
the weary confederates, who were put to 
flight after some heavy fighting. The 
rain ended in a cutting sleet and hail 
storm, which caused the death of more 
than three hundred of Beauregard's men 
on the retreat to Corinth. Thus ended 
in a victory for the national arms, one of 
the hardest-fought battles of the ^var. 
The confederate loss was about eleven 
thousand, including their greatest com- 
mander, A. S. Johnston, who fell in the 
heat of the action in the afternoon of the 
first day. The federal loss was about 
thirteen thousand, including three thou- 
sand prisoners, besides their camp, thirty 
flags, and an immense quantity of stores. 



1862. April 7. Surrender of Island 
No. 10. It has been seen that the con- 
federates garrisoned Island No. lo and 
New Madrid, after their sti"ong line of 
forts through Kentucky and Tennessee 
had vanished like a mist. The Island 
was a place of remarkable strength. 
Foote succeeded in running his ironclad 
fleet past the batteries that lined the 
shores above, and bombarded the place 
for three weeks, with but little effect. 
Pope, who had brought his army up 
from New Madrid, was held in check 
below, by a powerful battery on the 
opposite shore. He begged Foote to 
run the gauntlet, and send him a gun- 
boat ; but this could not be done. At 
this critical time Gen. Hamilton sug- 
gested a way out of the dilemma. The 
suggestion was put into practice ; and 
two weeks of incessant labor by the 
whole army completed a canal fifty feet 
wide and twelve miles long, across 
Donald's Point. The gunboats and 
transports were run down the canal, and 
a combined attack by the army and 
navy of the West was about to be made, 
when the confederates abandoned the 
Island, and fled into the swamps east of 
the river. Here they were forced to 
capitulate. Over seven thousand officers 
and men were surrendered, besides more 
than a hundred heavy siege guns, twenty- 
five field-pieces, and a large amount of 
munitions of war in general. New 
Orleans and other cities along the Missis- 
sippi were now exposed to capture, as 
the bulk of the confederate armv was 
concentrated at Corinth. 

1862. April 11. Mitchell's Cavalry 
Raid through Mississippi. While the 
contending armies were struggling at 
Shiloh, Gen. Mitchell conducted a con- 
federate cavalry raid through Tennessee 



578 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



and Mississippi. He captured the town 
of Iluntsville, on the Memphis and 
Charleston Railway, with one hundred 
and sixty prisoners, a large amount of 
supplies, and one hundred and seventeen 
locomotives and passenger coaches. He 
seized the railway for several miles, and 
at one time had possession of about fifty 
miles of the Tennessee. 

1862. April 12. Capture of Fort 
Pulaski. In February preparations were 
made by the occupants of Port Royal 
for an expedition up the Savannah. The 
object of this was the capture of Fort 
Pulaski, which would seal that river to 
the English blockade runners. By the 
9th of April everything was in readiness, 
and the army and navy set sail, com- 
manded by Capt. Davis and Gen. Gill- 
more. On their arrival batteries to the 
number of thirty-six guns were erected, 
and the siege begun. Three days of 
almost continuous thunder and shock 
wore away, when the fort surrendered. 
The loss to the besieged was forty heavy 
guns, and a quantity of ammunition. The 
human loss was one on each side. 

WAR FPOX MEXICO. 

1862. April 16. War was declared 
upon Mexico by France. Although 
Spain and England had submitted their 
claims to negotiations, and withdrawn 
their troops, France refused to do so. 



1862. April 19. Battle of South 
Mills. A detachment of four thousand 
under Gen. Reno, was sent out from 
Port Royal, after the capture of Pulaski, 
to scour the shores of Albemarle Sound, 
threaten Norfolk from the rear, and 
assist in the capture of Fort Macon that 
was soon to follow. The troops were 
conveyed in transports up the Pasquo- 



tank, and landed near Elizabeth City. 
A reconnoitering party was put out, but 
was misled, and the presence of the entire 
force betrayed to the enemv, who pre- 
pared to meet the federals at South 
Mills. Though the confederates were 
timely warned, and had the choice of 
position, the federals swooped down 
upon them in overwhelming numbers, 
and defeated them with considerable loss. 
Gen. Reno remained here for some time. 
Burnside's army of sixteen thousand was 
scattered promiscuously over that part of 
the state, so as to occupy the strongest 
places. Affairs rested in this manner 
until in July, when Burnside withdrew, 
to reinforce the Army of the Potomac. 
The national army held the coast the 
remainder of the year ; but notwithstand- 
ing the vigilant squadrons, the English 
blockade runners still continued to feed 
the confederates. 

1862. April 25. Capture of New- 
Orleans. Gen. Mansfield Lovell, who 
held the command of this city, made 
most ample provision for its defence. 
The strongest fortifications were Forts 
Jackson and St. Phillip. At the former 
place was a stupendous iron chain 
stretched across the river, supported by 
buoys of cypress logs, and guarded by a 
powerful battery on each side of the 
river. The fort at this place was origi- 
nally built by the national government, 
and cost over a million dollars. It was 
capable of sheltering six hundred men, 
and mounting one hundred and fifty 
guns. The federal fleet was the most 
powerful ever assembled under the stars 
and stripes; but the object of attack w^as 
deemed so impregnable that no uneasi- 
ness was felt by the inmates, when the 
siege began. The fleet consisted of eight 
steamships, sixteen gunboats, and twenty- 



1860-1862 .J 

one mortar vessels, carrying two hundred 
and eighty-six guns. Butler was at 
Southwest Pass with nine thousand 
troops, read}^ to cooperate with tlie fleet. 
On the 17th Porter disguised a number 
of mortars, and ran them up to within 
three thousand yards of Fort Jackson. 
On the following day he commenced a 
fierce bombardment, which lasted for six 
days. The fort was terribly shaken by 
this, but was still sufficiently strong to 
withstand all attempts at capture. Not- 
withstanding the numerous fire-rafts 
placed above the chain. Porter resolved 
to push up the river past the fort. A gap 
having been made in the great barrier 
across the river early in the morning of 
the 24th, the vessels had nearly passed 
the fort, when they were discovered. 
They now had to endure the tremendous 
discharges from the fort, and face the 
confederate flotilla. This consisted of 
seventeen vessels, including several steam 
rams, among which was the famous 
Manassas. In the battle that followed, 
this boat, with eleven other confederate 
vessels, was totally destroyed. The fed- 
eral vessels were also greatly damaged, 
but the victory was theirs. Duncan sur- 
rendered the forts, alleging that he was 
compelled to do so on account of the 
mutiny of the garrisons, which were 
made up mostly of northern men. The 
usual work of destruction accompanied 
the surrender. Cotton to the amount of 
one and a half million dollars, and a large 
amount of other merchandise, was fired. 
Lovell withdrew his forces to relieve the 
city from bombardment, and it was thus 
left helpless at the hands of Farragut. 
He entered, planted the national flag, 
and restored peace. The terrified inhabi- 
tants were now compelled to listen to 
national airs, strange music to their ears. 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



579 



1862. April 26. Capture of Fort 
Macon. Shortly after the battle of South 
Mills, Burnside dispatched a force from 
New Berne to capture Fort Macon, N. C. 
The fort was guarded by eighty-nine 
guns, and garrisoned by five hundred 
confederates. Besides these, numerous 
shore batteries were erected. On the 
25th the troops opened fire upon the fort, 
in conjunction with thi-ee steamers and a 
bark. The cannonade was kept up all 
day. The next morning capitulation was 
made, the prisoners being allowed the 
honors of war. The possession of this 
place aflforded entrance for supply steam- 
ers which could not get o\er the bar at 
Hatteras Inlet. 

1862. April 27. Advance on Cor- 
inth. The Army of the Tennessee was 
increased to over one hundi-ed thousand, 
with Grant second in command. On 
this date Halleck moved forward toward 
Corinth, having delayed several days, 
contrary to the wishes of Gen. Grant, 
who had made preparation for immedi- 
ately following up the victory at Shiloh, 
while Beauregard was yet weak and dis- 
heartened. Beauregard was thus given 
time to reinforce and reorganize his 
army. Thus the confederate general 
augmented his force to sixty-five thousand 
men, whom he drilled till they were the 
best troops in the confederacy. 

1862. May 3. Evacuation of York- 
town. It was all-important that McClel- 
lan should move upon Magruder, who 
still held his position at Yorktown, on 
the Peninsula, before advancing on John- 
ston at Richmond. Magruder had only 
eleven thousand men, but he greatly 
deceived McClellan by these. In reality 
McClellan had only five thousand to 
oppose, as Magruder had posted six thou- 
sand in a line of forts along the Warwick 



580 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



River. All this time the General-in -chief 
■was pre^Daring for a regular siege. By 
this time a confederate council of war 
decided to evacuate Yorktown as a place 
inadequate for defense, and retire to 
Williamsburg. 

1862. May 5. Battle of Williams- 
burg. McClellan immediately took pos- 
session of Yorktown, and a vigorous pur- 
suit of the confederates was begun by 
General Stoneman, with the cavalry, 
followed by Gens. Hooker, " Fighting 
Joe," and Philip Kearney, with their re- 
spective divisions. With the entire Army 
of the Potomac not far from the advance. 
Hooker determined to press the retreat- 
ing army. At half-past seven o'clock, on 
the morning of the 5th, a battle was 
commenced. Several times the confeder- 
ates launched fierce charges on Hooker's 
center, but they were forced to recoil 
each time, once taking with them three 
hundred prisoners and five guns. Hooker 
called repeatedly for help, but none was 
afforded him; and heavy rains having 
swollen the streams, and having rendered 
the roads marshy, the supplies had not 
yet arrived. The contest was kept up 
in this one-sided manner till five o'clock 
in the afternoon, when Hooker's ammu- 
nition began to fail. Kearney's division 
now came up, and Hooker's was drawn 
off for a rest, as a reserve. After an at- 
tempt to flank the enemy, Hancock 
ordered a bayonet charge, which was 
promptly executed. The effect was de- 
cisive. The confederate left fled precipi- 
tately, w^ith a loss of over fiv^e hundred; 
and the fight soon ceased all along the 
lines. The entire federal loss was two 
thousand, two hundred, of whom four 
hundred were killed. The confederates 
lost about one thousand. The following 
day McClellan moved in and occupied 



Williamsburg, in force, while Johnston 
was allowed to retire to the opposite 
shore of the Chickahominy. 

1862. May 8. The victorious 
tread of the federal hosts toward Rich- 
mond caused the confederate congress to 
be hastily adjourned, and a concentration 
of troops, instead. At Richmond every- 
thing was a panic, while Washington 
was relieved. To turn the attention of 
the federal chiefs from the confederate 
capital, Johnston ordered Jackson, who 
had about fifteen thousand men in the 
Shenandoah, to make a demonstration 
toward Washington. McDonald, with a 
force of thirty thousand from the Depart- 
ment of the Rappahannock, was ordered 
to join McClellan. Fremont was in the 
mountains with fifteen thousand troops, 
and Banks before Jackson, with about the 
saine number. The federal troops aimed 
at the capture of Staunton, which would 
give the Union armies control of the en- 
tire valley. Jackson left Ewell to watch 
Banks, and then hurried to intercept the 
junction of the federal detachments. 
Milroy then fell back to McDowell,, 
thirty-six miles west of Staunton. Mean- 
time Jackson stole around, and oa the 
8th drew up his force on a ridge com- 
inanding the federal camp. Milroy 
made a desperate attempt to dislodge 
him, but failed after five hours' heav}' 
fighting, which ended at dark. 

1862. May 10. Capture of Norfolk. 
Gen. Wool, who had refused to cooper- 
ate with McClellan, finally consented tO' 
move on Norfolk, and thus aid in break- 
ing up the blockade in the James River. 
Huger had orders from the confederate 
chief to evacuate Norfolk on the first 
demonstration of the federals toward the 
place. Wool pushed up the river and 
bombarded Sewell's Point, which was 



1860-1862.] 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



581 



soon reduced. Farther up he met with 
some opposition, but this was cleared by 
tlie approach of artillery, and he went on 
i8(i2. May I. toward Norfolk unimpeded. 

Inler.ationalex. ^^ j^^ approachcd he WaS 
Jnbition at Lon- ^^ 

don opened. met by the mayor with a 

flag of truce. The town was surrendered, 
and the capture thus effected without the 
loss of a sing-le life. Before Hujrer fled 
he fired the navy yard, and exploded the 
Merrimac ; but he left about two hundred 
cannon to the victorious Wool. 

1862. May 10. Battle of Fort 
Pillow. Shortly after the battle of Fort 
Donelson, Foote moved back to the 
Mississippi, sending part of his flotilla to 
Shiloh. Meantime the confederate fleet 
was fitted out with armored vessels, called 
'•'• rams," finished with long iron prows. 
This fleet now challenged its enemy to a 
test. A battle immediately followed, and 
the fort opened fire. Several of the fed- 
eral vessels were badly damaged, but the 
confederate fleet was worsted, and again 
forced back to the fort. Three weeks 
passed while the two fleets lay watching 
each other. Finally, Davis was . rein- 
forced by a " ram " flotilla. But Hollins 
now fled down the river. 

1862. May 15. Attack on Drewry's 
Bluflf. At the head of a fleet of five 
vessels. Com. John Rodgers followed 
Huger up the James from Norfolk. He 
came in contact with a formidable bat- 
tery at Drewry's Bluff, two hundred feet 
high, and after a severe combat of three 
hours, on the morning of the 15th of 
May, was compelled to withdi'av\\ His 
loss was twenty-seven; that of the bat- 
tery, fifteen. 

1862. May 15. Butler's "Woman 
Order." The manner and speech of the 
New Orleans " ladies " in the presence of 
Union officers and soldiers, became so 



offensive, and their insults became so 
gross, that Gen. Butler found it necessary 
to issue his famous " Woman Order." 
The soldiers had treated the women with 
gi^eat courtesy and gentleness, but received 
repeated insults in return. The conduct 
of the women was most disgraceful. 
The order declared that any female who 
" shall, by word, gesture, or movement, 
insult, or show contempt for, anv ofiicer 
or soldier of the United States, shall be 
regarded and held liable to be treated as 
a woman of the town plying her voca- 
tion." The order had the desired effect. 
After a few arrests of boisterous men, in- 
cluding the mayor, the wonted peace was 
restored. 

1862. May 21. Army Medical 
Museum. A circular was issued to all 
army surgeons, requesting them to pre- 
serve and forward for a museum all speci- 
mens of morbid anatomy which would be 
valuable; also everything relating to 
death or injuiy by war, and disease in 
camp. This is the origin of the present 
valuable collection in Ford's Theater, 
Washington, D. C. 

1862. May 25. Battle ofWinehester. 
After Schenck retreated from McDowell, 
Banks began a precipitate retreat from 
vStrasburg toward the Potomac, Ewell 
closely followed, and caught the federal 
rear guard at Front Royal, overtaking 
the entire army at Winchester. An en- 
gagement of five hours followed, imme- 
diately. Ewell had twenty thousand 
men, and Banks five thousand; but the 
latter maintained his position so deter- 
minately that it was necessary to add 
Jackson's force to Ewell's. Banks then 
continued his retreat with renewed en- 
ergy. He was pursued closely to Mar- 
tinsburg, but reached the Potomac River 
in safety. 



582 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



1862. May 27. Battle of Hanover 
Court House. McClellan still had his 
base of supplies at White House Land- 
ing. Skirmishers and light infantry had 
pushed the confederates back to within 
seven miles of Richmond. McClellan 
sent a part of Fitz-John Porter's corps 
to Hanover Court House to protect 
the right flank of the main army, and 
keep an opening for the reception of 
McDowell's troops, which he expected 
hourly. Porter arrived at the Court House 
about noon on the 27th, having routed a 
confederate force about two miles from 
there. Martindale, with a part of his 
brigade, keenly pursued the confederates 
beyond Peake's Station. While return- 
ing he was attacked by a force fresh from 
Richmond. Porter hastened from the 
Court House to his assistance, and a 
sharp fight followed. The confederates 
fell rapidly back, leaving a howitzer, a 
caisson, some small arms, and two rail- 
Avay trains, with two hundred men dead 
on the field. Their total loss of killed, 
wounded, and prisoners, was over one 
thousand. The federal loss was three 
hundred and fifty. 

1862. May 30. Evacuation of Cor- 
inth. When Halleck arrived before 
Corinth, Beauregard, finding himself 
greatly outnumbered, began to remove 
the sick and wounded to Mobile. Fol- 
lowing these, he sent the most valuable 
stores, with nearly all of the ordnance ; 
and finally a number of his most efiicient 
troops were removed. Halleck prepared 
for a battle early on the morning of the 
30th. But at dawn of the appointed 
morning, when the federals were ready 
for battle, they found that Beauregard 
had fled, leaving ashes and desolation in 
his wake. When Halleck entered, nothing 
was left of Corinth but smouldering ruins. 



1862. May 31-June 1. Battle of 
Fair Oaks. McClellan's vast army was 
lying on both sides of the Chickahominy, 
which a heavy rain-storm had raised till 
it flooded the swamps. The energetic 
Johnston seized upon the opportunity to 
cut off the wing on the Richmond side. 
Johnston ordered Longstreet, assisted by 
Hill, with two divisions, to move forward 
and attack the Fair Oaks division at early 
dawn on the 31st of May. Rain delayed 
the attack till noon. The confederates 
advanced in great multitude, and by 
severe fighting and fine manoeuvers, 
seemed to have carried the day. The 
destruction of the whole Union army on 
that side of the river seemed to be certain. 
Fortunately Gen. Sumner had taken the 
jDrecaution to construct a bridge over the 
overflowmg creek, and flew to the rescue. 
He arrived toward evening, just as the 
federal forces were being separated, as- 
sumed command, and ordered the guns 
to be fired with the great- x^^i. Rnwitm 
est rapidity. The confeder- Greece. 
ates recoiled, with their great com- 
mander seriously wounded. A bayonet 
charge swept them from the field, and 
Couch i-ecaptured all that was lost. 
Darkness closed the contest. Each force 
was now about fifteen thousand, Earlv 
next morning (Sunday, June i) the con- 
federates re-opened the battle, and kept 
it up for three hours, until their munitions 
of war could be removed to Richmond. 
The loss on each side \vas about seven 
thousand. The Army of the Potomac 
still remained on the unhealthy Chicka- 
hominy, evidently preparing to storm 
Richmond, while the confederates were 
concentrating for its defense. 

1862. June 6. Capture of Mem- 
phis. From Fort Pillow Commodore 
Davis steamed down the river to Mem- 



1860-1862.] 

phis, headed by Ellet's ram fleet. All 
that now remained to overcome was the 
confederate fleet in the river. Over this 
Davis and Ellet gained an easy victory, 
causing all the confederate vessels to be 
sunk or abandoned, without sustaining a 
severe loss ; and Gen. Wallace, from 
Grant's army, at once occupied the place 
without resistance. 

1862. June 8. Battle of Cross Keys, 
Va. McDowell, whose force was now 
over forty thousand, crossed into the 
Shenandoah by the Manassas Gap rail- 
way, and with the aid of Fremont, who 
was to join him at Strasburg, attempted 
to cut off Jackson's retreat from near 
Harper's Ferry. Jackson perceived the 
movement, and fled back up the vallev 
with all possible speed. Fremont pressed 
him so closely that he was obliged to 
stop and defend his rear. Fremont 
moved out of Harrisonburg on Sunday 
morning, and attacked Ewell's division 
at Cross Keys. The conflict raged long 
and fiercely. The federals finally with- 
drev\^, and bivouacked where their lines 
had been formed in the morning, while 
the confederates remained on the battle- 
field. At dawn on the following morn- 
ing, Ewell slipped away to aid Jackson 
at Port Republic. 

1862. June 9. Battle of Port Re- 
public. Shields followed Ewell, and 
gallantly attacked him at Fort Republic, 
but was repulsed and driven back five 
miles. Jackson then burned the bridge 
across the Shenandoah, and thus placed 
an impassable river between the two 
armies. This ended the pursuit, and 
Fremont returned to Harrisonburg, in a 
soaking rain. 

1862. June 14. Stuart's Raid on 
the Army of the Potomac. For two 
weeks after the battle of Fair Oaks, the 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



583 



vast Army of the Potomac lay tented 
along the steaming, malarial Chicka- 
hominy, inactive and immovable, while 
its commander reported "All quiet along, 
the Potomac," to the great disgust of 
the public mind. During this time Gen. 
J. E. B. Stuart, with fifteen hundred 
cavalry, made a raid on the army, un- 
equaled in daring. He dispersed two 
squadrons of cavalry, captured one hun- 
di-ed and sixty-five prisoners, several 
horses and mules, and a quantity of sup- 
plies, and returned to Richmond un- 
harmed. But this was only a reconnois- 
sance to the more fiital blow which was 
soon to be dealt by Jackson at Mechanics- 
ville. McClellan was in the meantime 
promising to " advance on Richmond to- 
morrow." 

1862. June 25. Battle of Oak 
Grove. The confederates were embol- 
dened by the inactivity of the army con- 
fronting them, and kept crowding nearer 
and nearer daily ; so that McClellan was 
compelled to move, either forward or 
backward. In prejDaration for a defeat 
he changed his base of suj^plies from 
White House Landing on the York, to 
Harrison Landing on the James. He 
then sent Gen. Heintzleman, to recon- 
noiter the confederate position around 
Fair Oaks. The confederates met 
Heintzleman at Oak Grove, and a short, 
severe fight ensued, resulting in a loss to 
the federals. McClellan now aban- 
doned all hope of moving on Richmond. 

1862. June 26. Battle of Me- 
chanicsville. Preparations to strike the 
federal right were completed on the 2^th. 
Lee ordered Jackson and A. P. Hill to 
make the attack, while Longstreet's corps 
was to remain as a reserve. This left 
only two divisions between McClellan's 
left wing and Richmond. The assailing 

38 



584 



NA TIONA L CRISES. 



party advanced on the 26th, and drove 
in the federal p-ckets, and a hatterj^ 
posted at Mechanicsville. The contest 
lasted until night, when the confederates 
gave up the field as lost. 

1862. June 27. Battle of Gaine's 
Fai'm. Jackson stole around on a flank 
movement from Mechanicsville, and Lee 
attempted to cut McClellan's communi- 
cation with White House Landing. But 
the federal general had secured the re- 
moval of the supplies, and now he began 
a retrograde movement, instead of mov- 
ing immediately on Richmond, where 
there were only twenty-five thousand 
troops for the defence. Porter's corps 
was left behind, and received an attack 
which was made at two o'clock in the 
afternoon by A. P. Hill, of Lee's advance. 
It was bravely withstood until the re- 
mainder of Lee's force, reinforced by 
Jackson and Ewell, came up. Porter, 
though then reinforced by a division 
under Slocum, fell back to the river. 
Two more federal brigades arrived on 
the scene, and rushing eagerly to the 
front, repulsed the enemy, who fell back 
to the field thev had dearly bought at the 
cost of five thousand lives. The federal 
loss was eight thousand, including killed, 
wounded, and prisoners. Porter then 
retired toward Savage Station, burning 
the bridges over the river. 

1862. June 29. Battle of Savage 
Station. Greatly deceived and perplexed 
\\hen he found that his antagonist had 
escaped to the James with his supplies, 
Lee instantly started Huger and Magru- 
der on one flank line, and Longstreet and 
Hill on the other, to intercept the retreat. 
Magruder, who so successfully bluffed 
McClellan at Yorktown, arrived at 
Savage Station just after the federal 
armv had left. Sumner, as he was 



covering the retreat, took a stand, and 
gave Magruder an impromptu check. 
Magi'udcr made another violent attack, 
aided by Huger. Sumner gallantly re- 
pulsed him again, and then followed the 
main army. 

1862. June 30. Battle of Frazier's 
Parm. Jackson followed directly in the 
wake of the retreating army, his passage 
of White Oak Swamps being disputed, 
while Longstreet, accompanied by Lee, 
pushed around by way of Malvern Hills, 
to gain a position on the federal flank. 
The latter movement was easier planned 
than executed, as the sloping sides of that 
great amphitheater was covered by tier 
upon tier of federal batteries. Long- 
street waited till Magruder arrived, and 
then made a dashing charge, receiving a 
bloody repulse, with the loss of two hun- 
dred prisoners. The confederates rallied 
in the woods and made another desperate 
charge, which resulted in a murderous 
hand to hand encounter. At dark rein- 
forcements from Hooker's and Kearney's 
divisons arrived, and the confederates, no 
longer able to endure the slaughter, fell 
back into the woods. That night the 
federals, wearied by the heat and dust of 
the long march, drew off" and joined the 
main army, which was united now for 
the first time since It was separated by 
the Chickahominy. 

1862. July 1. Battle of Malvern 
Hills. Porter's troops were placed on 
Malvern Hills to guard the approach of 
the enemy, either by Malvern Plains or 
White Oak Swamps. Lee concentrated 
his army with the intention of dislodging 
the federals on the plateau. But cooper- 
ation failed, and the attacking columns 
were dispersed and driven far back into 
the woody lowlands. Here they re- 
formed and advanced, onlv to be again 



1860-1862.] 

swept away by the invincible canister 
and infantry fire from the " Yankee " 
lines. At dusk, a mass of troops under 
Jackson, struck Porter's and Couch's 
divisions with fearful effect. The conflict 
continued till nine o'clock at night, when 
the whole confederate army was routed. 
This ended the seven days' battle before 
Richmond. The federal loss for the 
whole time was fifteen thousand, two 
hundred, that of the confederates about 
nineteen thousand. McClellan issued an 
order to fall back to the James, which 
was obeyed with great reluctance. Lee 
collected his shattered army and returned 
to the entrenchments at Richmond. 

1862. July 3. Agricultural College 
Land Grant. The bill for the establish- 
ment of agricultural colleges in the sev- 
eral states, having passed both houses of 
congress, was signed by President Lin- 
coln. Industrial institutions have since 
then been established in nearly every 
state. The bill appropriated 30,000 acres 
of land for each representative, the pro- 
ceeds of it to be given to found agricul- 
tural and mechanical colleges. 

1862. July 8. Condition of the 
Army of the Potomac. The inactivity 
of the Army of the Potomac was more 
disastrous than all the fighting it had 
done. Every kind of sickness infested 
the camp on the unhealthy James. After 
the battle of Malvern Hills McClellan 
reported his force at fifty thousand against 
one hundred and sixty thousand that had 
entered the Peninsula under his com- 
mand. President Lincoln immediately 
departed for headquarters, and found only 
nine thousand " present and fit for duty." 
A council decided to move the army to 
Washington, as an aggressive movement 
was expected from Lee soon. 

1862. July 12. Guerilla Warfare. 



THE RESORT TO ARMS 



585 

Marauding bands under noted chiefs 
roved through Kentucky and Tennessee, 
in the months of July and August, destroy- 
ing property, both public and private. 
The most dreaded of these was that of J. 
H. Morgan, who was considered an ad- 
vance for Bragg's expected invasion. 
Morgan attacked and dispersed a detach- 
ment of federal cavalry at Lebanon, on 
this date, and destroyed several miles of 
the Lexington and Louisville railway. 
His force was rapidly swelled from day 
to day by the young men of Kentucky. 
When he began to threaten Cincinnati, 
Green Clay Smith, aided by the business 
men, organized a superior force and rose 
to the defense of the city, afterward driv- 
ing him back into Tennessee. 

COLORED TROOPS. 

1862. July 17. Congi-ess authorized 
President Lincoln to receive into service 
for constructing entrenchments, doing 
camp duty, or any other labor, or any 
military or naval service for which they 
were found competent, persons of African 
descent. This was interpreted liberally, 
and some became soldiers under this act, 
although this was not originally intended. 
In 1S64 they were unconditionally en- 
listed as troops, and did the best of ser- 
vice. The largest number in service at 
any one time was 123,156. The whole 
number in service as soldiers during the 
war was 186,017. 

X^lTIO.y^L CEMETERIES. 

1862. July 17. Congress authorized 
President Lincoln to buy cemetery 
grounds for soldiers who should die in 
the national service, and inclose them 
securely for that purpose. Subsequent 
legislation was had, according to necessity. 
There are about 80 of these cemeteries, 



586 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



containing- 330,000 soldiers. Arlington, 
Vicksburg, and Nashville, have more 
than 1 6,000 in each. Some of them are on 
famous battle grounds; among these are 
Antietam, Gettysburg, and Seven Pines. 
Most of the situations are very beautiful. 
A person connected with the army has 
had charge of these grounds, to lay them 
out and keep them in order, as inspector. 
Slabs of wood or stone have been erected 
at the graves. More recently an arrange- 
ment has been made to give to soldiers' 
remains lying in other than national 
cemeteries, appropriate headstones. 

1862. July 20. The Army of Vir- 
ginia Organized. Pope was called from 
Missouri to take charge of the Army of 
Virginia, which was organized for the 
defense of the national caj^ital. The 
army consisted of fifty thousand efficient 
troojDs, under Major-Generals Sigel, 
Banks, and McDowell. When the Army 
of Virginia was ready for action, Pope 
asked McClellan's cooperation, but that 
officer so far refused that Pope recom- 
mended the appointment of a general-in- 
chief to be above both. Halleck was 
called from the west for the appoint- 
ment, and commenced his duties as com- 
mander of all the armies of the United 
States on the 23d. He ordered McClel- 
lan to transfer his army to Acquia Creek. 



EXCIMXGE OF FRISOXERS. 

1862. July 22, The famous first car- 
tel for exchange of prisoners was signed 
and afterward used between the North 
and South. But various things led to a 
final disregard of it. There was much 
contention all through the war over this 
matter, and much discussion concerning it 
since. At one time the confederates 
refused to exchange negro troops on 



equal terms. This, with other things 
connected with the care of prisoners, led 
often to great delays in exchanging, and 
much consequent suffering. 

.}METIX r?lX BUREK. 

1862. July 24. Martin Van Buren, 
the eighth president of the United States, 
died at Kinderhook,N. Y., where he was 
born, Dec. 5, 1782. As a boy he was 
energetic and made rapid progress in his 
studies, so that when only fourteen years- 
old he began to read law, and in 1S03 
opened an office for himself in Kinder- 
hook. Pic soon became quite promi- 
nently connected with politics, and was 
largely instrumental in organizing the 
branch of democrats which for tw^enty 
years had power in New York as the 
Albany " Regency." After filling vari- 
ous state offices, Mr. Van Buren was in 
1821 elected to the U. vS. senate. He 
was a great favorite with Jackson, who 
appointed him minister to England. The 
appointment, however, was not ratified 
by the senate. After serving as vicc- 
jDi'esident, he w^as in 1836 chosen presi- 
dent. His administration was filled with 
exciting events. The insurrection in 
Canada, which threatened to involve the 
states, the agitation of the slavery ques- 
tion, and finally the great commercial 
panic which spread over the country, all 
^vere trials of his Avisdom. The finan- 
cial distress was attributed to the man- 
agement of the democratic party, and 
brought the president into such disfavor 
that he failed of a re-election. The jDre- 
emption law was a fortunate measure of 
his administration. With the exception 
of being in 1848 nominated for the presi- 
dency by the " free-soil " democrats, Mr. 
Van Buren lived quietly upon his estate 
until his death. 



1860-1863.] 

1862. July 27. The steamer Golden 
Gate, of San Francisco, was lost on the 
Mexican coast, with a loss of 204 lives, 

1862. July. The iron-clad oath, to 
be taken by all officers of the United 
States government, was adopted at the 
extra session of congress which closed 
this month. Slavery was also prohibited 
in all present and future territories of the 
United States, and was also abolished in 
the District of Columbia. Diplomatic 
representatives to the republics of Liberia 
and Hayti were for the first time author- 
ized by congi'ess. 

1862. July. The confiscation proc- 
lamation was issued by President Lin- 
coln in accordance with an act of con- 
gress, declaring that the property of all 
persons who remained in rebellion 
against the United States at the end of 
sixty days, would be confiscate to the 
uses of the national government. 

1862. Aug. 5. Battle of Baton 
Rouge. Farragut run the gauntlet at 
Vicksburg, and captured Baton Rouge. 
Gen. Butler placed Gen. Williams there 
with twenty-five hundred men to hold it. 
Gen. J. C. Breckinridge attempted to re- 
gain it with five thousand, making a dar- 
ing attack before sunrise on the morning 
of the 5th of August, but he was beaten 
back, sorely smitten, after a severe battle 
of three hours. Gen. Williams was 
killed at the close of the action, just as he 
was giving an order to fall back, while 
the confederates were doing the same. 

1862. Aug. 8. Battle of Cedar 
Mountain. Pope made several successful 
raids toward Richmond, tearing up rail- 
ways, and breaking the confederate com- 
munications. Jackson succeeded in get- 
ting a position on the eastern slope of Ce- 
dar Mountain, which now overlooked the 
federal camp. Forming his whole force 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



587 



in battle line, he opened on the federal 
advance. Gen. Banks charged up the 
mountain to dislodge him, but was hurled 
back after a desperate struggle of an 
hour and a half, when the fighting 
ceased. The loss on each side was about 
two thousand. 

1862. Aug. 9. Massacre of Texas 
Loyalists. In a cane brake on the 
Nueces River, occurred one of the most 
fiendish massacres of the civil war. A 
party of sixty young German loyalists, 
of the best families of Western Texas, 
attempted to flee the countr}^ They 
made good their escape to the Nueces, 
where they were overtaken b}^ the bru- 
tal guerilla chief Lieutenant Lilley, with 
over a hundred followers, and they were 
slaughtered in the most barbarous ways. 
During the whole summer of 1863, the 
few Texans who remained loyal to the 
Union received severe treatment at the 
hands of their oppressors. The vSan An- 
tonio Herald says of them : " Their 
bones are bleaching on the soil of every 
county from the Nueces to the Rio 
Grande, and in the counties of Wise and 
Denton their bodies are suspended from 
the ' Black Jacks ' by scores." 

1862. Aug. 23. Pope and Lee on 
the Rappahannock. After the battle of 
Cedar Mountain Pope captured some 
confederate cavalry, from whom he 
learned that Lee intended to crush him 
before he could be reinforced. He at 
once began to retreat, stopping behind 
the Rappahannock, his rear guard skir- 
mishing along the march with Lee's ad- 
vance cavalry. Lee tried to force a pas- 
sage, keeping up an artillery fire for two 
days. Failing in this he decided to 
march up the river, cross, and flank Pope. 
He left Longstrect at Beverly Ford. It 
was now clear to Pope that he must cross 



588 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



the river and crush Longstreet, or give 
the confederates direct approach to 
Washington. A heavy rain made the 
Rappahannock impassable, so that an 
attempt to cross was foiled. But Lee 
had crossed before the rise of the river, 
and gained his rear during the storm. 
Both armies were now in great peril. 
Lee's communication was severed, while 
PojDC could not take advantage of it. 

1862. Aug. 26. Seizure of Manas- 
sas Junction. From Bristow Station 
Jackson sent Stuart to seize Manassas 
Junction. Stuart surprised the place, 
taking three hundred prisoners, eight 
guns, one hundred and seventy-five 
horses, ten locomotives, seven supply 
trains, and a large amount of other pro- 
visions. 

1862. Aug. 29. Battle of Groveton. 
Though Pope's forces were scattered to 
hold subordinate places, he determined 
to " bag " Jackson before he could join 
Longstreet. Early on the morning of 
the 29th he dispatched Heintzleman and 
Reno to Gainesville to effect a junction 
with Sigel. But Sigel had attacked 
Jackson at Sudley Mill, on the Warren- 
ton road, near Groveton, before the\' 
arrived, and was being beaten by 
Jackson, aided by Longstreet, when they 
came to his I'elief. At sunset the confed- 
erate left wavered, and was pushed back 
a mile. A division of Longstreet's corps 
and Hood's famous Texan brigade were 
ordered to the front, and drove back the 
federal advance. At dark the conflict 
ceased. The loss was several thousand 
on each side. 

1862. Aug. 30. Second Battle of 
Bull Run. Pope concluded to make one 
more stand before continuing his retreat 
to Washington. His force was now only 
about forty thousand worn-out soldiers, 



besides Banks' force. But he pushed 
forward and attacked Lee's left, while 
that general was also advancing for an 
attack on the federal right. They came 
together with a terrible clash, on the old 
battle-field of Bull Run. The confeder- 
ates attempted the favorite flank move- 
ment, but were timely turned by 
McDowell's corps. Victory seemed al- 
most to crown the struggles of the feder- 
als, \vhen their right was suddenly pushed 
back by a united forward movement of 
the confederate left. But the main army 
held fast till dark, preserving their line of 
retreat. Fitz-John Porter's action during 
the contest was much condemned. He 
lay back ^vith his division within sight of 
the battle, refusing to obey repeated 
orders to advance. He was court-mar- 
tialed and forever disqualified from hold- 
ing any office of trust in the U. S. gov- 
ernment. Pope retired to Centerville 
during the night, unmolested. 

1862. Aug. 30. Bragg's Invasion 
of Kentucky, Having been appointed 
to Beauregard's command, Bragg re- 
solved to recover Kentucky and Tennes- 
see, or capture a large amount of supplies 
from the rich agricultural districts in the 
attempt. Buell, on the north side of the 
Tennessee, with an army of one hundred 
thousand strong, was determined to check 
the invasion. Bragg's force was about 
sixty thousand. Both started for Chat- 
tanooga; but by swift marches Bragg 
reached it first, sending Smith to Knox- 
\'ille. Buell halted at Huntsville, and 
stationed his army in a line running 
back into Tennessee. Smith started for 
Frankfort from Knoxville, issuing procla- 
mations and swelling his force by the 
thousand, Avith Kentucky volunteers. But 
he was boldly met at Richmond on the 
30th of August, by a corps organized in 



1860-1862.] 

Indiana by Gen. Lew Wallace, and com- 
manded by Gen, Nelson. Most of the 
Union ti^oops had never seen a battle, 
but fought with the courage and stability 
of old veterans. But they lacked the dis- 
cipline, and were defeated with a loss of 
five thousand. The confederate loss v^as 
about the same. The triumphant Smith 
hastened forward toward Cincinnati, 
which was then defenceless, and Bragg's 
invasion was under full headway. 

1862. Sept. 1. Battle of Chantilly. 
Pope held a position at Centerville which 
Lee did not wish to assail. To drive 
hifn from it, Lee dispatched Jackson to 
flank him again; but Pope divined the 
movement, and fell back to Fairfax 
Court House. Gen. Reno was stationed 
at Chantilly, when Jackson came up at 
six o'clock in the evening, while a cold 
rain was pouring down in torrents. A 
severe battle at once took place, in which 
Gen. Stevens was among the first to fall. 
His brigade fled, and Gen. Kearney 
dashed his brigade forward to fill the 
gap, when he, too, was shot down. 
Colonel Birney took command, and 
ordered a bayonet charge which repulsed 
the enemy, and gained the field. Pope 
then retired to the entrenchments at 
Washington, and the Army of Virginia 
vanished, being absorbed by the Army 
of the Potomac. Pope returned to the 
west by his own request, made before 
the campaign. 

1862. Sept. 2. Lee's Invasion of 
Maryland. The way was now clear, 
the fields were glowing with a rich, ripe 
harvest, and everything seemed to in- 
vite Lee into Maryland. Disposition of 
his army was made accordingly, and the 
army moved on the 2d of September, 
headed by a division of fresh and vigor- 
ous troops, under Gen. D. H. Hill. 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



589 

1862. Sept. 8. Lee's Proclamation. 

Lee arrived in Maryland, and issued a 
proclamation entreating the citizens to 
revolt against the government, join his 
army, and be i-estored to liberty once 
more. It was met with scorn, and 
caused more deserters than adherents. 

CARLOS TlXTOXIO LOPEZ. 

1862. Sept. 10. Lopez, the dictator 
of Paraguay, died at Asuncion, aged 
seventy-one years. He was born in the 
same place Nov. 4, 1790, and was 
brought up under the arbitrary power of 
Dr. Francia. He was fond of study, and 
was educated as well as could be at 
Asuncion. When Dr. Francia died, he 
was at once put into connection with 
the government, because of his known 
studies in that direction, studies which 
Francia had steadily repressed. He was 
elected president for ten years from 1S44. 
At the end of that term he was elected 
for three years, and in 1857 for seven 
years. He was given power to appoint 
a successor. His administration was 
very different from Dr. Francia's. In- 
tercourse with other nations was sought 
for, and treaties were made. One im- 
portant step was the sending of young 
men to Europe to be educated in indus- 
trial and scientific lines of study. He 
strove to build up Paraguay in all ways. 



1862. Sept. 12. Cincinnati Threat- 
ened. Gen. Wallace hurried to Cincin- 
nati, after organizing the army to check 
vSmith, and issued a stiining proclamation 
on the first day of September, calling on 
the citizens to close their business and 
come out at once for the common de- 
fence. The proclamation received a 
liberal response from Cincinnati, Cov- 
ington, and Newport, to the number 



590 



A- A TIONA L CRISES. 



of forty thousand. Entrenchments were 
thrown up immediately, and lines formed 
to oppose the expected attack. Gen. 
Heath appeared before the city on the 
1 3th, with fifteen thousand of Smith's 
men, but so bold a front was presented 
that he was frightened away, and re- 
treated under cover of the darkness. 

1862. Sept. 12. Seizure of Frank- 
fort. Frustrated in the attempt to cap- 
ture Cincinnati, Smith undertook the 
conquest of Louisville, ultimately joining 
Bragg, who was coming northward. To 
this end he moved into Frankfort, which 
had been vacated by the legislature. 

1862. Sept. 14. Battle of South 
Mountain. With the utmost caution 
Lee advanced to Frederick, intending to 
move on Baltimore and Washington, 
after further developments. Lee directed 
Jackson to march around by South 
Mountain, of the Blue Ridge range, and 
cut off the escape of troops from Harper's 
Ferry. Lee counted greatly on McClel- 
lan's tardiness ; but the federal general 
pushed on, and foiled his plan. McClel- 
lan passed through the mountains at 
Turner's Gap, and drove back Hill, who 
was stationed there to hold the pass. 
On the morning of the 14th the federal 
advance gained the summit of South 
Mountain by perseverance and desperate 
fighting. At four o'clock in the after- 
noon the battle became general all along 
the line. The battle continued till sun- 
set, when Gen. Reno was killed, just at 
the moment of victory. The confederate 
line fell back, and the conflict ceased. 
The federals were ready to resume the 
battle next morning, but the confederates 
had withdrawn during the night. 

1862. Sept. 14. Battle of Cramp- 
ton's Gap. Franklin, on his way to 
relieve Harper's Ferry, came up before 



Crampton's Gap, where there were three 
confederate brigades, under Cobb, de- 
fended by stone walls. Franklin at- 
tacked and drove him out after several 
hours' hard fighting, sustaining a loss of 
five hundred. Cobb's loss was over a 
thousand men, besides several hundred 
small arms. 

1862. Sept. 14. Surrender of Har- 
per's Perry. A large amoiuit of stores 
was gathered at Harper's Ferry, which 
was garrisoned by a force of twelve thou- 
sand. Jackson slipped around into the 
rear on the 13th, while McLaws ap- 
peared on Maryland Heights; and a 
force on Loudon Heights completed the 
line around the besieged garrison. At 
Elk Mountain, two miles north of Har- 
per's Ferry, Colonel Ford gallantly held 
McLaws in check for a time, but was 
compelled to retreat to the fort. Early 
on the next morning the fort was fired 
upon, and a capitulation at once took 
place. Gen. Miles was killed. 

BRITTLE OF :i^TIET^M. 

1862. Sept. 17. Lee now collected 
his whole force at Sharpsburg, in the 
Antietam Valley, six miles above the 
Ferry. On the 15th McClellan followed 
slowly up the valley. A few shots were 
exchanged, and then both armies began 
to prepare for a heavy battle. Lee's 
force was about sixty thousand, while the 
federal numbers were nearly ninety thou- 
sand. Four bridges spanned the Antie- 
tam, a mile or two apart. At two 
o'clock on the i6th Hooker crossed 
bridge No. i, and steadily crowded back 
the confederate left. Gen. Mansfield fol- 
lowing in his wake. Both sides were 
now heavily reinforced. At dawn of the 
next morning Hooker opened a galling 
fire on the confederate left; but Jackson 



1860-1862.] 

made a bold dash, sweeping his corps 
from the field. Hooker was wounded. 
All day the armies advanced and recoiled. 
When the conflict ceased in the evening 
the federals held the field, but with a 
great loss of life. The entire federal loss 
was over twelve thousand. The confed- 
erate loss was thirty thousand, including 
six thousand prisoners, besides fifteen 
thousand small arms, thirteen cannon, and 
thirty-nine battle flags. On the morning 
of the i8th neither commander was ready 
to fight. Lee's army was terribly smitten, 
and McClellan's was but little better off. 
The confederate soldiers were now en- 
during great j^i'ivation, being almost 
destitute of food or clothing. Lee soon 
escaped up the Shenandoah Valley to 
Winchester. 

1862. Sept. 19. Battle of luka. 

During the summer of 1862 the federal 
army in West Tennessee remained pas- 
sive, except to capture or disperse gue- 
rilla bands, or make reconnoissances. 
Leaving Col. Murphy at luka with a 
small force to protect the supplies, Rose- 
crans moved westward to within seven 
niiles of Corinth, and encamped. Price 
seized the opportunity and hurried to 
luka to crush Murphy, who fled on his 
approach, leaving all the vast amount of 
supplies in the hands of the Missourian, 
who at once occupied the place. Grant 
immediately dispatched two columns, 
under Rosecrans and Ord, to capture 
Price. By a detour of twenty miles 
Rosecrans gained the rear, while Ord 
was to make the attack in front. On the 
morning of the 19th Rosecrans advanced 
to within two miles of luka, drove in the 
confederate skirmishers, and formed his 
lines of battle. A desperate engagement 
followed. An attempt by Price to wheel 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



591 



around the federal left, ended in utter de- 
feat. He was driven from the field at 
dusk, which closed the battle. Ord's or- 
ders were to advance and halt four miles 

from luka, until he could I8G2. Seplemher. 

hear Rosecrans' cannon. A Bismarck became 

prime mints ter 

strong northwest wind pre- of Prussia. 
vented, and he remained till the next 
morning, when he heard the cannon of 
the victorious army. But Price slipped 
out during the night. Rosecrans took 
possession, and then marched to Corinth. 
Grant took up his headquarters at Jack- 
son, Tenn., leaving Sherman at Memphis. 

EM±YCIPylTIO.y FORETOLD. 

1862. Sept. 22. President Lincoln 
issued a proclamation, declaring that if 
any states remained in rebellion Jan. 1, 
1863, all slaves within them should be 
thereafter forever free. 



1862. Oct. 3-4. Battle of Corinth. 

Rosecrans arrived at Corinth on the 26th 
of September, and began strengthening 
the works thrown up by Beauregard 
and Halleck. With twenty-two thou- 
sand men Van Dorn moved northward to 
attack Rosecrans. He arrived at Che- 
walla, twelve miles from Coi-inth, on the 
night of Oct. 2d. On the 3d a bat- 
tle was kept up all day between Va4i 
Dorn's advance and a force sent out by 
Rosecrans. At nine o'clock on the morn- 
ing of the 4th, the confederates advanced 
with a fearful assault on the federal cen- 
ter. The federals bravely withstood the 
shock, while their artillery made lanes 
through the confederate ranks. Waver- 
ing at first, they rallied, and then there 
followed a desperate struggle, in which 
the confederates were forced back in con- 
fusion to the woods in the rear. Finally 
the federals charged furiously over the 



< ' • ' *w 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



entrenchments, and drove Price and Lov- 
ell back in the wildest dismay. Van 
Dorn began a hasty retreat, and was pur- 
sued by Rosecrans for a distance. So 
ended the gallant defense of Corinth, 
covering Rosecrans with honor. His 
force was only twenty thousand, while 
that of the confederates had been in- 
creased to thirty-eight thousand. In the 
engagement and pursuit his loss was two 
thousand, two hundred. He estimated 
the confederate loss, from reliable data, 
at nine thousand. 

1862. Oct. 8. Bragg's Invasion of 
Tennessee. Battle of Perryville. In 
the latter part of Avigust Bragg started 
from Chattanooga for Louisville, in full 
force. When Buell found out Bragg's 
design he protected the Louisville and 
Nashville railway as soon as possible, and 
then began pursuit. Now commenced a 
great military race of three hundred 
miles. Bragg reached Glasgow, across 
the Cumberland, where he made his 
headquarters, having access to Louisville 
by railroad. He immediately sent the 
advance tmder Gen. Chalmers, toward 
that city. Chalmers arrived at Mum- 
fordsville on the 14th of September. At 
that place was a federal garrison of foiu^ 
thousand. This he attacked, but \vas so 
quickly repulsed that he concluded to 
wait for the main arm}-, which arrived on 
the 16th. An attack was made immedi- 
ately, and the garrison was captured after 
a desperate struggle, the confederates sus- 
taining a heavy loss. Bragg's force was 
now sixty-five thousand. In the mean- 
time Buell had gained the race, reaching 
Louisville first, but he allowed Bragg to 
fill his trains with phnider. The United 
States government now prompted Buell 
to act on the offensive. He had a force 
of one hundred thousand strong, with 



Gen. Thomas as second in command, 
Bragg fell back to Perryville with his 
forage, Buell ordered Gilbert to attack 
the confederates at that place, Bragg 
determined to give battle and escape with 
his plunder before the two flanking forces 
could corner him. On the morning of 
the Sth he opened a desultory combat, 
which lasted till nearly noon. The en- 
gagement now became general, lasting 
the rest of the day. A gap was finally 
made, exposing Gilbert's flank. The con- 
federates now made a general rush to fill 
the open space. But Sherman made a 
valiant charge, breaking the confederate 
line, and drove them back to their bat- 
teries, capturing several guns and a num- 
ber of prisoners. This closed the battle 
for the day. The next morning the fed- 
erals were prepared to renew the battle, 
but Bragg fled to Harrodsburg during the 
night. Here he left twelve hundi"ed sick,, 
and twentv-five thousand barrels of pork, 
retreating into East Tennessee, It is said 
that his plunder filled a wagon train forty 
miles long. He also destroyed vast 
amounts. 

1862. Oct. 30. Army of the Cum- 
berland. Buell's conduct during Bragg's 
invasion was so unsatisfactory that he 
was relieved, and Gen. Rosecrans, who 
made such a brilliant record in West Vir- 
ginia and Mississippi, was appointed to 
the command. The appellation was 
changed from the " Army of the Ohio '* 
to the "Army of the Cumberland." 

1862. Nov. 4. Lee's Retreat into Vir- 
ginia. McClellan, under an order from 
the president, moved over to the east 
side of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and 
began pursuit of Lee in his slow way, 
Lee consolidated his army at Culpepper 
Court House to turn iVlcClellan back. 
His army was so disposed that a quick 



1860-1863.] 

and vigorous movement would cut it up 
in detail. But this was not made by Mc- 
Clellan, and Lee escaped to Gordonsville. 
1862. Nov. 5. McClellan Super- 
seded by Burnside. The people's confi- 
dence in McClellan died away on his 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



593 



was to act against Richmond instead of 
Lee, making his base of supplies at 
Acquia Creek. 

1862. Nov. 9, Butler Superseded 
by Banks. On the 9th of November, 
Gen. B. F. Butler, as commander of the 




BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 



failure to destroy Lee's army. He was 
now superseded by Gen. Burnside, who 
was indorsed by his record at the South. 
Burnside refused the appointment several 
times, but his acceptance Avas somewhat 
compulsory. He commenced his duties 
by reorganizing the army. His policy 



Gulf Department, was superseded by 
Gen. Banks. The confederates had now 
given up a former remote idea of taking 
New Orleans, and Butler's supervision of 
that city was no longer needed. Butler's 
administration of the city government 
M'as marked by justice and prospei-ity. 



594 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



He found there a rebellious people, and 
the greatest discord generally. By vari- 
ous means he extracted from the citizens 
$1,088,000, with which he put the city in 
good order, fed the poor, and increased 
his army from thirteen thousand raw 
troops to seventeen thousand well-disci- 
plined soldiers. Several regiments were 
of colored soldiers. There were $545,000 
yet in his hands. Of this he turned over 
$200,000 to his successor, and the re- 
mainder to the national treasury. A 
Charleston man offered $10,000 for 
Butler, dead or alive. Davis afterward 
issued a proclamation for him and others, 
to be hung on being caught. 

1862. Nov. 27. Battle of Boston 
Mountains, Mo. The successes of the 
confederate armies near Richmond en- 
couraged the secessionists in Missouri so 
much that they revived the fierce guerilla 
warfare which had been carried on there. 
They raised an army of twenty thousand. 
The federal army numbered ten thou- 
sand. The confederates now resolved to 
regain Missouri to the confederate cause, 
and advanced northward for that purpose. 
At Boston Mountains their advance was 
met and defeated in a minor engagement. 

1862. Dec. 7. Battle of Prairie 
Grove, Ark. On the morning of the 7th 
the confederates appeared before Herron's 
federal force at Prairie Grove. Herron 
had been stripped of his cavalry, and now 
had but four thousand effective men to 
oppose the confederate hosts. He ar- 
ranged his army in the best order to 
oppose the enemy, and a severe fight fol- 
lowed, in which the federals were en- 
gaged without support. But the federal 
artillery did excellent work, inflicting a 
heavy loss on the confederate infantry in 
the numerous attacks. That night the 
federals slept on their arms, waiting to 



renew the battle on the following day. 
But Hindman retreated during the night, 
supposing Herron, because of the defense 
he had made, to have a larger force. 

1862. Dec. 13. Battle of Freder- 
icksburg. When the new plan of Burn- 
side's advance became known to Lee, he 
moved back to Fredericksburg and took 
position 'south of the Rappahannock, on 
a ridge which overlooked a plain reach- 
ing down to the river. On the northern 
shore, ojDposite Fredericksburg, was 
ample position for defense, but owing to 
the brokenness of the bank the river was- 
difficult to cross in case of retreat. On 
the loth of December a long-expected 
pontoon train arrived, and offensive move- 
ments were immediately commenced by 
the federals. By the evening of the I3th, 
in spite of great difficulties, the federals 
had crossed, beaten back, and captured 
some sharpshooters, and had ascertained 
the relative position of the confederates, 
who by this time had made their situa- 
tion almost impregnable by judiciously 
posting three hundred cannon on the 
heights. Jackson was recalled from 
down the river, and everything was in 
readiness. Burnside ordered Franklin to 
make the attack early next morning. 
At sunrise he ordered forward Meade's 
division, wdiich drove back Jackson's ad- 
vance, taking two hundred prisoners, and 
several battle flags. Two confederate 
divisions, under Gregg and Earlv, then 
made a charge, driving Meade before 
them. Meade lost heavily in this en- 
counter. Longstreet was posted behind 
a formidable stone wall with hea\y re- 
serves. Against these French launched 
his division, which melted away imder 
the leaden messengers, Hancock threw 
his columns fonvard, but was soon hui^led 
back by the murderous fire, leaving half 



1860-1862.] 

his number on the field. Howard's divi- 
sion was the next to be shattered before 
the fatal stone wall. Burnside now deter- 
mined to carry the heights, and directed 
Hooker to do the work. Hooker vainly 
protested, but he ordered Humphrey's 
division to charge the entrenchments with 
bayonets. This charge was repulsed 
with fearful slaughter. Night mercifully 
jDut an end to the fruitless massacre. The 
federal loss was nearly fourteen thousand, 
while the confederate loss was less than 
half that number. Burnside remained at 
Fredericksburg till the i6th, when his 
general officers persuaded him to retreat. 
Lee was now left in full possession of 
the town. 

1862. Dec. 20. Movements Toward 
Vieksburg Checked. Vicksburg was 
the great connecting link of the confeder- 
acy, by which their armies received sup- 
plies from the rich fields of Texas and 
Western Louisiana. Grant arranged a 
plan for the attack and capture, and it 
was approved by his council. The city 
afforded extraordinary natural defence, 
surrounded as it was by deep ravines, 
impassable swamps and bayous, and 
rugged hills covered by tier upon tier of 
rifle-pits and batteries, frorn foot to sum- 
mit. In accordance with the plan 
Sherman descended- the Mississippi from 
Memphis, with thirty thousand well- 
drilled and well -equipped troops, to the 
mouth of the Yazoo; while Grant moved 
by land to attack the main body of the 
confederates, under Van Dorn, drive them 
into Vicksburg, and assist Sherman in 
the siege. On the 4th of November 
Grant changed his headquarters from 
Jackson to La Grange, near Grand Junc- 
tion, on the Memphis and Charleston 
railway. From there he sent McPher- 
son, witli ten thousand infantry and fifteen 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



595 



hundred cavalry to break the confederate 
line of defence along the Tallahatchee 
River. This was accomplished, and Grant 
occupied Holly Springs, where he col- 
lected $,|,ooo,ooo worth of supplies. 
During this time Generals C. C. Wash- 
burne and A. P. Hovey made several 
cavalry raids, destroying a large amount 
of confederate railroad stock. Grant 
then moved to Oxford, Miss., leaving 
Col. Murphy with one thousand men, 
to guard the supplies at Holly Springs. 
Satisfied that Van Dorn would attempt 
to seize the supplies, Grant entreated 
Murphy to be extremely cautious, and 
ordered four thousand men to his assist- 
ance, again notifying him on the 19th, of 
immediate danger. But Murphy did not 
heed. On the morning of the 20th Van 
Dorn's cavalry galloped into the place 
unimpeded. Murphy made a feeble re- 
sistance, and then surrendered before the 
reinforcements arrived. The victors es- 
caped with what plunder they could 
carry, and burned the rest. Murphy was 
discharged from the army " for cowardly 
and disgraceful conduct." The destruc- 
tion of the sujDplies necessitated Grant's 
return, and thus the movements on 
Vicksburg were checked. 

1862. Dec. 28. Battle of Chicka- 
saw Bluffs. Meantime Sherman was 
trying to gain the rear of Vicksburg by 
the Yazoo River, in conjunction with 
Porter's fleet of thirty vessels. Sherman 
was ignorant of the disaster at Holly 
Springs, but he pushed forward and 
attacked the confederates at Chickasaw 
Bayou. He advanced with his whole 
line against the impregnable fortifications 
on the bluffs, but was repulsed with great 
slaughter. His loss was two thousand, 
while the confederate loss was only two 
hundred. He then gave up all attempts 



596 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



to capture Vicksburg, Giant's assistance 
having been withdrawn. 

1862. Dee. 31- Jan 2. Battle of 

Murfreesboro'. Bragfo: hurried out of 
Kentucky with his pkmder train, after 
the battle of Perryville. When he per- 
ceived that pursuit was abandoned, he 
consolidated his entire strength at Mur- 
freesboro', thirty miles southeast of 
Nashville, and began to menace Nash- 
ville. Rosecrans directed McCook to 
occupy that place, which he did. The 
main Army of the Cumberland speedily 
followed. By the 26th of December 
Rosecrans had his army ready for an 
aggressive movement. He determined 
to draw Bragg to decisive action, or 
chase him out of the country. The 
federal army advanced, and on the night 
of the 30th rested within six miles of 
Murfreesboro'. That night was spent in 
preparation for the impending contest. 
Both generals concluded to make the 
attack, and formed the same plan. The 
advantage lay with the attacking party. 
At twilight the next morning Bragg 
pushed his left forward, and completely 
surprised the federal right, the weight of 
the charge falling on the divisions of 
Sheridan and J. C. Davis. The latter 
division was soon driven in confusion, 
with heavy loss; and Sheridan was com- 
pelled to follow, fighting desperately, 
but overcome by the superior numbers 
of the foe, who had nearly surrounded 
him. At last Rosecrans succeeded in 
forming a new line; while Hazcn, on 
the extreme left, was slowly turning the 
victorious multitude. Against this new 
line the confederates made several terrific 
charges, but were weakened at each 
blow. They were trampled down, 
and crowded back till, at sunset, the 
federals held their morning position. 



Bragg sent a dispatch to the confederate 
congress stating that he believed Rose- 
crans would relinquish further hostilities. 
The federal general had no such inten- 
tions. His conduct during the . action 
had so endeared him to his ofliccrs that 
his will was law. He told them plainly: 
" Gentlemen, we conquer, or die right 
here;" and they supported him. The 
next day was occupied by some heavy 
skirmishing and occasional artillery firing. 
Batteries were erected during the follow- 
ing night, and on the morning of Janu- 
ary 3, 1863, these opened with fearful 
destructive effect upon the confederate 
entrenchments. Then the armies came 
together with a crash that seemed to 
promise utter annihilation of both. The 
columns staggered, until at last the con- 
federates were hurled back with great 
loss of life. Within twenty minutes two 
thousand confederates had fallen, dead 
and wounded. They fell back, and at 
midnight escaped, leaving their dead on 
the field. Each army was decreased 
about twelve thousand by the engage- 
ment. Being deficient in cavalry Rose- 
crans did not pursue. His praise was 
now unbounded. This engagement 
closed the second j^ear of the Great 
Struggle. The federals had opened the 
Mississippi to Vicksburg; taken New 
Orleans and the seaboard towns along 
the Atlantic coast; had destroyed the 
Merrimac and the confederate navy yard 
at Norfolk; and had gained the great 
battles of Forts Henry and Donelson, 
Island No. 10, Pea Ridge, Antietam, 
Fair Oaks, Corinth, luka, and Murfrees- 
boro'. The confederate arms were suc- 
cessful in the campaigns of Jackson and 
Lee ; the battles of Fredericksburg, Cedar 
Mountain, and Chickasaw Bluff; the de- 
fence of Richmond, and Bragg's inva- 



1860-1862.] 



THE RESORT TO ARMS. 



sion of Kentucky. The federal plans 
were the same as the preceding year, 
while the confederates were to act on the 
defensive. 

1862. Greenbacks. The United 
States government issued the first bills 
called greenbacks. The face of these 
bills was engraved by the American 
Bank Note Company, in the highest 
style of the art. The back was engraved 
by another company. 

1862. The first telegraph line across 
the American continent over the Rocky 
Mountains was established. 

gtitlikg gun. 

1862. Mr. Richard J, Catling made 
the first Gatling gun at Indianapolis. It 
is a machine gun which is loaded and 
fired while the barrels are revolving 
under the power of a gear wheel. A 
feed case of cartridges is placed in the 
hopper of the gun, and one by one these 
drop out as one of the half dozen or 
more barrels comes round to position. It 
will fire four hundred shots per minute, 
and is most deadly. It was patented this 
year, and adopted at a later date in the 
U. S. army. 

1862. The first long span iron 
bridge was built across the river at Steu- 
benville, O., with one span which was 
320 feet long. 

1862. A great bed of rock salt was 
found on the island of Petite Anse, in 
Vermillion Bay, Louisiana. 

1862. The Department of Agricul- 
ture of the United States was formally 
organized. Buildings have since been 
erected for it within the Smithsonian 
grounds at Washington, D. C, and inves- 
tigations into the productions of the 
United States have gfone on to a sfreat 



597 

extent. It is the design to be able 
to furnish any person in one part 
of the country information concerning 
the soil, crops, etc., of any other part. 
Great quantities of seeds are annually 
distributed. 

1862. December. A great disaster 
occurred to the oil boats at Oil City^ 
Penn.,by which 50,000 barrels of oil were 
lost by being crushed in an ice-gorge. 
The loss, direct and indirect, was $500,000. 
This is one of many accidents. At one time 
in 1863, forty loaded boats were burned, 
making a conflagration of unwonted 
splendor. At times wells have burned 
out with destruction of much property, 
and sometimes of life. 

1862. A great disturbance in Chili 
was produced by the Araucanian Indi- 
ans, who were led by a Frenchman 
named Qe Toneins, who called himself 
king of the Araucanians and Patagonia. 
He was finally taken prisoner, held for a 
year, and afterward released. 

1862. Affairs in the Argentine Re- 
public were comparatively quiet, al- 
though an insurrection had been in exist- 
ence under Gen. Penalosa. Gen. Mitre, 
who had directed the government of 
Buenos Ayres and the Republic was now 
elected president of the combined states, 
and Buenos Ayres had been appointed 
as the seat of government. The repub- 
lic has 591,000 square miles, and 1,826,- 
738 inhabitants. 

1862. December. The civil war in 
Colombia, S. A., was ended by the agree- 
ment made between the conservatives 
and tlie liberals. The former recognized 
the government instituted by the latter. 
For a series of years now, great quiet 
existed in the republic. 

1862. War in Mexico had been ac- 
tually begun by the French, and some 



598 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



severe fighting had taken place. The 
Mexicans had repelled the French at the 
siege of Puebla, but had been less suc- 
cessful in other engagements. The 
French were aiming at the City of 
Mexico. 

The position and prospects of the 
.struggling republic were now at stake. 
The effort begun by Hidalgo with the 
spirit of self-sacrifice in iSio, was appar- 
ently to be crushed, even after it had 
attained independence. A foreign power 
seemed about to plant itself upon the 
American continent in spite of the Mon- 
roe doctrine, and in spite of patriots who 
would give their life to save their land. 
The situation was dark, but not hopeless. 
The United States were unable to press 
any argvnnent upon the French govern- 
ment in opposition to the course it was 
pursuing. Their home efforts consumed 
their strength. The papal party in 
Mexico had welcomed the foreign in- 
vasion, and chose their own downfall. 
But such an event upon the American 
Continent was not to be. Years had 
been occupied, and tears and blood had 
been spent in fostering the spirit of lib- 
erty which had found in later days a life 



of promise. Government upon the 
American soil could never return to mo- 
narchical power. The forms of it in Brazil 
and Canada are really permeated with 
the spirit of American institutions. The 
continent is too truly one land not to ar- 
rive ultimately at similar conceptions. 
History proves that whatever has been 
of value in one part of it is watched in 
other parts of it. Changes have often 
come insensibly. But they have come, 
and no power could hinder. Hence the 
folly and ultimate failure of the foreign 
attempt on Mexico. The Latin race 
have no heritage of authority in this con- 
tinent save ^vhat they, gain in harmony 
with American tendencies. The discipline 
of Mexico was to be long, but her victory 
was sure. Maximilian's determination 
to enthrone himself was strong and eager. 
It held out even after his reverses came 
thick and fast, and when the French had 
deserted him he refused to abdicate, but 
chose to remain to the bitter end. A like 
attempt will not soon be made. Let 
Mexico gain the wisdom necessary to 
govern herself. Time will bring even 
this, and she will be one of the fairest 
lands on the continent. 



SECTION XIX. 
TB^U ^BTZl^jy TO ^UACB. f86S-f868. 




HE crises in American affairs did 
not pass speedily to a peaceful set- 
tlement. Too many firm convic- 
tions had grown up on all hands, 
and in opposing parties. The fiery ordeal 
was terrible. In the United States civil 
war the way down from Antietam, Get- 
tysburg and Vicksburg was long and 
painful. The Emancipation Proclama- 
tion stands midway between these, and 
from its level we look off into a slowly 
waning contest. With fearful strug- 
gles did the confederacy prolong the 
agony. With great shrewdness it at- 
tempted to break the strength of the 
North by invasion. But to no purpose. 
May the nation be worthy of the victory 
it won, and not simply rest upon its 
power. To do the former will be to win 
everlasting honor. To do the latter will 
be to bring weakness and overthrow, in 
the end. It is singular that the other 
countries of this continent, which have 
thrown off Spanish power and become 
republics, took earlier steps toward the 
abolition of slavery than the United 
States did. While behind the United 
States in thousands of things, they seemed 
to have learned from Spanish tyranny 

[599] 



and " dark night " to highly esteem per- 
sonal freedom. During this period those 
provinces were gaining greater stability, 
and returning to comparative peace. 
Long struggles in some ended before the 
United States civil war ended. In Mex- 
ico foreign intervention held on until it 
could no longer remain with imjDunity. 

EMANCIPATION. 

1863. Jan 1. President Lincoln, in 
accordaiice with his September announce- 
ment, issued the following proclamation. 

The pen and penstock with which Mr. 
Lincoln wrote this paper were given to 
Senator Sumner, and by him to the late 
George Livermore, of Boston. They 
were of the most ordinary kind. The 
original draft was given to a sanitary fair 
in Chicago, and was sold for $3,000 to T. 
B. Bryan, Esq. 

THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION 

By the President of the United States 

OF America : 

Whereas, On the twenty-second day of 
September, in the year of our Lord one thou- 
sand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclama- 
tion was issued by the President of the United 
States, containing, among other things, the fol- 
lowing, to-wit: 

' ' That on the first day of January, in the year 



600 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
sixtv-three, all persons held as slaves within any 
state, or designated part of a state, the people 
whereof shall then be in rebellion against the 
United States, shall be then, thenceforward and 
forever free, and the executive government of 
the United States, including the military and 
naval authority thereof, will recognize and main- 
tain the freedom of such persons, and will do 
no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of 
them, in any efforts they may make for their 
actual tVeedom. 

" That the executive will, on the first day of 
January, aforesaid, by proclamation, designate 
the states and parts of states, if any, in which 
the people thereof respectively shall then 
be in rebellion against the United States, 
and the fact that any state, or the peo- 
ple thereof, shall on that day be in good faith 
represented in the congress of the United States 
by members chosen thereto at elections wherein 
a majority of the qualified voters of such state 
shall have participated, shall, in the absence of 
strong countervailing testimony, be deemed 
conclusive evidence that such state and the peo- 
ple thereof are not then in rebellion against the 
United States." 

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, Presi- 
dent of the United States, by virtue of the power 
in me vested as commander-in-chief of the army 
and navy of the United States in time of actual 
armed rebellion against the authority and gov- 
ernment of the United States, and as a fit and 
necessary war measvire for suppressing said re- 
bellion, do, on this first day of January, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
and sixty-three, and in accordance with my pur- 
pose so to do, publicly proclaim for the full pe- 
riod of one hundred days from the day the first 
above mentioned, order and designate, as the 
states and parts of states wherein the people 
thereof respectively are this day in rebellion 
against the United States, the following, to- wit: 

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the par- 
ishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefterson, 
St. Johns, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, 
Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafaurche, St. 
Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the 
city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, 
Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Caro- 
lina, and Virginia (except the forty eight coun- 
ties designated as West Virginia, and also the 
counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, 
Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Nor- 
folk, including the cities of Norfolk and Ports- 
mouth), and which accepted parts are for the 
present left precisely as if this proclamation 
were not issued. 

And by virtue of the power and for the pur- 
pose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all 
persons held as slaves within said designated 
states and parts of states are, and henceforward 
shall be, tree; and that the executive government 
of the United States, including the military and 
naval authorities thereof, will recognize and 
maintain the freedom of said persons. 

And I hereby enjoin upon the people so de- 



clared to be fVee, to abstain from all violence, 
unless in necessary self-defense, and I recom- 
mend to theui that in all cases, w^hen allowed, 
they labor faithfully for reasonable wages. 

And I further declare and make known that 
such persons of suitable condition, will be re- 
ceived into the armed service of the United 
States, to garrison forts, positions, stations, and 
other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in 
said service. 

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an 
act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, 
upon military necessity, I invoke the consider- 
ate judgmentjof mankind, and the gracious favor 
of Almighty God. 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set 
my name, and caused the seal of the 
United States to be afiixed. 

Done at the City of Washington, this 

[l. s.] first day of January, in the year of our 

Lord, one thousand eight hundred and 

sixty-three, and of the Independence of 

the United States the eighty-seventh. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
By the President: 

William H. Seward, 

Secretary of State. 



1863. Jan, 1. Recapture of Galves- 
ton. Late in December, after Gen. 
Banks had taken command of the Gulf 
Department, Commodore Renshaw, at 
his own request, was sent to effect the 
capture of Galveston. When he ap- 
peared before the city with three com- 
panies and six gunboats, the civil and 
military authorities fled to the mainland. 
Desirous of regaining the city, which was 
his only opening to the sea, Gen. Magru- 
der, from the Virginia Department of 
the confederate armies, made an attack, 
but was repulsed after a desultory en- 
gagement. His boat then arrived, and a 
naval battle was begun. Both the con- 
testing parties were severely worsted, but 
the federals were driven off with the loss 
of their commander. The steamer Har- 
rict Lane was captured by the confeder- 
ates after she had destroyed two or three 
of their best boats. The shore was once 
more repossessed by the confederates. 



1863-1868.] THE RETURN TO PEACE. 

DR. LYM±X BEECHER. 
1863. Jan. 10. Rev. Lyman Beecher, 
D. D., died at Brooklyn, N. Y., aged 
eighty-seven 3'ears. He was born in 
Nev^ Haven, Conn., Oct. 12, 1775. His 
early life and student cai"eer were passed 
in the same city, and in 1797 he com- 
pleted his theological course, by which he 
was made ready for the active work of 
the ministry. His first settlement was 
on Long Island, at East Hampton, at a 
salary of $300. This was increased by 
what his wife could obtain by teaching 
school. Attention soon began to be at- 
tracted toward the earnest and eloquent 
young preacher. He became pastor at 
Litchfield, Conn., in 1810, and soon 
widened his rejDutation throughout the 
whole country. He lived here till 1826, 
when he went to Hanover Street, Boston, 
for six years. While at Litchfield, Conn., 
he preached the six sermons which made 
him famous as a champion of temper- 
ance. In 1832 he was made president of 
Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, and remained 
such twenty years. This was his last 
professional work. He spent a time in 
Boston, and then went to live with his 
son, Henry Ward, at Brooklyn. His 
last days were days of physical \igor, but 
of great decline of mental power. Dr. 
Beecher was pronounced, vigorous, and a 
born leader. He was sensitive to nervous 
excitement in public speaking, and was 
obliged to work it off in some manual 
labor, or otherwise, when he returned to 
his house. He is said to have sometimes 
danced the " double shuffle " in the parlor, 
or to have shoveled sand in his cellar for 
this purpose. Sometimes he would take 
the violin, instead, and draw forth " Auld 
Lang Syne " from its strings. He lived 
a life of great usefulness. Of his chil- 
dren, Catharine E., Edward, Henry 



601 

Ward, Harriet E., Charles, and Thomas 
K., are all widely known. 



1863. Jan. 11. Capture of Arkansas 
Post. McClernand entered the Arkansas 
River and moved up fifty miles to Ar- 
kansas Post, where there was a confeder- 
ate fort garrisoned by five thousand. 
After a bombardment the fort surren- 
dered to a storming party, with a large 
amount of guns and ammunition. 

1863. Jan. 11. Banks' Raid through. 
Western Louisiana. General Banks de- 
termined to ravage a portion of the rich 
country in Western Louisiana. The ex- 
pedition left on the i ith of January, and 
after a march of four days arrived at 
Pattersonville, where there were eleven 
hundred confederates protected by a gun- 
boat. The confederates were beaten in 
a sharp battle, and their gunboat de- 
stroyed. The expedition was abandoned,, 
being almost a total failure. Banks con- 
centrated his army at Baton Rouge^ 
preparatory to running the batteries at 
Port Hudson, in conjunction with Far- 
ragut. 

1863. Jan. 26. Burnside Superseded 
by Hooker. Owing to general discord 
between General Burnside and his offi- 
cers, President Lincoln led him to give 
over his command to Gen. Hooker. 

1863. Jan. 31. The Army on the 
Rappahannock. The Army of the 
Potomac was very weak by the last of 
Januar}'. The weather was cold and 
blustering, and the roads impassable. 
The recent disasters of hard fighting and 
rough marshes had telling effect on the 
soldiers. However, a " Peace Faction " 
had been stirring up dissatisfaction, and 
the enemies of the government, at the 
north, called for a compromise of the two 
governments, after the unsuccessful cam- 



602 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



paigns of McClellan and Buell. Schem- 
ing politicians tried to raise a spirit of 
<_lisloyalty among the federal troops. But 
this was quelled by the vigilanfand ener- 
getic Hooker. The cavalry was thor- 
oughly organized into an efficient corps, 
which had never been done before. It is 
a curious fact that Hooker used to offer 
$5.00 for a dead cavalryman, but now 
the cavalry was no longer a useless ex- 
pense to the government. As soon as 
the roads permitted, the hitherto " laugh- 
ing stock of the army " made themselves 
severely felt in the way of daring raids 
within the confederate lines. Lee was 
also drilling and reorganizing his infantry, 
cavalry, and artillery. The cavalry re- 
taliated for the federal raids, and several 
bloody cavalry battles were fought during 
the two months following. Lee still held 
his position near Fredericksburg, which 
he strengthened by great earthworks. 

1863. Feb. 3. Attempt on Fort 
Donelson. The garrison at the fort was 
only six hundred Union soldiers, with 
five small cannon. Wheeler's force of 
nearly five thousand advanced in the 
morning, and demanded the surrender 
of the garrison; but Col. A. C. Harding 
refused, and maintained a gallant defence, 
until the gunboats came to his assistance, 
and dispersed the cavalry. 

1863. Feb. 9. Good for Evil. A 
ship named George Griswold which had 
sailed from New York with a cargo of 
food worth $300,000, contributed by 
New York merchants for the starving 
operatives of Lancashire, England, ar- 
rived at Liverpool. An American ship 
of war was sent with it as a convoy, be- 
cause of the danger upon the high seas 
arising from the confederate privateers, 
which had been fitted out by English 
supplies. 



THE SIOUX W^R. 
1863. Feb. 28. Execution of the 

Savages. In the autumn of 1S63 bands 
of hostile Sioux Indians, under Little 
Crow, committed the most barbarous 
massacres upon the white inhabitants of 
Minnesota and Dakota. Little Crow 
and his followers were incited to hostili- 
ties by confederate emissaries, who caused 
the Indians to become dissatisfied w^ith 
the transactions between themselves and 
the United States government. Over 
seven hundred whites fell victims to the 
savage tomahawk. Gen. H. H. Sibley, 
with a force of militia, then routed Little 
Crow at Wood Lake, and took five hun- 
dred prisonei"s. Three hundred of these 
were tried bv court martial, and sentenced 
to death. But President Lincoln inter- 
fered, and all but thirty-nine were re- 
leased. These were hung at Mankato, 
Minn., on this date. But the war did 
not end till three or four months later, 
when Gen. Pope dispersed and drove 
Little Crow's band into the Rocky 
Mountains. 



1863. March 4. The National Acad- 
emy of Arts and Sciences was foundctl 
by congress. The only money it has 
had was a legacy from Alexander Dallas 
Bache, and therefore It could not j^ubllsh 
much. 

THE IMPOSTOR GUKBO^T. 

1863. March, The confederates on 
the Mississippi had in'February captured 
the Union ram Queen of the West which 
had done them considerable harm, and 
the Indlanola, a large, powerful ironclad 
belonging to Porter's fleet. The last 
was disabled by a fierce attack from a 
confederate ram, aided by two gunboats. 
Her conquerors set at work to make her 
into a vessel for their own use, and would 



1863-1808.] THE RETURi\ 

have had a vakiable acldition to then- 
river armament. While they were doing 
1803. Marr/iio. j^ig^ Portcr riggcd up a 

Prince of Wales . ,. ^ a ^^ ^ 

marrud. I'^^'ge, disuscd flatboat, so as 

to resemble a ram in the darkness. Pork 
barrels were set up on its deck to imitate 
smoke-stacks. This successful imitation 
was sent upon its silent way, without a 
man, down past the Vicksburg batteries, 
where sharp eyes were on the watch. 
The whole force of guns was trained 
upon it. Not a sound came in reply. 
More of a monster did it seem for this. 
It was esteemed something which had 
no need to notice shot and shell. The 
Queen of the West fled swiftly. The 
Indianola had not yet been set afloat, and 
was blown to atoms to prevent her from 
being captured by the unknown. Just 
after she had been blown up, the real 
character of the strange visitor was dis- 
covered bv the confederates. 



TO PEACE. 



603 



1863. March 13. Banks and the 
Port Hudson Batteries. Gen. Banks 
sent twelve thousand troops to divert the 
attention of the forts at Port Hudson, 
while Farragut could run his boats by 
the batteries next morning. That night 
vv^as very dark, and Farragut concluded 
to do the work before daylight. The 
fleet consisted of four frigates, Ave gun- 
boats, and six mortars. The gunboats 
were lashed to the frigates, and all moved 
silently up the river. But they were 
seen, and a bonfire put them all into the 
light of day. Broadside after broadside 
was poured into them for an hour and 
a half, when the fleet withdrew, leaving 
the splendid frigate Mississippi in flames. 

1863. April 12. Banks' March to 
Red River. The devastation of the pro- 
ductive agricultural region west of the 
Mississippi again became Banks' aim 



after the failure at Port Hudson. He 
sent out a force which drove back the 
confederates as far as Pattersonville. 
Another force made a stand at Bisland, 
and dislodged the confederate general, 
Richard Taylor, who burnt several 
steamers, bridges, and transports of sup- 
plies, and fled. The Queen of the West 
was captiu'ed, and burnt by the confeder- 
ates. Banks was now with the expedi- 
tion, and pushed on and captured Alex- 
andria on the Red River. 

1863. April 17. Grierson's Cavalry 
Raid. While Grant was pounding away 
on the north of Vicksburg, his cavalry 
was scouring Western Mississippi. Grier- 
son started on a destructive raid from 
La Grange down through Ripley, Ma- 
con, Montrose, and Hazlehurst, halting 
at Baton Rouge. He swept around the 
rear of the confederates, through swamps 
and gulches, destroying telegraph, rail- 
road, and other property, arriving at Baton 
Rouge on May 2. The property de- 
stroyed amounted to six million dollars. 

1863. April 27. The steamer Anglo- 
Saxon was lost off Cape Race, with a 
loss of 237 lives. 

1863. April 28. The Veteran Re- 
serve Corps of the United States was 
organized among officers and soldiers 
who were rendered incapable of active 
service by wounds or disease, but who 
could do light duty in garrison and hos- 
pital service, or in the enlistment of men. 
This corps did much which otherwise 
able-bodied soldiers must have done. Its 
services were invaluable. Over 60,000 
men entered it at different times. 

"THE RESPO.YSIVE CHORD." 

1863. The following affecting inci- 
dent is given as it is told by a writer 
since the war: 



604 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



"In the early spring of 1S63, when the 
confederate and federal armies were con- 
fronting each other on the opposite hills 
of Stafford and vSpotts^dvania, two bands 
chanced one evening to discourse sweet 
music on either bank of the river. A 
large crowd of soldiers of both armies 
gathered to listen to the music, the 
friendly pickets not interfering, and soon 
the bands began to answer each other. 
First the band on the northern bank 
would play ' Star Spangled Banner,' 
' Hail Columbia,' or some other national 
air, and at its conclusion the ' boys in 
blue ' would cheer most lustily. And 
then the band on the southern bank 
would respond with ' Dixie,' or 'Bonnie 
Blue Flag,' or some other southern 
melody, and the boys in gray would 
attest their approbation with an ' old 
confederate yell.' But presently one of 
the bands struck up, in sweet and plaintive 
notes which were wafted across the beau- 
tiful Rappahannock, and were caught 
up at once by the other band and swelled 
into a grand anthem which touched every 
heart, ' Home, Sweet Home !' At the 
conclusion of this piece there went up a 
simultaneous shout from both sides of the 
river — cheer followed cheer, and those 
hills which had so recently I'esounded 
with hostile guns, echoed and re-echoed 
the glad acclaim. A chord had been 
struck responsive to which the hearts of 
enemies — enemies, then— cow\(S. beat in 
unison." 

1863. May 1. Battle of Port Gib- 
son. How to secure Vicksburg now 
puzzled Grant. A canal was started 
across Milliken's Bend, but an overflow of 
the river destroyed it. Another Yazoo 
expedition resulted in a failure, because 
of the difficulty of navigating the river. 



Finally, on the night of the 16th of April 
the transports were floated jDast the 
Vicksbm-g batteries inider cover of the 
smoke from the gunboats. The troops 
made a detour, and halted at New Car- 
thage. A five hours' siege of Grand 
Gulf proved fruitless, and the fleet was 
run past, as at Vicksburg, without much 
injury. A strong confederate force con- 
fronted the troops at Port Gibson. 
^VlcPherson steadily pushed back the 
confederate left, but his left was also 
impeded. After another struggle the 
confederates recoiled, and retired into 
Port Gibson, pursued by the federals. 
Night closed the battle, but the light of 
the following morning revealed a de- 
serted village. The confederates had 
fled, burning the bridges behind them. 

BATTLE OF CHtIXCELLORSVILLE. 

1863. May 2-3. On the 37th of 
^Vpril Hooker crossed the Rappahan- 
nock ten miles below Fredericksburg, 
leaving Gen. Sedgwick with three corps 
to mask the movement from Lee, and 
then take Fredericksburg at an oppor- 
tune moment. The roads were muddv, 
and the streams swollen by heavy rains. 
Hooker reached Chancellorsville on the 
southeast, and took post in the Wilderness. 
Lee discovered the movement in time 
and did not retreat toward Richmond, as 
was supposed. He prepared to fight. 
Aware of his peril in the Wilderness, 
Hooker ordered his army forward to 
meet Lee. The opposing columns came 
together just before noon on Alay ist, and 
the federals were driven back to their de- 
fence of breastworks and abatis at Chan- 
cellorsville. Hooker made preparation 
for a strong defense. At six o'clock on 
the evening of May 3d, Jackson burst 
through the forest like a terrible tornado, 



1863-1868.] 

and scattered the federal right like chaff, 
killing and capturing a great number. 
But the flying federals were soon rallied, 
and reformed, with a powerful support. 
A desperate struggle followed. It was 
while trying to follow up his advantage 
that Stonewall Jackson fell, having been 
shot in the twilight by some of his own 
men. It was a loss never made good to 
the confederacy. He died on the loth of 
May. His command devolved upon 
Gen. Stuart. The confederate leaders 
now thought best not to continue the at- 
tack, and withdrew. The federals also 
fell back. That night Hooker's force 
was increased to sixty thousand, while 
Lee had only forty thousand. Hooker 
constructed a new line of entrenchments 
for the inevitable attack on the following 
morning, and Lee massed his artillery on 
the heights commanding the federal 
lines. At dawn on the 3d Stuart ad- 
vanced to the attack. Slowly the fed- 
erals were crowded back to a second line 
of entrenchments, fighting desperately 
every step of the way. In the heat of 
this struggle, which lasted till noon, the 
federals were without a head. Hooker 
having been rendered senseless by the 
falling of a huge stone from the Chan- 
cellor House, caused by a shell from the 
confederate artillery. Hooker resumed 
command at noon. The federal army 
w^as now in a fair way to be captured or 
dispersed by its victors. But the confed- 
erates were also in an exceedingly critical 
condition. While the heavy fighting 
was going on at Chancellorsville, Sedg- 
wick had crossed the Rappahannock and 
took the heights at Fredericksburg by 
storm, driving Early's force back in dis- 
order. He was now about to fall upon 
Lee's rear. This was averted on the 4th. 
Early retook the heights, and Lee again 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



605 



turned his attention to the army in front. 
A heavy rain pre^•ented an attack on the 
5th, and on the following day Hooker 
returned to his old grounds, opposite 
Fredericksburg, followed by Lee. Thus 
ended a disastrous defeat of the federals, 
and a dear-bought victory of the confed- 
erates. The confederate loss was twelve 
thousand, including two thousand prison- 
ers. The federal losses were seventeen 
thousand men and twenty thousand stands 
of arms, besides an immense amount of 
ammunition. 



1863. May 3. Close of the Siege of 
Suffolk. Ever since the loss of their 
navy yard at Norfolk the confederates 
had been trying to regain that portion of 
Virginia. Early in April Lee started 
Longstreet off to Suffolk with thirty 
thousand troops to capture the federal 
army of fourteen thousand, under Gen. 
J. J. Peck. Many bold but vain attempts 
were made to take the place, and after a 
siege of one month Longstreet turned 
away disheartened, while Lee was win- 
ning a victory at Chancellorsville. 

1863. May 3. Stoneman's Cavalry 
Raid. Gen. Stoneman made an exten- 
sive raid through Virginia with 10,000 
cavalry. He moved with great celerity 
around by Culjoepper Court House and 
Gordonsville, destroying an immense 
amount of property and railway stock. 
But he failed in the great object of the 
expedition, to cut off Lee's communica- 
tion with Richmond. 

VALLAXDIGHAM'S ARREST. 

1863. May 4. Clement L. Vallan- 
digham, a citizen of Dayton, Ohio, was 
arrested for having made seditious 
speeches, and having entertained treason- 
able intentions. A proclamation had 



606 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



been issued by Gen. Burnside, whose dis- 
trict included Ohio, declaring that 
speeches or acts calculated to aid the con- 
federates woidd not be permitted. Val- 
landigham defied the proclamation by 
making the most bitter and inflammatory 
speeches. After his arrest he was tried 
by a court-martial, and sentenced to con- 
finement for the war. This was after- 
ward changed by an order that he be 
sent within the confederate lines, and if 
found again in northern territory that the 
penalty be executed. But the brave man 
deserted the South, fled to Nassau, thence 
to Canada, where he remained in com- 
parative peace. After his exile from 
Ohio his democratic friends of the Peace 
Faction nominated him for governor. 

COL OMBMX COXSTITl'TIOX. 

1863. May 8. A new constitution 
was proclaimed in the United States of 
Colombia, and a provisional government 
established under it, with ]Mosquera as 
provisional president till an election 
could be held. Religious liberty was 
granted, and church property confiscated 
by this constitution. The ire of the joope 
was aroused, and the repeal of the con- 
stitution tn-ged by an encyclical letter, but 
it was not obtained. Don Manuel Mu- 
rillo Toro was elected first president, 
and assumed the office April i, 1864. 
The term of office was limited to two 
years. 

1863. May. The " Credit Mobilier 
of America " was organized as a joint 
stock company ^vith a capital of $3,500,- 
000 to do a banking business. 

DR^FT DIFFICULTIES. 

1863. May 8. In accordance with 
an act of congress in 1862, and on ac- 



count of discouragements to volunteer- 
ing, produced by the Peace Faction, 
President Lincoln issued a proclamation 
ordering an enrolling board to be formed 
in each congressional district. The draft 
began in July. It created a great dis- 
turbance, and was strongly objected ta 
by the opposition party. The draft was 
also the occasion of a great riot in 
the city of New York. The news of 
Gettysburg and Vicksburg dismayed the 
leaders, and the insurgents were quieted. 
The stream of volunteers once more 
flowed freely. There is no doubt that 
the vSouth had hoped for very much from 
this I'cvolutionary resistance at the North. 

STOXEW>LLL .MCKSO.Y. 

1863. May 10. Gen. Thomas J. 
Jackson, familiarly known as " Stone- 
wall " Jackson, died at the Chandler 
House, at Guiney's Station, near Rich- 
mond, whither he had been carried after 
the battle of Chancellorsville. His 
wounds were owing to one of the sad 
casualties of war. After a terrible on- 
slaught made by his men upon Howard's 
eleventh corps at Chancellorsville, at a 
time when he considered a great gain 
made, he rode off with a few of his staff 
to plan still further movements. When 
riding back to the confederate lines, night 
\vas coming on, and he and his com- 
panions were thought to be imion scouts. 
They were therefore fired on by the con- 
federates, and Jackson received three 
balls, one in each hand, and another in 
the left arm below the elbow. The lat- 
ter broke the bone, and cut an artery. 
After a few minutes he was taken care 
of by his friends. His arm was shorth' 
after amputated, and the wounds would 
not have proved fatal, had not pneu- 
monia set in and carried him off as one. 



1863-1868.] 

of its victims. In his cooperation with 
Lee, Gen. Jackson was preeminent. His 
force and strategy were inestimable qual- 
ities in the confederate army, and his loss 
was severely felt. His moral convictions 
were deeply bound up in the confederate 
cause, and the spirit of leadership seemed 
to have waited for the civil war for the 
privilege of expression. He was born at 
Clarksburg, Va., Jan. 3i, 1834, and was 
therefore but 
thirty-nine yeai"s 
of age. He was 
a graduate of 
West Point in 
1846, and passed 
through the 
Mexican war 
with great hon- 
or. He was af- 
terward for some 
years preceding 
the civil war, a 
professor in the 
military acad- 
emy of Virginia, 
at Lexingto'n. 
He was a pro- 
fessing Christian, 
and was a deacon 
in a Presbyterian 
church. His 
moral tone was 
high, and his 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



607 




GENERAL STONEWALl. JACKSON PRAYING IN HIS TENT. 



prayers for the success of the confederate 
cause \vere frequent and intense. 



1863. May 14. Battle of Jackson, 

Miss. Having lost the battle of Port 
Gibson, the confederates evacuated Grand 
Gulf to avoid being flanked by AlcCler- 
nand. On the 12th McPherson met two 
brigades of confederates drawn up across 
the road near Ra^'mond. A sharp com- 



bat, ending in a bayonet charge by the 
federals, broke their lines, and they fled 
to Jackson. Grant ordered the remain- 
ing corps to Jackson, as Gen. J. E.John- 
ston was expected there. This was to 
get between Johnston and Pemberton, 
crush the latter at Vicksburg before 
Johnston could come to his aid, and thus 
leave no enemy in the rear of the fed- 
erals. Early on the morning of the 
14th McPherson 
pushed on and 
drove back the 
confederatcpick- 
ets, five miles 
from Jackson. 
Further on was 
a heavy force 
posted in a ra- 
vine, and on the 
brow of a hill. 
Against this Mc- 
Pherson made 
several vigorous 
attacks, but the 
confederates 
stood firm. A 
bayonet charge 
with loaded 
muskets caused 
them to abandon 
their stronghold, 
and fly to the 
entrenchments of 
The federals pursued a short 
when they halted. When 



the city, 
distance, 

they advanced again they found the city 
vacant. Sherman had approached from 
the oj^posite side, shelled the place, and 
had driven out the military and civil 
officers, who took with them most of the 
valuables of the state. The triumphant 
armies entered and found the stores and 
supplies all ablaze. The fugitives spared 



608 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



the deaf and dumb asylum, of which the 
federal troops took possession, and the 
flag of the Union waved over one more 
principal city of the confederacy. 

1863. May 16. Battle of Champion 
Hills. Johnston fled northward from 
Jackson, and asked Pembcrton's cooper- 
ation to crush the federal rear at Clinton. 
Ignorant of the disaster which had be- 
follen his chief at Jackson, Pemberton 
hastened towaixl Clinton on the 15th, 
with all possible speed. When he had 
gone as far as Champion Hills, Grant 
pounced down upon him and forced him 
into battle. The battle ground was on 
the Edward Station Road, with a hill on 
the left, covered by a dense forest. To 
reach the enemy the federals ascended a 
steep slope, in the face of a cutting 
shower of bullets. At eleven on the 
16th the battle was opened, and kept up 
for an hour and a half with desperation. 
At five o'clock in the evening Logan's 
division gave the finishing stroke to the 
victory by falling on the confederate left, 
and the whole army fell back in confu- 
sion. Pemberton ordered the retreat to 
continue across the Big Black. Grant 
vigorously pursued, capturing two thou- 
sand prisoners. 

1863. May 17. Battle on the Big 
Black River. After dark on the i6th 
the pursuit was abandoned, the federals 
having captured a railroad train laden 
with provisions. The confederates halted 
in a strong position across the river. On 
Sunday morning, the 1 7th, the pursuit was 
renewed. The confederate skirmishers 
were driven across the river in wild con- 
fusion. The panic was communicated to 
the main body on the opposite shore, and 
the whole army fled to the entrench- 
ments at Vicksburg, bvn'ning the bridges 
behind them. The sjDoils of the victory 



were fifteen hundred prisoners, several 
thousand stands of arms, and a large 
quantity of commissary stores. 

FREXCH I.y CITY OF MEXICO. 

1863. June 10. The reverses of the 
patriot army in Mexico were such as to 
enable the French to seize the caj^ital, 
which they did with great pleasure to 
themselves and to the church party. 
Juarez, without giving up the contest, 
removed his government to San Luis 
Potosi. He was steadily and firmly 
bound to free his country from danger. 



1863. June 15. Lee's Second In- 
vasion. Battle of Winchester. Lee 
felt that if Maryland and Pennsylvania 
could be foraged to fill the empty gran- 
aries of the confederacy, and a revolution 
be stirred up within the North, peace 
would follow at his own nai-iaes. 
dictation. It was not until w/iately. 

Lee had started on his raid that the 
people of the North fully comprehended 
the real state of affairs. The call for 
troops was then answered to the niunber 
of fifty thousand, of whom one-half were 
patriotic Pennsylvanians. Lee organized 
his army into three corps, commanded by 
Longstreet, Ewell, and A. P. Hill. He 
left Hill's corps to hold Fredericksburg, 
and put the remainder of the finest army 
ever mustered by the confederacy in a 
march to the North, on the 3d of June. 
He moved westward by Culpepper Court 
House, where Stuart's ca\alry was con- 
centrated. At Beverly Ford, on the 
Rappahannock, a brigade of his advance 
was defeated by Gen. Pleasanton, with 
his cavalry, which had been thrown out 
by Hooker to detect Lee's movements. 
But Pleasanton retreated, having ascer- 
tained that Lee was advancinpf in full 



1863-1868.] 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



609 



force on the federal riglit, and that 
Ewell was hurrying into the Shenandoah, 
Ewell marched rapidly westward for 
three days, and on the 15th confronted 
Milroy, who was at Winchester with ten 
thousand troops. Milroy desired to en- 
gage his antagonist; but, after a heavy 
skirmish against great odds, he was per- 
suaded by his council to make a hasty re- 
treat, with his wagon train, to Harrisburg. 
The Shenandoah was now cleared for 
the invaders, after the garrison at Har- 
per's Ferry moved across to Maryland 
Heights. 

1863. June 20. West Virginia was 
admitted into the Union as the thirt^^-fifth 
state. It has 23,000 square miles, and 
443,014 inhabitants in 1870. Its motto 
is " Montani semper liberi." " Moun- 
taineers are always free." 

BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 

1863. July 1-3. Lee kept Hooker 
blinded as to his intentions, and gained 
a week's start of him. Longstreet fol- 
lowed the advance corps of the invading 
army, by way of Culpepper Court House, 
and took post at Winchester. When 
Hooker perceived that he had been 
cheated, he instantly started after Lee, 
always careful to protect Washington. 
Satisfied that the way was clear after he 
flanked Hooker, Lee pushed rapidly on, 
unimpeded. No power from the Poto- 
mac to the Hudson seemed adequate to 
stay his onward march. City after city 
surrendered to the victorious Ewell, and 
the ultimate capture of Washington was 
most probable. People fled from Phila- 
delphia with their valuables, to places of 
safety. The people of Pennsylvania and 
Maryland now began to see the wisdom 
of the entreating addresses by Governor 
Curtin, and all classes flocked together. 



formed companies, regiments, brigades, 
and armies, and prepared for the defence 
of their firesides. In the meantime. Gen. 
Hooker was preparing to cut through 
the Blue Ridge Range and intercept Lee's 
retreat, all the while guarding W\ish- 
ington and Harper's Ferry. Hooker 
recommended the abandonment of the 
latter place in order to reinforce his army 
sufiicient to enable him to march against 
the audacious enemy. But General-in- 
chief Halleck sternly refused, and Hooker 
asked to be relieved. The request was 
granted; and on the 27th of June, Gen. 
George G. Meade was put in command. 
The removal of Hooker was a terrible 
blow to the soldiers of the Army of the 
Potomac, for he was greatl}^ respected 
by his men. But the noble veterans soon 
overcame their prejudices, and were again 
ready to defend the life of their country, 
which was then in great jDcril. Lee now 
became alarmed at his enem\', greatly 
augmented, on his flank, and immediately 
ordered a retrograde movement. In 
order to concentrate his force, he directed 
Ewell to fall back to Gettysburg, and 
Longstreet and Hill to advance on the 
Chambersburg road, through Gettysburg, 
toward Baltimore. Meade collected his 
army to sweejD the enemy from the midst 
of the terrified citizens, for he knew the 
movements then made would develop 
into a most sanguinary test battle. On 
the night of June 30th six thousand of 
Meade's cavalry, under Buford, arrived 
before Gettysburg. Several cavalry en- 
gagements and some heavy skirmishing 
had taken jDlace before this, but they 
were only gusts of wind proclaiming the 
terrible gale which was then brewing. 
The following morning the confederates 
attacked Buford; but by skillful move- 
ments he kept them in check till Rey- 

39 



610 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



nolds' corps, followed by Howard's, came 
to his relief. Reynolds opened the battle, 
but was struck by a ritle ball, and fell. 
Gen. Doubleday took his place. Neither 
commander had planned to have the 
battle at Gettysburg. Meade was arrayed 
at Pipe Creek, fifteen miles from Gettys- 
burg; while Lee stopped at Gettysburg 
as u base for defensive operations. By a 
heavy infantry charge, Doubleday was 
pushed back to Seminary Ridge, taking 
with him eight hundred prisoners. As 
he fell back through the village his 
troops became entangled in the streets, 
and three thousand of them were cap- 
tured. Both sides received reinforce- 
ments, and early in the afternoon the 
battle became severe. The federal line 
now extended three miles in length, in 
the form of a triangle. Having ranked 
Doubleday, Howard continued the re- 
treat to Cemetery Ridge, covered by 
Buford's cavalry. This ended the first 
day's battle. All that night troops kept 
arriving and taking their position by 
moonlight — the federals on Cemetery- 
Ridge, and the confederates on Seminary 
Ridge. On the morning of the 2d both 
commanders were loth to make an attack, 
Lee wishing to draw Meade from his 
strong position, and the latter being un- 
willing to leave it. The forenoon thus 
passed quietly away, with some skirmish- 
ing. By a mistake Sickles took a posi- 
tion on the left from Round Top, in front 
of Meade's intended line of battle. This 
was a bait, and Lee swallowed it. He 
directed Longstreet to crush this force, 
Ewell to attack the federal right, and 
Hill the center, thus securing Little 
Round Top. Meade was thus forced to 
support Sickles, who was finally forced 
back to Cemetery Ridge, after a desper- 
ate hand-to-hand struggle. Here Sickles 



stood firmly. Elated by this partial vic- 
tory the confederates rushed boldly up to 
the foot of the federal position, but were 
gallantly repulsed. By vigorous charges 
and counter-charges, Ewell succeeded in 
getting a foothold on Gulp's Hill, at ten 
o'clock that night. But at four o'clock 
in the morning he was assailed by the 
federal right, and forced back, after a 
four hours' struggle. Lee spent the re- 
mainder of the forenoon in prepai"ation 
for a tremendous blow on Meade's center. 
Batteries had been erected during the 
night, and at one o'clock Lee opened on 
Hancock's position with one hundred and 
fifteen guns. One hundred federal guns 
answered promptly. For two hours the 
air was alive with shells, the terrible 
explosions shaking the whole region. 
When the artillery firing ceased, the con- 
federates made a general advance, and a 
most deadly strife ensued. They scaled 
Cemetery Hill, but were hurled back, 
terribly maimed, with the loss of five 
thousand prisoners, and several thousand 
small arms. This was near sunset, and 
ended the battle of Gettysburg. Both 
armies were eighty thousand strong. 
The federal loss was twenty-three thou- 
sand. The confederate loss was never 
reported, but was estimated from reliable 
data at thirty-six thousand. Lee's con- 
dition was critical; and, ignorant of his 
opponent's condition, he began to retreat, 
both armies having lain on the battle 
ground over night. The retreat was 
continued toward the Potomac, in the 
midst of heavy rains, on the 5th. Lee 
was disheartened, and in great distress. 
His magnificent army was cut away one- 
half, and the other half worn out. The 
veterans who fell in windrows at Gettys- 
burg could never be replaced. The idea 
of northern invasion was now a thing of 



1863-1868.] 

the past. Lee drew up his army behind 
the Rapid Anna, to nurse it for a day of 
vengeance. The battle field presented 
an awful spectacle of death, desolation, 
and destruction. The stupendous tor- 
rents of artillery fire swept everything 
before them, plowing great ditches in 
the earth ; while the bayonet charges and 
heavy volleys of musketrv marked their 
courses with blood. This was the cul- 
minating battle of the wai". Meade 
buried his dead, cared for the wounded, 
and then slowly followed Lee. 

C:lPTrRE OF VICK8BURG. 

1863. July 4. By the 19th of May 
Grant had completely invested Vicks- 
burg — Sherman and McPherson having 
positions on Walnut Hills, near Chicka- 
saw Bayou, and McClernand on the 
south, at Mount Albans. By a skillful 
and timely mancEuver, Porter changed 
Grant's base of supplies from Grand 
Gulf to the Yazoo. Gi"ant resolved to 
capture Vicksburg before Johnston could 
collect an army large enough to fall upon 
his rear, and then drive Johnston out 
of Western Mississippi. Sherman was 
ordered to make an attack straightway, 
which he did, at two o'clock in the after- 
noon of the 19th. The object of attack 
was Fort Hill, out of Vicksburg, on the 
Jackson road. But the garrison of the 
fort poured such a brisk fire into the 
federal lines, that the latter were worsted, 
and withdrew at nightfall. Grant then 
concluded to make a general attack along 
his whole line of twelve miles. Two 
days were consumed in preparation. 
On the morning of the 2 2(1 of May 
Grant took a position in front, where he 
could see all of the operations, and gave 
orders to take the city by storm, while 
Porter should shell it from the river. 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



611 



The batteries on the land side opened 
at the appointed time, but without much 
effect. The assault was kept up un- 
flinchingly all day, but resulted in a 
heavy loss to the federals. The gun- 
boats and mortars in the river had pelted 
the city terribly. At dark the land 
troops fell back, leaving pickets to guard 
their fruits of the day. McClernand was 
removed, and replaced by Gen. Ord. 
Grant now determined on a regular 
siege; and to make sure of the capture, 
called aid from Memphis and the armv 
in Missouri. His army now numbered 
nearly thirty thousand. Pemberton was 
completely shut up, with his provisions 
and ammunition extremely limited. The 
presence of an enemy had begun to tell 
upon the garrison of fifteen thousand, 
and the gunboats were shedding terror 
and distress over the occupants of the 
besieged city. Pemberton called loudly 
to Johnston for aid ; but that officer 
lay helpless with his demoralized armv. 
Gen. Gardner, too, at Port Hudson, was 
sorely oppressed by Banks, who had re- 
turned from the Red River investment. 
A month was well spent by the federal 
army in drawing closer and closer to 
Vicksburg, digging underground roads, 
covering the surrounding eminences with 
batteries, and sucking the vitals from the 
garrison. Meantime life in the besieged 
city had become most perilous. The 
inhabitants and garrison sought shelter 
in caves and burrows, away from the 
terrible iron storm which incessantly 
swept the streets. In a word, the occu- 
pants had been "driven into the ground," 
and subsisted on one meal a day. Mean- 
while an encounter of no small impor- 
tance occurred at Milliken's Bend. John- 
ston was impatient, and made great 
efforts to aid Pemberton. In Western 



C12 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



Louisiana Gen. Taylor had recovered 
from the blow dealt him by Banks; and 
Henry McCuUoch had arrived from Mis- 
souri. On the 6th of June McCuUoch 
fell on a brigade of colored troops at 
Milliken's Bend, in the height of his rage. 
The colored troops stood their ground 
nobly, aided by a detachment of Porter's 
fleet. McCuUoch ordered a bayonet 
charge with the cry of " No quarter," 
which resulted in a desperate hand-to- 
hand fight, and a repulse of the confeder- 
ates. Finally, Pemberton became sick 
at heart, as the horrors of the siege in- 
creased, and suggested to Johnston that 
he propose some terms to Grant, by 
which the oppressed garrison might pass 
out ; but Johnston refused, because it 
would show their weakness. But this 
weakness had already been divulged to 
Grant by a treacherous messenger, who 
carried a message from Pemberton to 
him instead of Johnston. On the 23d of 
June Johnston had gathered sujDport 
enough to attempt a cooperation with 
Pemberton in an effort to cut his way 
out; but Sherman crossed his path, and 
run him back to Jackson. Three days 
afterward Grant's first powder mine 
was completed, and fired under Fort 
Hill, dealing death and destruction. Ex- 
plosions were of almost daily occurrence 
there, until the whole vicinity seemed to 
be at the point of being blown into frag- 
ments. The food of the citizens w^ho 
escaped the explosions was now reduced 
to a small quantity of mule meat. 
Nature's demands were pressing hard 
upon the beleaguered. Pemberton was 
forced to yield, and on the 3d of July 
proposed terms of capitulation, " to save 
the further effusion of blood, which must 
otherwise be shed to a frightful extent." 
Grant replied that the " effusion of blood " 



could be stopped at any time, by an 
unconditional surrender; that no other 
terms would be accepted. Early on the 
morning of the Fourth of July, after an 
interview with Gen. Grant on the previ- 
ous evening, Pemberton wrote to Grant, 
asking a slight modification of the terms 
of surrender. Grant partially complied, 
with a demand for immediate acceptance 
of his terms, or he would open fire. 
Pemberton accepted. The ceremonies 
were performed, and the flag of the 
Union was raised over the city, after a 
siege of forty-five days, once more com- 
memorating the nation's birthday. The 
blow was disastrous to the confederacy, 
but with the victory at Gettysburg it was 
the cause of much joy at the north. It 
brought great reputation for Grant, who 
had acted contrary to the wishes of the 
General-in-chief at Washington. The 
total loss of the campaign to the federal 
army "was nearly ten thousand, of whom 
one thousand were killed. The confed- 
erate loss was over ten thousand. The 
total capture was thirty -seven thousand 
prisoners, immense amounts of arms 
{during the whole campaign), munitions 
of war, public property, etc., etc. 



1863. July 9. Surrender of Port 
Hudson. From Vicksburg Grant sent 
Gen. Herron to aid Banks. Port Hud- 
son was the last feeble link which con- 
nected the chain of confederate states. 
It had been completely invested on the 
34th of May, and three days later an 
assault was made on the confederate 
works, under cover of a spirited fire from 
the artillery and navy. Hour after hour 
passed away in mortal combat. The 
colored troops held an important position 
on the right, and won for themselves even 
greater credit than at Milliken's Bend. 



1863-1808.] 

The confederates were slowly pushed 
back behind the parapets, but left the 
mark of their guns in the federal ranks. 
Night closed the first struggle of the 
siege. Banks worked against great dis- 
advantages, and was in the midst of im- 
minent danger. Johnston might sweep 
around Grant's rear and crush him, 
while small forces were rapidly gather- 
ing, which might collect at any time, and 
prove disastrous to his plan ; and in his 
front was an equal force, with superior 
advantages. On the iith of June he 
made an attempt to plant his lines closer 
to the confederate works, but failed, hav- 
ing reached the abatis. Day antl night 
the federals kept up an incessant fire 
with their ponderous artillery. Again, 
on the 14th, Banks ordered the confeder- 
ate w^orks to be taken by storm, after 
demanding an unconditional surrender 
from Gardner, following the example of 
Grant at Vicksburg. Gardner's supplies 
and ammunition were now getting low, 
and everything was in an exhausted con- 
dition; but he refused, vainly expecting 
aid from Johnston. The siege wore on 
after the fashion of the Vicksburg siege. 
The long, gaunt fingers of famine were 
reaching out over the garrison, mules 
and rats furnishing their meat. " V^icks- 
burg has surrendered!" was the death- 
knell to the hopes of the besieged. On 
the 9th of July six thousand, four hun- 
dred prisoners of war marched out as the 
victims of a formal surrender. Nearly 
eleven thousand prisoners had been taken 
during the campaign. The last barrier 
to the navigation of the Mississippi was 
now removed, and its removal was hailed 
with acclamations all over the North. 
Occurring just after the surrender of 
Vicksburg and the great battle of Gettys- 
burg, it was the turning point of the war. 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



613 



On the other hand, the confederates' 
prophets foretold a speedy recovery of 
all that had been lost, and the establish- 
ment of their sfovernment. 



1863. 



MEXICO AK EMPIRE. 

July 10. After the French 



army entered the City of Mexico, a con- 
vention of " notables " was called, and 
the. question of government discussed. A 
vote was finally passed at this date bv a 
vote of 250 to 30 to establish an empire, 
with a hereditary monarchy. It was de- 
cided to offer the crown to some Roman 
Catholic prince, and the Archduke Maxi- 
milian, of Austria, was selected. He did 
not reach Mexico till the following year. 
In the meantime the war was still carried 
vigorously on. 

1863. July. Montes, president of 
Honduras, was overthrown by Gen. Me- 
dina. The republic had been involved 
in discords since 1839. Comparative 
peace has now existed for most of the 
time since. 

DR^FT RIOT LY KEW YORK. 

1863. July 13-15. In accordance 
with orders from the national govern- 
ment, a draft was begun over the coun- 
tr}-, and a great riot broke out in New 
York, and for three days raged uncon- 
trolled. The building where the draft 
had begun, was burned down, and a great 
crowd at once went to plundering houses 
and stores, maltreating citizens, and defy- 
ing all law and order. Colored persons 
were killed, and an orphan asylum, con- 
taining two hundred colored children, 
was completely destroyed. Attempts to 
suppress the riots were made by Go\-. 
Seymour, who undertook to conciliate 
the crowd by opposing the draft, but it 



614 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



was to no purpose. An end did not 
come till troops began to arrive, and 
take severe measures in aid of the police. 
A thousand persons were killed and in- 
jured. Riots occurred in other cities, but 
not to such an extent. Drafts were after- 
ward held in New York without any 
difficulty. 

1863. July 15. Thanksgiving Proc- 
lamation. President Lincoln issued a 
proclamation, bidding the people observe 
Aug. 6th as a day of national thanksgiv- 
ing in gratitude for the turn of the war 
by the victories of Gettysburg and 
Vicksburg. 

stim h oust ox. 

1863. July 25. Gen. Sam Houston 
died at Huntersville, Texas, aged seventy 
years. He was born near Lexington, 
Va., March 3, 1793. His father died 
when Sam was ten years old, and the 
widow, with her eight children, moved to 
East Tennessee. This son seems to have 
had a fondness for reading and study, 
which was never gratified. His mental 
powers were good, and his memory 
especially, was excellent. His physical 
condition was one of fine development. 
When he was disappointed in his studies, 
and had found himself averse to any 
ordinary service as clerk, he ran oflf and 
lived with the Indians for three years. 
He gained the friendship of the Indians, 
and as late as 1829 was admitted to all 
the rights of the Cherokee nation. In 
the meantime he had gone through the 
war of I Si 3 with honor, and then had 
interested himself m Indian affairs. This 
interest he maintained during his life, and 
was of great service to his red friends. 
In the movements which led to the inde- 
pendence of Texas, Mr. Houston was 
prominent, and had great influence in 



shaping events. He was a chief leader 
in the war which followed, and at San 
Jacinto led his eight hundred men in an 
irresistible charge against one thousand 
six hundred Mexican regulars, almost 
annihilating them. He served as presi- 
dent of Texas during two terms, and 
conducted affairs with great wisdom. At 
the admission of Texas to the Union, 
Mr. Houston was elected a U. S. senator, 
which position he held till 1859. He 
firmly opposed the Kansas-Nebraska bill, 
and always tried to secure justice for the 
Indian tribes. In 1859 he was elected 
governor of Texas, but being wholly in 
favor of the Union, he was led by the 
clamor of the people for secession in 1861, 
to resign his office. He was a man of 
strong convictions and wise judgments. 



1863. July 26. Capture of the 
Guerilla Chief Morgan. During the 

months of June and July the famous 
guerilla chief, J. H. Morgan, made an 
extensive raid through Ohio and Indiana. 
With four thousand mounted and armed 
men he dashed through the country from 
place to place, plundering property, and 
committing ravages on the surprised and 
defenceless people, for his own private 
benefit. But the Home Guards soon rose 
up to environ his path. At Kyger's 
Creek all but five hundred of his fol- 
lowers were captured by General Hobbs, 
Morgan, himself, made good his escape 
with the fugitives, but was taken with 
them at New Lisbon, Ohio, by Col. 
Shackleford. The chief was confined 
in a Columbus prison for a few days, but 
escaped and fled to Richmond, where he 
was appointed a major-general, and sta- 
tioned in Southwestern Virginia. 

1863. Aug. 13. Quantrell's Raid 
and Massacre at Lawrence, Kan. The 



1863-1868.] 

secessionists in Arkansas and Missouri 
took occasion to rally. Marmaduke 
made a raid through Southwestern Mis- 
souri, and Coffee through Arkansas. 
One Quantrell, with three hundred fol- 
lowers, entered the town of Lawrence, 
Kan., at dawn on the 13th of August, 
and, after brutally murdering its defence- 
less citizens, fired the town and fled. 
This kind of warfare was kept up inces- 
santly by the confederates. 

1863. Sept. 7. Siege of Charleston, 
S. C. Evacuation of Fort Wagner. 
Gen, T. W. Sherman held Edisto Island, 
a short distance below Charleston, and 
Admiral Dupont prepared to cooperate 
with the land f3rces under Gen. Hunter. 
Dupont had such confidence in his iron- 
clads and monitors that he attempted 
to run the gauntlet of Fort Sumter. 
But when the shots from the fort 
increased to the rapidity of the tick 
of a watch, the iron-clads had little 
effect on the fort, and they soon 
floated off beyond the range of its guns. 
In June, another naval battle, similar to 
the one betv/een the Merrimac and 
Monitor, took place in Warsaw Sound 
between the Wce/iazv^cn, a monitor, and 
the confederate iron-clad Atlanta. The 
Weehawken, much smaller than her 
powerful antagonist, was assisted by sev- 
eral other iron-clads; but before they 
could come to her aid she captured the 
Atlanta. This completed the triumph 
of vessels of the monitor class. Gen. Q. 
A. Gillmore then succeeded Gen. Hunter, 
and Rear-Admiral J. A. Dahlgren took 
charge of the naval forces, instead of A. 
H. Foote, who had died on his way to 
relieve Dupont. Two unsuccessful at- 
tempts were made on Fort Wagner, 
owing to the heavy fire from Sumter. 
Heavy siege guns were then placed in 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



615 



line, and a desperate attempt was made 
by the land troops to seize the fort, but 
they were repulsed by the overwhelming 
numbers of the confederates, with great 
loss, especially in the colored regiments. 
Batteries were erected, and a heavy 
bombardment was carried on. An eight- 
inch gun, called the " Swamp angel," was 
mounted on spiles driven into the mud in 
the marsh west of Morris Island. It 
threw shells five miles into Charleston, 
but soon burst, and its labors ceased. 
Finally Gillmore ordered the fort to be 
taken by storm, but the confederates 
evacuated it on the 7th of September, 
after a bombardment of three weeks. 
The federals occupied it, taking posses- 
sion of nineteen guns. Meanwhile, 
Charleston had been copiously shelled, 
and Fort Sumter was reduced to a shape- 
less mass. On the day after the cajoture 
of Fort Wagner an attempt was made 
to occupy Sumter, but it ended in defeat. 
1863. Sept. 10. Surrender of Lit- 
tle Rock. Grant sent a ises. Sept. 22. 
force to capture Little ^- ^'"''"' ''«« 

^ so jntles in 6 h., 

Kock. Ihey entered the nm., at London. 
city, which formally surrendered, and 
drove back Price and Marmaduke, who 
had returned from Missouri. 

1863. Sept. 19-20. Battle of Chick- 
amauga ("River of Death.") Rose- 
crans kept comparatively quiet, awaiting 
an opportunity to strike Bragg a stunnino- 
blow. In June the opportunity came, 
while Lee was engaged in Pennsylvania, 
and the other Southern armies were held 
in subjection by Grant. Bragg held a 
strong position on Duck River, south of 
Murfreesboro'. By successive deceptive 
measures, Rosecrans caused Bragg to 
evacuate his strong position, and flee to 
Chattanooga ; and then waited till the 
crops were sufiiciently grown to furnish 



616 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



forage, before he pressed the j^uisuit. 
In August he began to manocuver for the 
capture of Chattanooga. His force was 
sixty thousand; Bragg's about foity thou- 
sand. Fi-om their imposing display 
Bragg supposed that Gen. Hazen's brig- 
ades, whicli were gaining his rear, were 
tlie advance of an immense army, and 
abandoned Chattanooga, again retreating 
on the Sth and 9th of September. Gen. 
Burnsidc, who held command of the 
Army of the Ohio, moved with great 
celerity through Kentucky and East 
Tennessee, sending a part of his com- 
mand to Grant's aid. He captured 
Cumberland Gap, and on the 9th joined 
Rosecrans. Meanwhile, Buckner had 
joined Bragg, increasing his force to 
sixty thousand. The possession of Chat- 
tanooga was now of vital importance to 
both armies. The prisoners paroled by 
Grant at Vicksburg, were taken to 
swell Bragg's ranks, in violation of all 
civilized law. Longstreet also joined 
Bragg's army, and his force was raised 
to eighty thousand. Thinking Bragg to 
be in full retreat, and ignorant of the fact 
that he had received, instead of having 
sent away, troops, Rosecrans began 
opei'ations to flank the flying arm}", 
scatteinng his army over a large space 
of country. When he perceived his 
peril, he rapidly concentrated his army 
before Bragg in the Chickamauga Val- 
ley. On the I Sth there was some skir- 
mishing, but both commanders were too 
busily engaged preparing for the evident 
battle, to engage deeply. Bragg pur- 
sued the same plan as at Murfreesboro', 
massing on the right ; but Rosecrans 
made such a wise disposition of his army 
on the night of the 18th, that the execu- 
tion of it ^vas prevented. On the follow- 
ing morning Thomas, commanding the 



federal left, was informed that a confed- 
erate brigade was across the Chicka- 
mauga Creek, apparently alone. An 
attempt, to seize this, resulted in a battle. 
By ten o'clock the armies were heavily 
engaged. A furious charge by the fed- 
erals drove the confederates back a mile 
and a half. But they rallied, and in turn 
drove the federals. Batteries were taken 
and retaken, and prisoners were taken 
from both lines. Darkness closed the 
first day's battle, which was indecisive. 
A heavy fog and some derangements 
prevented an immediate attack in the 
morning. When the fog lifted, Bragg's 
troops were massed on the right, ready 
to push between the federal army and 
Chattanooga. Troops were drawn from 
the federal center and right, to aid the 
left. Longstreet perceived this, and at 
an opportune moment swept the federal 
right and center from the field, capturing 
Rosecrans himself. With nearly one- 
half the Union troops in his command, 
Thomas now held the fate or fortune of 
the whole army in his hands. If he gave 
way, the Army of the Cumberland would 
be routed. But the " Rock of Chicka- 
mauga " stood unshaken by brigade after 
brigade hurled against him, until sunset. 
At night he withdrew to the entrench- 
ments at Chattanooga, leaving his dead 
and wounded on the field. The federal 
loss in this engagement was about six 
thousand, but their strength had heen 
expended in the slaughter of a much 
greater number — nearl}' twenty-one thou- 
sand confederates. 

1863. Oct. 15. Battle of Bristow 
Station and Movements in Virginia. 
For some time after the battle of Gettys- 
burg Lee and Meade remained passive. 
While Lee was conducting his retreat, 
he made a feint to return up the Shcnan- 



1863-1868.] 

doah, but it was counteracted by the pru- 
dent and cautious Meade, who moved 
back over the same route whence Hooker 
had come. He moved to the Rappahan- 
nock, when Lee retired to Culpepper 
Court House. Longstreet's corps was 
then taken from Lee's army to assist 
Bragg in the West, and two corps of 
Meade's army, under Gen. Hooker,were 
sent to the Army of the Cumberland. 
In October Lee attempted a demonstra- 
tion on Washington. He successfully 
turned Meade's flanks and pushed him 
back nearly to Manassas. At Bristow's 
Station, Gen. Warren, with a corps from 
Meade's army, defeated Hill's corps, tak- 
ing five hundred prisoners. Meade then 
advanced toward the Rappahannock. At 
Rappahannock Station, Sedgwick met 
Ewell and captured sixteen hundred of 
his men, with a loss of three hundred. 
Lee became alarmed at this proximity of 
the federals, and again retreated across 
the Rapid Anna to Mine Run, where he 
prepared for winter quarters. Meade 
crossed the Rappahannock, and made 
Brandy Station a depot of supplies. His 
army now numbered seventy thousand; 
that of Lee, fifty thousand. He resolved 
to strike the confederates a severe blow 
as soon as prudence would allow, and 
Late in November moved toward Lee's 
new position. He advanced and con- 
fronted Lee on the 27th, but found his 
position too strong to make a battle prof- 
itable. Meade's supplies were too low 
for an extended engagement; so he re- 
treated to his old camping ground, and 
went into winter quarters. During the 
summer and fall of '63 there was consid- 
erable skirmishing in West Virginia; but 
by the last of November all organized 
hostilities in that state ceased, and it was 
abandoned to the government, to which 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 617 

it had been admitted on the 20th of the 



previous June. 

1863. Oct. 16. Military Affairs in 
the West. On the i6th of October an 
order was sent out from the War Depart- 
ment, directing the consolidation of the 
Armies of the Ohio, Cumberland, and 
Tennessee, with Grant as commander. 
By the same order Sherman was ap- 
pointed commander of the Tennessee 
army, and Thomas succeeded Rosecrans, 
who was relieved. This step was neces- 
sary in order to cope w^ith the confeder- 
ates, who were sparing no efforts to seize 
Chattanooga. Previous to this, and after 
the battle of Vicksburg, Grant sent 
Sherman to drive Jolmston from Western 
Mississippi. Sherman drove Johnston 
from Jackson on the loth of July. 
While there the Union soldiers committed 
depredations which brought a great 
blemish on their characters. Sherman 
then returned to Vicksburg, and cast up 
works for the defense of the city. In- 
stead of sending Herron to assist Banks 
at Port Hudson, Grant ordered him back 
up the Yazoo, just as Port Hudson was 
surrendered. Herron made a successful 
expedition, taking a number of prisoners, 
and two thousand bales of cotton. About 
this time Gen. Holmes, with eight thou- 
sand troops, the remnants of decimated 
confederate armies, attempted to capture 
Helena, in Ai'kansas. But Gen. Prentiss 
was there with a large garrison, and 
sorely smote the confederates, killing 
about one-third of the entire army. 

BEECH ER LV EKOLAKD. 

1863. Oct. 20. The famous speeches 
of Henry Ward Beecher, in England, in 
behalf of the American government, 
closed with one in Exeter Hall, London, 
which will hold several thousands of peo- 



618 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



pie. The crowd upon the occasion, not 
only filled the hall so densely that police- 
men were obliged to carry Mr. Beecher 
in on their shoulders, but filled the streets 
outside with thousands. Mr. Beecher 
had spoken at Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liv- 
erpool, and other places, in each doing a 
great work for the Union. In Liverpool, 
especially, he fought the ojDposition of a 
rough audience, and finished his speech 
in spite of great turbulence, and many 
interruptions. The efiect of his visit 
was lasting. His arguments carried con- 
victions to hundreds of vacillatinsf hearts. 



1863. October. Several steam rams 

built in England by Laird, for the con- 
fedei"ate states, were seized by the Eng- 
lish government. 

BOSTON MUSIC H^LL ORG±V. 
1863. Nov. 2. The greatest organ 
then on this continent, was inaugurated 
in Music Hall, Boston, for which it had 
been built after seven years' study and 
oversight on the part of a committee 
appointed to procure it. The audience, 
at the inauguration, filled the vast hall, 
and hailed the instrument with delight. 
This organ is sixty feet high, forty -eight 
feet wide, and twenty-four feet deep. Its 
cost was nearly $6o,ooo. It was built in 
Germany by Herr Walcker, of Lud- 
wigsburg. There are nearly six thou- 
sand pipes within it. 



1863. Nov. 3. The Fenian broth- 
erhood held their first national congress 
at Chicago. The organization had 
spread all over the United States, and 
through the Union army. About 15,000 
Fenians were represented in this as- 
sembly, which declared James Stephens 
to be the " head center." It took meas- 



ures to raise money, and perfect the 
organization. 

LINCOLN'S GETTYSBURG SPEECH. 

1863. Nov. 19. A national cemetery 
was consecrated upon the battle field of 
Gettysburg, at which a large number 
were present. Edward Everett deliv- 
ered an oration, and President Lincoln 
made a short speech, which has passed 
into the treasured literature of the nation. 
He spoke as follows: 

" Fourscore and seven years ago our 
fiithers brought forth upon this continent 
a new nation, conceived in liberty, and 
dedicated to the proposition that all men 
are created equal. 

" Now we are engaged in a great civil 
war, testing whether that nation, or any 
nation so conceived and so dedicated, can 
long endure. We are met on a great 
battle field of that war. We are met to 
dedicate a portion of it as the final resting 
place of those who here gave their lives 
that that nation might live. It is alto- 
gether fitting and proper that we should 
do this. 

" But in a larger sense we cannot dedi- 
cate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot 
hallow this ground. The brave men,, 
living and dead, who struggled here, have 
consecrated it far above our power to 
add or detract. The world will little 
note nor long remember what we say 
here, but it can never forget what they 
did here. It is for us, the living, rather 
to be dedicated here to the unfinished 
work that they have thus far so nobly 
carried on. It is rather for us to be here 
dedicated to the great task remaining be- 
fore us — that from these honored dead 
we take increased devotion to the cause 
for which thev gave the last full measure 
of devotion — that we here highly resolve 



1863-1868.] 

that the dead shall not have died in vain, 
that the nation shall, under God, have a 
new birth of freedom, and that the gov- 
ernment of the people, by the people, and 
for the people, shall not perish from the 
earth." 

1863. Nov. 20. Ecuador declared 

war upon Gen. Mosquera, president of 
New Grenada, because he had tried to 
bring the former back into the recon- 
structed republic of Colombia. The 
collision resulted in the total and decisive 
defeat of the army of Ecuador, with a 
loss of 1,500 killed, and 2,000 taken 
prisoners. The war was not renewed. 

1863. Nov. 23-25. Battle of Chat- 
tanooga. After the battle of Chicka- 
mauga, Bragg closed the Army of the 
Cumberland and threatened it with star- 
vation. The federal communication was 
cut, and the supplies were low, when 
Grant arrived, secured the source of sup- 
plies, and added Hooker's and Sherman's 
corps to the army. Aflfairs soon changed. 
Bragg had sent Longstreet to operate 
against Burnside in East Tennessee; 
and was now compelled to assume at 
once a defensive attitude on Lookout 
Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and in the 
Chattanooga valley. In the meantime 
great preparations Were inade by Bragg 
for a protracted siege. Several recon- 
noitering parties were sent out, and 
many skirmishes took place. Grant 
finally developed a general plan for at- 
tacking the confederate position. On the 
23d Thomas dashed out under cover of a 
heavy artillery fire from the guns at 
Chattanooga, and seized Orchard Knob. 
This resulted in an immediate battle, 
with a victory for the federals. Bragg 
was now puzzled. The next morn- 
ing Hooker chargfed the fortifications 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 619 

on the mountain. It was a beau- 



tiful day, and crowds of sjDCctators 
were eagerly watching the movements, 
and waiting their results. The bands dis- 
coursed their liveliest music, and the men 
were dressed in their best uniforms, as if 
on a parade. Hooker ordered his men 
to charge up the ascent, and make a 
stand when they reached the high ground ; 
but enveloped by the glow and enthusi- 
asm of the attack, and the grandeur of 
the " battle above the clouds," they rushed 
up over the summit, sweeping every- 
thing before them. During this time 
Sherman was making furious assaults on 
the right. On the following morning 
Hooker advanced on the south of Mis- 
sionary Ridge, to aid Sherman. Bragg 
made a draft on his center to repel these 
attacks. Grant perceived this and j^ushed 
Thomas' corps forward to annihilate the 
enemy's center, with orders to take the 
rifle pits at the foot of Missionary Ridge, 
then halt, and reform. But, carried away 
by the ai-dor of the charge, they swept 
forward in broken lines, up the slope, 
over rocks and chasms, heedless of 
the tempest of bullets hurled into their 
faces. While this was enacting, Grant 
caught the inspiration and ordered a 
grand charge along the whole line. 
This was promptly executed. The fed- 
erals rushed up to the batteries on the 
summit, captured them, and turned them 
on the retreating foe. That night the fed- 
eral camp fires on the mountains pro- 
claimed a brilliant victory. Grant or- 
dered an immediate pursuit. At Ring- 
gold Bragg's rear made a feeble resist- 
ance, and then fled. But the pursuit was 
soon abandoned, because Burnside was 
being crowded by Longstreet, and needed 
aid. Grant's loss was nearl}^ six thou- 
sand. Bragg's loss, including prisoners. 



620 



NATIONAL CRISES, 



was about nine thousand, with the usual 
loss of arms and provisions. Could 
Grant have followed up this victory the 
entire confederate army would have 
been captured or cut up in detail. As 
it was, another door, besides that at 
Vicksburg, was opened into the heart of 
the confederacy. 

:iXDERSOXriLLE. 

1863. Nov. 27. A confederate mili- 
tary prison \vas this day established by 
Capt. W. S. Winder, at Andersonville, 
Ga., on the side of a small hill which 
had a stream running past its foot. A 
strong stockade was built, and a band of 
earthworks established around it. The 
famous " dead-line " was a low rail 
running around the prison ground about 
nineteen feet from the stockade, on the 
inside. The object of it was to prevent 
any prisoner from coming near the stock- 
ade for the pvu'pose of escaping over it. 
The whole number of prisoners regis- 
tered here was 49,485. The full number 
of deaths recorded was 12,462. On Aug. 
9, 1S64, there were 33,006 prisoners 
there. The number of escaping prison- 
ers was 328. The confederates investi- 
gated the condition of the prison at dif- 
ferent times, bv medical examiners. 
Henry Wirz was In charge of the prison 
as superintendent. At the close of the 
war the cemetery was taken in charge 
by the national government, and laid 
out with care. 

1863. Dec. 4. Close of the Siege of 
Knoxville. When Longstreet departed 
for East Tennessee, Grant oixlered Burn- 
side to lure the confederate leader away 
as far as possible, while the siege of 
Chattanooga was going on, and halt for 
a siege in some vicinity which could 



furnish him plenty of supplies. Burnside 
succeeded in drawing Longstreet as far 
away as Knoxville, where Longstreet 
shut him up. Longstreet's men were 
now In a deplorable state — ragged, half- 
fed, and without any tents. Yet he 
pressed the siege with great faith, hoping 
to starve the entrenched army. Burnside 
had but one avenue for supplies, across 
a pontoon bridge, and this was finally 
cut off. But he struggled manfully, con- 
fident that Grant would send him prom- 
ised aid. When the news of the battle 
of Chattanooga reached Knoxville, Long- 
street raised the siege; for he knew that 
troops from that source would soon 
be upon him. Gen. Granger, with 
twenty thousand men, was ordered to 
Burnside's relief. Sherman was also 
sent, to make sure of success. At the 
appearance of these troops Longstreet's 
army filed out of their earthworks, on 
the 4th of December, thus closing the 
siege of Knoxville. This practically 
ended the third year of the war. The 
federals had won victories in the battles 
and campaigns of Vicksbui"g, Gettysburg, 
Chattanooga, and Port Hudson ; had 
opened the Mississippi, and had won to 
the Union large portions of many seceded 
states. It was now plain that If Lee, 
In Virginia, and Jos. E. Johnston, in 
Georgia, were captured, the isn-iS63. 

December 24. 

confederates would be eiiect- Thackeray. 
ually conquered. To accomplish this 
the federal armies were to move In con- 
cert. The confederates had gained the 
great battles of Chancellorsville and 
Chickamauga, resisted every attack on 
Charleston, and had seized the city of 
Galveston. 

1863. Dee. 8. A great fire in San- 
tiago, S. A., destroyed the church of the 
Campania, and burned about two thou- 



1863-1808.] 

sand persons, the greater part of whom 
were women. 

1863. The confederate flag was 
changed this year from the " Stars and 
Bars," to a white flag, having the battle 
flag on it as a union. 

1863. Mangas Colorado, a desperate 
Apache chief, who for a half a century 
had led the war parties of that tribe 
against the settlers, and had given vast 
trouble, was taken, and upon trying to 
escape, was shot. 

7l MOjYSTER C^XYOX. 

1863. The Fort Pitt iron works, 
Pittsburg, Penn., cast a Rodman gun 
which weighed when finished, 115,000 
pounds. When first cast, it weighed 
170,000 pounds. It was 243 inches long, 
and had a bore 210 inches long. It had 
a dianieter from 34 to 64 inches, and a 
20-inch caliber. It would throw a solid 
shot of one thousand pounds, or a 700 
pound shell. In casting it three furnaces 
were charged with eighty-six tons of 
metal. Six hours were employed in 
the melting, and twenty-five minutes in 
drawing off" the great mass into the 
mould. A gigantic lathe was specially 
constructed for finishing this gun. Other 
guns of this same caliber have been 
since made for sea-coast defence. 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



1863. The Lalande prize from the 
French Academy of Sciences was given 
to Alvan Clark of Cambridge, Mass., 
for the discovery of a new star near 
Sirius, with a great reflecting telescope 
of his own manufocture. Mr. Clark has 
attained a world-wide reputation for the 
manufacture of objectives. 

1863. The Eureka mower, the first 
machine ever invented which worked 
with a direct draft, was patented by John 



621 

D. Wilbur of New York. It has since 
won many decided triumphs. 

1863. The New England Hospital 
for Women and Children was incorpo- 
rated at Boston, largely through the efforts 
of Dr. Marie Elizabeth Zakrzewska, the 
daughter of a Prussian physician, who, 
after having studied medicine at home, 
came to this country and studied at 
Cleveland, Ohio, in order to be admitted 
to the profession. 

1863. Gen. Penalosa, who for the 
last two years had led an insurrection in 
three provinces of the Argentine Repub- 
lic, was captured and executed. 

1864. Jan. 23. Red River Expedi- 
tion Planned. Hallcck ordered Banks 
to proceed up the Red River with his 
force and the gunboats. The confeder- 
ate numbers were from twenty-five thou- 
sand to thirty thousand, scattered from 
Galveston, under Magruder, nearly to 
Little Rock, under Price. The confed- 
erates soon surmised the intentions of the 
federals, and began movements to meet 
them. 

1864. Jan. 30. Gen, Rosser made 
a successful confederate raid in Harding 
County, in the Shenandoah, capturing 
cattle, provisions, and two hundred and 
seventy prisoners. Other raids followed 
this, of varying success for each side. 

1864. Feb. 3. Sherman's March 
through Mississippi. Toward the close 
of January Sherman was ordered to 
make an expedition eastward, to destroy 
public property, and disperse a force of 
confederates which was being collected 
to recapture Vicksburg. He advanced 
to Jackson on the 3d of February, thence 
to Meridian, devastating the country as 
he went. Here he waited for a cavalry 
force, deeming it imprudent to go farther 
without it. The cavalry was delayed 



622 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



several days, and Sherman fell back to 
Canton, followed by hundreds of Union 
refugees, and negroes of all ages. He 
finally dispersed the organizing bands, 
and did not leave a railroad or public 
building in his course. 

1864. Feb. 5. Wistar's Raid. A 
raid of fifteen hundred men was made 
toward Richmond, in accordance with a 
plan formed by Gen. Butler. Gen. 
Wistar led it, but the attempt was fruit- 
less, because information concerning it 
had been conveyed to the confederates 
beforehand. 

KXIGHTS OF PYTHMS. 

1864. Feb. 19. The first lodge of 
the Knights of Pythias was organized in 
Washington, D. C, and known as Wash- 
ington Lodge No. I. J. H. Rathbone 
prepared the ritual of the order, which 
was orisfinal in America. 



1864. February. Survey of Mexico 
and Central America, An imperial de- 
cree of Napoleon III. authorized a com- 
mission of twenty-five eminent scientists 
to make a complete survey from the Rio 
del Norte to the Isthmus of Darien, in- 
cluding the geography, geolog\-, mineral- 
ogy, climatology, and ethnology of the 
region. The committee was divided 
into four sections, and work was begun. 
A report in two volumes was issued con- 
taining the ofiicial acts of the commission, 
and their preparatory labors. The com- 
plete work was never carried through. 

1864. Feb. 20. Florida Expedition. 
Battle of Olustee. While Sherman was 
raiding through Mississippi, Gen. Gill- 
more sent a fleet of twenty steamers and 
one gunboat, under Gen. Seymour, to 
repossess Florida. Seymour landed at 
Jackson on the 6th of February, but was 



met by a body of confederates under 
Finnegan, at Olustee, and severely de- 
feated. He then returned to Virginia. 

1864. Feb. 22. A state election 
was held in Louisiana according to a 
proclamation of President Lincoln issued 
Dec. S, 1S63. It was confined to the 
portion within the lines of the United 
States army. Michael Hahn was elected 
governor, and was inaugurated on the 
4th of March. He was afterward in- 
vested with military powers. At this 
election 11,414 votes were cast. 

1864. Feb. 28. Kilpatrick's Raid. 
A raid was made from the Army of the 
Potomac by Gen, Kilpatrick, with five 
thousand cavalry, to advance on Rich- 
mond, and if possible to re- isei. Feb. 29. 
lease the Union prisoners ^-^W>"^^--^^- 

'- "{■?''' J or poor oj 

upon Belle Isle and in London opetud. 
Libby Prison, who were reported as 
suffering extremely. Considerable harm 
was done to confederate property and 
railroads. The chief aim of the raid 
could not be reached, but five hundred 
prisoners were taken. A detachment 
was sent oflf at one point in the raid led 
by Col. Ulric Dahlgren, son of Admiral 
Dahlgren, who was killed in a severe 
encounter. 

FIRST TlCCIDEXT I.ySUR:iXCE. 

1864. March. The first insurance 
against accident occurred in Hartford, 
Conn., upon the street. A company had 
been organized in 1S63 by Mr. James G. 
Batterson, who had studied the working 
of similar insurance in Europe. In June, 
1863, it was chartered as the Travelers' 
Insurance Company, but it was not easy 
to get it into acceptance with the public. 
But at this time Mr, James Bolter initi- 
ated the movement by a question to Mr, 
Batterson, as follows : " What will you 



1863-1868.] 

take to insure me for $5,000, if I get 
killed by accident in going from hei^e 
to my house on Buckingham Street ? " 
■" Two cents," was the answer. The two 
cents were paid, and are exhibited now 
as the premium for the first accident 
insurance m America, where now tlie 
thing is so popular. 

THOMAS smRR Kim. 

1864. March 4. Thomas Starr King, 
an American clergyman of the Unitarian 
denomination, died in San Francisco, at 
the age of forty years. He was born in 
New York, Dec. 16, 1824, and was 
forced in his youth to support his mother 
and the rest of the children, after the 
death of his father. For this reason he 
obtained no college education, but while 
earning money by teaching or serving as 
clerk, he began to read theology. He 
settled over a church in Charlestown, 
Mass., at twenty-two years of age, and 
iit twenty-four became pastor of Hollis 
Street church, Boston, where he became 
Avidely known for his eloquence, both as 
ii preacher and a lecturer. He was a 
gi"eat lover of nature, and studied the 
White Mountains of New Hampshire in 
their history, scenery, legends, and poetry, 
finally publishing a work which is the 
delight of every visitor thither. In 1S60 
he took a church in San Francisco, and 
did much good through California 
during the w^ar, by his burning appeals 
for the Union. His life was brief but 
brilliant, and his fame well deserved. 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



623 



1864. March 4. Grant Made a 
Lieutenant- General. The ofiice of 
Lieutenant-General of all the United 
States armies, which had expired with 
Gen. Washington, was created by act 
of congress, and Gen. Grant was chosen 



for the high position. The federal armies 
now numbered about eight hundred thou- 
sand. The confederate armies numbered 
about four hundred thousand. 

1864. March 14. Red River Ex- 
pedition. — Capture of Fort de Russy. 
Banks' part of the Red River expedition 
was at last read}^, and on the loth of 
March it left Vicksburg for Shreveport. 
On the approach of the fleet to Fort de 
Russy, Taylor determined to attack the 
land force before aid could come to it. 
Accordingly, on the 14th of March, he 
moved out of his entrenchments to attack 
the federal rear. Gen. Franklin, the 
federal commander, seized the opportu- 
nity, refused battle, and slipped into 
Taylor's entrenchments, capturing a 
large amount of munitions of war and 
ordnance stores, and over three hundred 
prisoners. Meanwhile the fleet passed 
by unmolested, and on the following day 
seized Alexandria, one hundred and fifty 
miles up the river. 

1864. March 14-15-16. A loyal con- 
stitution which had been framed by a 
convention in Arkansas, was submitted 
to a vote of the people, and received 
12,177 votes for it, and 226 against it. 
A state government was now speedily 
organized. 

1864. April 8. Red River Expedi- 
tion. Battle of Sabin Cross Roads. 
The confederates became alarmed at the 
unimpeded advance of the federals up 
the Red River. At Cane River the 
federal advance met the confederates in 
considerable numbers, but a sharp skir- 
mish, followed by a general charge, put 
them to flight with the loss of six hun- 
dred prisoners. On the 8th of April the 
federal advance met the confederates at 
Sabin Cross Roads, drawn up in a 
wedge-shaped ambuscade. The federals 



624 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



attacked thcMii, supposing them to be 
only skirmishers, when the wings of the 
wedge closed around the attacking party, 
which fled in wild confusion. The panic 
was communicated to the reinforcements 
coming up, and a miniature Bull Run 
ensued. In v;*n Gen. Ransom tried to 
rally the bewildered fugitives. However, 
by the timely arrival of reinforcements, 
the army was saved froin utter destruc- 
tion. The loss was two thousand of the 
eight thousand engaged. At four o'clock 
in the afternoom of the next day the pur- 
suing confederates came up to them, but 
w^ere driven back in a rout. The ex- 
pedition then returned to Vicksburg. 
The river was now so shallow that dams 
had to be built, so that the fleet could 
float away over the bars. 

1864. April 13. Massacre at Fort 
Pillow. Early iii the spring of 1S64 
Gen. Forrest made a second raid through 
Kentucky, with about five thousand con- 
federate guerillas, under the guise of 
cavalry. At Paducah he was repulsed 
by the garrison, with a loss of three hun- 
dred. He then marched to Fort Pillow, 
where there \vas a garrison of five hun- 
dred men and the gunboat New Era. 
On the morning of the 13th of April he 
made several assaults, but failed to cap- 
ture the garrison. He then demanded a 
surrender, under cover of a flag of truce. 
While negotiations were being made he 
secretly pushed a part of his troops down 
a ravine, behind some old buildings and 
felled trees, that they might fall upon, 
and surprise the fort. When a negative 
reply was returned by Gen. Bradford of 
the fort, a signal was given, and the most 
savage massacre followed. All day it 
was kept up in the most barbarous 
manner. Soldiei's and citizens were 
butchered, regardless of race, sex, or age. 



Fully three hundred people were mur- 
dered in cold blood. In the modes of 
killing, butchering, and burning, the 
affair compared favorably with the 
Wyoming massacre in the Revolution. 
After Forrest had satisfied his thirst for 
blood, he began to retrace his route, to 
avoid being intercepted. The wrath of 
the confederates seemed to terminate on 
the negroes. Forrest especially exem- 
plified this, hoping to prevent them from 
enlisting in the Union armies. But his 
conduct had only the opposite effect. 
Thousands escaped from their masters,, 
and enlisted. 

BRITTLE OF THE WILDERNESS. 

1864. May 5-6. As soon as Grant 
took command of the federal armies he 
determined to crush out the rebellion by 
rapid and decisive blows. He decided to 
advance on Richmond with the Army of 
the Potomac, while Sherman should ad- 
vance on Atlanta, against Johnston, with 
the army of the Mississippi. Both armies 
were to move in concert, to jDrevent 
cooperation of the confederate armies. 
On the 4th of May the Army of the Po- 
tomac crossed the Rapid Anna, and 
Grant pencilled a telegram to Sherman 
to start. The Army of the Potomac 
plunged into the Wilderness and bivou- 
acked that night near the old battle field 
of Chancellorsville. The confederates 
watched this inovement with great anxi- 
ety. On the 5th, just after the federal 
army was in motion, making its way 
through the narrow recesses and almost 
impenetrable undergrowth of the Wilder- 
ness, Ewell's division was met, drawn up 
to dispute the path. A great slaughter 
followed. The Union lines dashed into 
the woods and commenced the struggle 
hand-to-hand and face-to-face with the 



1863-1868.] 

confederates. The dense woods forbade 
any general movement. Attempts to 
mass and flank were undertaken, and 
given up by both sides. The tide of vic- 
tory surged to and fro along the lines. 
In the compact forest, clothed with great 
clouds of smoke, no human eye could 
trace the movements. Finally, darkness 
closed the battle. By this time both 
armies w^ere concentrated. Early on the 
morning of the 6th the terrible butchery 
was resumed. The federals charged 
over their dead and wounded comrades, 
driving the enemy a mile. They held 
this position till noon, when they were 
slowly pressed back. Excited to desper- 
ation, Lee ordered a flank movement. 
Longstreet and Jenkins undertook the 
task. But they were defeated just at the 
point of attack by a volley from a con- 
federate brigade which fired into them 
by mistake. Jenkins was killed, Long- 
sti"eet rendered senseless, and the move- 
ment broken up. The contest again 
closed with the day. Neither army was 
conquered ; nor were the commanders 
willing to continue the struggle on the 
third day. Both claimed to have "re- 
pelled the fierce attacks of the enemy," 
and both held the same ground in the end 
as at the beginning. Grant's loss was 
nearly twenty thousand men, while Lee's 
was only ten thousand. 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



625 



1864. May 9. Sheridan's Raid To- 
ward Richmond. Gen. Sheridan was 
sent by Grant to cut Lee's communica- 
tions. He took a large cavalry force and 
destroyed a portion of the Virginia Cen- 
tral railway, considerable rolling stock, 
1,500,000 rations, and set free 400 Union 
prisoners who were being taken to Libby 
Prison. In one of his engagements on 
this raid the brave and energ-etic confed- 



erate general, Stuart, was mortally 
wounded. An assault was made on the 
outer works around Richmond, and suc- 
cessfully for a time, but afterward the 
Union force was driven back, and forced 
to turn away. The 25th of May saw 
Sheridan back with the Army of the 
Potomac. 

1864. May 10-12. Battle of Spott- 
sylvania Court House. Grant surprised 
his officers by ordering a movement of 
the whole army by way of Spottsjdvania 
Court House, to turn Lee's flank. Lee 
perceived the object of his antagonist, and 
dispatched a force to obstruct the prog- 
ress. Three daj's of continuous ma- 
noeuvering and skirmishing had passed 
away, when everything was prepared for 
a decisive battle. On the morning of the 
nth Grant sent his famous dispatch to 
the War Department, closing with the 
words, " I propose to fight it out on this 
line, if it takes all summer." The govern- 
ment fully sustained him in his resolu- 
tion; but it took all summer and the fol- 
lowing winter. That day passed away 
with severe skirmishing. The next 
morning, while the confederates wer« 
breakfasting, Hancock made a dash and 
captured three thousand prisoners and 
several guns. Lee massed his troops 
against him, but Grant gave a strong 
support. Hancock held the ground he 
had gained, notwithstanding the tre- 
mendous attacks made by Lee, with a 
fearful carnage to both sides. The fight 
continued till midnight, when Lee hope- 
lessly withdrew his shattered columns. 
The losses were heavy, being about ten 
thousand for each side. The effect of 
this battle was momentous. Great ex- 
citement resulted in both South and 
North. All eyes were now turned upon 
Grant and Lee. Daily bulletins were 

40 



626 



NATIONAL CarSES 



sent forth all over the country to announce 
results. 

.mm^A'IEL HtL WTHORKK. 

1864. May 19. Nathaniel Haw- 
thorne, an American writer of great repu- 
tation, died at P ly mouth, N.H., aged fifty- 
nine years. He was born in Salem, Mass., 
July 4, 1804. A father's care was but 
little felt by him when a boy. When 
Nathaniel was but four years old, Mr. 
Hawthorne the elder died in South 
America. Although he was much from 
home upon the sea, yet his death brought 
a great cloud over the widow, whose 
keen sensibility to such a bereavement 
was an index to the characteristics which 
she had bequeathed to her son. Mrs. 
Hawthorne is said to have eaten alone in 
iier room for thirty years after her hus- 
band's death. Nathaniel was frail, but 
was fitted for college in due time, and 
took his course at Bowdoin in the class of 
i825,with Henry W. Longfellow, George 
B. Cheever, John S. C. Abbott, and other 
well-known men. An intimacy was 
formed with Franklin Pierce of the class 
of 1834, afterward President of the 
United States, which never slackened in 
its interest to either party. The life of 
Mr. Hawthorne took a literary turn soon 
after graduation, his first published article 
being " Fanshawe," In 1828. From this 
time he wrote quite steadily. At one 
time he was an employee in the custom 
house at Boston, and at another was sur- 
veyor for the port of Salem. After 
graduation from college he lived in 
Salem, then in Boston, then at " Brook 
Farm," which he helped found, then at 
Boston, afterward in the Old Manse at 
Concord, then in Salem, then at Lenox, 
finally in Concord again, which place 
was his home until he died, while taking 



a journey through New Hampshire for his 
health, with President Pierce. He died 
in the night, without warning or rousing 
any one. At each of his homes some- 
thing of his literary work was done. He 
was of a shy disposition, tending toward 
a secluded life. His work was not fully 
understood at first, save by a few discern- 
ing ones. But each year has added to 
his power. It is now recognized that he 
had a genius as luiique as it was remark- 
able. 

R^DimL COMVEKTWK. 

1864. May 31. A convention was 
held at Cleveland, Ohio, by a class of 
northern men who believed in taking 
harsher measures toward the South, and 
in stamping out opposition more vigor- 
ously. John C. Fremont of California, 
was nominated for president, and John 
C. Cochrane of New York, for vice- 
president. These men subsequently with- 
drew their names, and advised adhesion 
to the regular lepublican nominees. 

1864. Junes. Battle of Cold Harbor. 

Finding it impossible to force the enemy's 
front. Grant began another flank move- 
ment. While the battle of Spottsylvania 
was being fought, Sheridan had made 
his destructive cavalry raid in the rear of 
the confederates, capturing a number of 
prisoners; and Gen. Butler, with thirty 
thousand troops, ascended the James, 
under cover of the gunboats. Butler met 
a signal defeat on the Chickahominy by 
Beauregard, w^ho had come up from 
Charleston to aid Lee. He now joined 
the Army of the Potomac. On the 33d 
of May Grant crossed the North Anna, 
as a movement toward Lee's rear. But 
Lee dropped back, and was strongly 
posted when Grant reached ^^^*- 7"n^-Oci. 

Cattle plague in 

the river, r mdmg the con- Enrriand. 



1863-1868.] 

federate position too strong, Grant re- 
crossed, kept well to the east, making 
the Pamvuikey his objective point. Lee 
was entrenched near Cold Harbor when 
Grant arrived, on June ist. Some 
skirmishing that evening resulted in the 
possession of Cold Harbor by the federal 
foi-ces, and the confederates were pushed 
back to their entrenchments, which were 
faced by a plowed field and a pine forest. 
The federal line of battle \vas eight miles 
long, reaching from Bethseda Church to 
Cold Harbor. At four o'clock on the 
morning of the 3d the federals advanced 
to the attack with great impetuosity, but 
were hurled back with as much force by 
a terrible fire. Though the battle lasted 
five hours, the first twenty minutes de- 
cided it. In that twenty minutes, " fully 
ten thousand men were stretched writh- 
ing on the sod or still and calm in death, 
while the enemy's loss was little over one 
thousand." Other daring assaults were 
made, and footholds gained on the confed- 
erate works, but they could not be held. 
At one o'clock in the afternoon General 
Meade issued an order to advance again; 
but " the whole army, as if controlled by 
a single v^ill, refused to stir P'' Thus 
ended the battle of Cold Harbor. 

1864. June 7. A republican na- 
tional convention was held at Balti- 
more, and took a decided stand upon the 
question of the wai\ It opposed any 
compromise. Abraham Lincoln of Illi- 
nois, was nominated for president, and 
Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, for vice- 
president. 

EMPEROR MylXmiLM.X I. 

1864. June 12. Maximilian, Arch- 
duke of Austria, had accepted the crown 
of Mexico, which had been oflTered him 
in 1863, and had arrived in the New 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



627 



World at Vera Cruz, May 28, 1864. He 
was on this day invested with royal 
power in the City of Mexico. France 
and Austria were taking measures to aid 
in the establishment of his rule. The 
church party in Mexico was looking for 
a revival of its rights upon his elevation 
to the government. But the republicans 
under Juarez were still undiscouraged in 
their contest against the French and 
their allies, the clergy. They had met 
with reverses, but still maintained the 
government. Maximilian at once took 
steps for the administration of afliairs in 
the interest of all parties, and soon alien- 
ated the clergy by failing to restore their 
estates, which had been confiscated when 
Juarez was elevated to the presidency. 
The great masses of people began to 
unite against him very strenuously, and 
his pathway became a difficult one. 
During the remainder of this year 
numerous movements between the troops 
took place without decisive I'esult. 

1864. June 14. Alabama and Kear- 
sage. The Alabama., which was built, 
equipped, and manned by British aid and 
authority, was the most formidable ship 
ever fitted out for privateering. At the 
l)eginning of 1864 confederate cruisers 
had captured one hundred and ninety- 
three American merchant vessels, sixty 
of which were taken by the Alabama. 
These cruisers had practically destroyed 
American commerce. The Alabama 
was constructed for Capt. Semmes, who 
had commanded the Sumter. Semmes 
carried no flag, and when once on the 
track of a prize he would secure it by 
any means, fair or foul, and evade being 
captured. He sailed the high seas of the 
Atlantic, hunting down merchant vessels 
like a lion after his prey. Vainly did 



628 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



the United States minister to England 
protest against these unfriendly acts on 
the part of Great Britain. For more 
than two years the Alabama pursued 
her work. Finally, in June, 1864, she 
cast anchor in the harbor at Cherbourg, 
France. Informed of the fact by the 
American consul to France, Caj^t. 
Winslow appeared with the Kcarsage 
in the English channel, from the Dutch 
harbor of Flushing. The Alabama 
pushed out and offered battle. It was 
accepted, but not until the Kcarsage had 
lured her out to sea seven miles, beyond 
territorial waters. The Kearsage then 
began to describe a series of circles. 
While doing this Capt. Winslow trained 
his guns upon the Alabatna most effect- 
ually. Struck several times by an 
eleven-inch gun which the Kearsage 
carried, the Alabama ran up the white 
flag, when the firing ceased. Then the 
Alabama began firing again, and steered 
for neutral waters, three miles distant. 
But she was soon brought to a stop by a 
few well-aimed shots from ^ho. Kearsage^ 
which sunk her. The Kearsage rescued 
a number of the men on board the sinking 
vessel, and at his request, the DeerJwund^ 
which had come out professedly to see 
the battle, saved the remainder. The 
Deerhound took Semmes and his offi- 
cers to England, where they were enter- 
tained with all the pomp and glory of 
heroes, 

1864. June 18. Attack on Peters- 
burg. Grant remamed ten days at Cold 
Harbor, to give his troops rest. His 
prime object being the capture or disper- 
sion of Lee's army, he concluded to re- 
peat the flank movement, cut off the con- 
federate communication, and shut up 
Lee's army in Richmond, by an attack 
on Petersburg. By the evening of the 



1 6th the Army of the Potomac had 
crossed the James, under cover of a cav- 
alry feint on Richmond. When this 
was accomplished, Grant made a hasty 
visit to General Butler to arrange cooper- 
ation between Meade's army and the 
Army of the James, from Bermuda 
Hundred. Lee had not fully credited the 
federals with the advance they had made. 
The feint was successful. On the 15th 
Smith's troops, from Butler's army, ad- 
vanced and confronted Petersburg in the 
evening. Strong redoubts had been cast 
up there, but they were manned by a 
feeble force. Deceived by the bold front 
jDresented, Smith waited till morning to 
make the attack. That delay was fatal. 
Lee arrived w^ith the main army during 
the night, and strengthened the entrench- 
ments. The following day an attack 
was made by Smith and Burnside, but it 
ended in disastrous results. The main 
federal army having arrived, a general 
advance along the whole line was gal- 
lantly made on the iSth, and as bravely 
repulsed, with heavy loss to the federals. 
It was now evident that the confederate 
lines could not be taken by storm. The 
campaign here ended, being resolved 
into a general siege, in which endurance 
and support should be the test. The 
federals had lost in the campaign nearly 
seventy thousand men; and the confed- 
erates about forty thousand. Nearly ten 
thousand had fallen m the movements 
before Petersburg, but it was scarcely 
noticed. This shows what enormous 
proportions the war had achieved — when 
ten thousand men could be slain without 
attracting the public attention. The 
skirmishes in West Virginia, which 
created so much excitement at the begin- 
ning of the war, could not be compared 
to the wholesale slausrhter now sroinsf on. 



1863-1808.] 

1864. June 24. Attempt to Seize 
the Weldon Railway. Grant detached 
a cavalry force of eight thousand to seize 
the Weldon railway. On the 24th the 
cavalry was met by superior numbers, 
defeated, and turned back. The Lieu- 
tenant-General then quietly sat down 
before Lee to entrench and drill the Army 
of the Potomac. This army had under- 
gone nearly an entire change within 
eight or nine weeks. The veterans had 
been slain, and raw recruits had flocked 
in to fill the vacant ranks. Not much 
could be done till the new troops were 
drilled into the service. 

1864. June 29. Grand Trunk Rail- 
way Accident. A train upon the Grand 
Trunk containing over 500 German and 
Norwegian emigrants who had landed 
at Quebec, ran into an open draw in the 
iron bridge over the Richelieu River, and 
plunged through into the canal by the 
side of the river, a distance of about 50 
feet. There were thirteen cars, and one 
after the other they fell into the abyss. 
A hundred persons were killed, and nearly 
all on the train injured. The danger sig- 
nal was up but was not seen by the engi- 
neer, who was unaccustomed to the road. 

1864. July 2. Important Congres- 
sional Action. Congress adjourned after 
having at this session repealed the Fugi- 
tive Slave bill of 1S50, passed an Income 
Tax law, laying a tax of 5 per cent, on 
all incomes over $600, an Internal Rev- 
enue law for raising a tax on domestic 
manufactures, and a National Bank law 
by which state banks should be replaced 
by national banks, with a national cur- 
rency. It also at this time set apart the 
old hall occupied formerly by the House of 
Representatives, as a hall of statuary, to 
be filled with contributions from the 
states or other sources. 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



629 



1864. July 9. Early's Raid in the 
North Checked. While Grant was 
prosecuting the whole campaign against 
Richmond, General Sigel, with ten thou- 
sand troops in the Shenandoah, was play- 
ing an important part by operating 
against the railroads running into Rich- 
mond. But he was totally routed by the 
confederates at New Market, on the 15th 
of May. General Hunter superseded 
him, and defeated the confederates at 
Piedmont. Hunter then moved on 
Lynchburg, but finding it too stoutly 
defended, he retired into West Virginia. 
Lee anxiously awaited this turn of affairs 
to make a demonstration on Washington, 
and thus draw off a part of Grant's army 
from before Petersburg, and also replen- 
ish his empty larder. About the middle 
of June Early was started toward Wash- 
ington, with twenty thousand men. 
Grant directed Hunter to hasten from the 
Kanav\^ha to Harper's Ferry. Early 
pushed rapidly down the Shenandoah, 
and by the 4th of July was at Williams- 
port. General Wallace, who command- 
ed the troops around Washington, was 
aware of Early's advance, and chose a 
position on the Monocac}^ to check it. 
Early met and defeated him, on the 9th. 
The National capital was now in peril. 
But reinforcements from Pennsylvania 
and New York aiTived, convalescent 
veterans were taken from the hosjDital, 
Grant sent Smith's corps to the defense, 
and a large army was soon raised. Early 
now prudently retreated, having a large 
booty. But he sent a cavalry detachment 
up into the Susquehanna region to com- 
plete the foraging expedition. 

1864. July 15. A great accident oc- 
curred to a train on the Erie R. R., near 
Port Jei'vis. There were eighteen cars 
containing eight hundred and fifty con- 



630 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



federate soldiers and their guard. While 
rounding a sharp curve the train collided 
with a coal train of fifty cars. Sixty 
soldiers were killed, and twice that num- 
ber injured. Several train hands were 
also killed. 

1864. July. Peace Attempts. H(jr- 
ace Greeley became interested in trying 
to secure peace through a letter which 
he received from some confederate sym- 
pathizers at the Clifton House, on the 
Canada side of Niagara Falls. He ob- 
tained the promise of President Lincoln 
that any one bringing from Jefferson 
Davis definite terms, including the res- 
toration of the Union, and the surrender 
of slavery, should be protected and heard. 
Mr. Greeley went to Niagara, but the 
effort failed when it was known that 
President Lincoln would listen to no 
terms involving the independence of the 
South. At the same time two men 
visited Richmond and had several inter- 
views with Davis and some of his officers, 
but the confederates insisted upon having 
their independence recognized. So these 
attempts came to nothing. 

H^LVS SECO.YD ARCTIC TRIP. 

1864. July 30. Charles Francis Hall 
sailed from New London, Conn., upon 
his second trip, in a vessel commanded by 
Capt. Buddington. He was accom- 
panied by the two Esquimaux whom he 
had brought home from his first trip, and 
who had become very much attached to 
him. He pushed far north, and spent 
four winters in learning the habits and 
language of the natives. No full account 
has ever been published. He returned 
in 1869. 

1864. July 30. Chambersburg, Pa., 
Burned. Early's cavalry entered the 



defenceless village of Chambersburg and 
demanded $300,000 in gold, or $500,000 
in greenbacks. The demand being stern- 
ly refused, the cavalry fired the town and 
escaped southward, joining the main 
army in the Shenandoah valley. 

1864. July 30. Mine Explosion at 
Petersburg. One of the most important 
events which marked the siege of Rich- 
mond was a mine explosion at Peters- 
burg. About two hundred yards from 
where General Burnside's corps was en- 
trenched, was one of the strongest forts 
in the Petersburg lines. A mine was 
commenced in a hollow within Bum- 
side's lines. The affair was entirely con- 
cealed from the unsuspecting confeder- 
ates. The main gallery of the mine was 
five hundred and ten feet long, four and 
a half feet high, and four feet wide at the 
bottom. Eighteen thousand cubic feet of 
dirt was carted out of the mine on bar- 
rows made of cracker boxes. The cav- 
ity was lined with plank, to keep it from 
caving in. Eight thousand jiounds of 
powder were carried in and placed in 
eight magazines, connected with the 
main gallery by three fuses. The main 
fuse was ready for the torch on the night 
of the 29th. At dawn on the morning 
of the 30th the explosion took place. The 
fort and the garrison of three hundred 
men were instantly annihilated, and the 
country around was terribly shaken by 
the earthquake. The federal guns im- 
mediately opened fire, and the lines 
advanced on the panic-stricken enemy. 
The advance was slow at first, because 
of the many obstructions encountered. 
Just as the assailants had passed the cra- 
ter where the fort had stood, the confed- 
erates turned upon them with fearful 
impetus. For shelter from the galling 
fire the federals crowded into the crater. 



1863-1868.] 

The confusion was worse confounded by 
a heavy fire from the confederate artil- 
lery. In this disastrous failure not less 
than four thousand federals were buried 
in one heap, in that fatal bloody hole; 
while the entire loss of the confederates 
did not exceed one thousand. 

1864. Aug. 5. Blockade of Mobile 
Port. Mobile was ably defended by 
several forts, a squadron of confederate 
rams, spiles driven down into the ship 
i86i. August, channels, and torpedoes 

Abd-el - Kader ^ 

visited England, profuscly sown. On the 
5th of August Admiral Farragut ap- 
peared for operations against the fort. 
For mutual aid the vessels were lashed 
together in pairs. Farragut tied himself 
to the mainmast of his flag-ship, the 
Hartford., in order that he might have a 
better view of the engagement. After 
an hour's heavy fighting the fleet passed 
forts Morgan and Gaines, at the south- 
east entrance, and there engaged the 
iron-clad fleet in the channel. The 
Alonongahela., and other vessels, fiercely 
assailed the Tennessee ram, a most pow- 
erful armored vessel, and she soon put 
out the white flag. The rest of the con- 
federate fleet was sjjeedily dispersed or 
captured. The two forts then surren- 
dered, with fourteen hundred men, and 
one hundred and four guns; and the 
port was effectually closed to blockade 
runners. 

1864. Aug. 18. Seizure of the Wel- 
don Railway. For over a fortnight after 
the mine explosion, ever3'-thing was quiet 
at Petersburg. Then Grant put a 
column in motion to threaten Richmond, 
and thus draw on Lee's force. The 
movement was successful, with the loss 
of five thousand men. Grant took ad- 
vantage of the absence of Lee's troops, 
and on the iSth of August pushed War- 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



631 



ren's corps out to seize the coveted rail- 
way. The seizure was accomplished 
without opposition. The surprised con- 
federates made several vain attempts to 
regain the railway. The siege of Rich- 
mond then wore on for several months, 
before anything of importance occurred. 

1864. Aug. 29. The democratic 
national convention was held at Chi- 
cago, and nominated George B. Mc- 
Clellan of New Jersey, for president, 
and George H. Pendleton of Ohio, for 
vice-president. The platform of the 
party at this meeting was chiefly 
moulded by the Peace Faction, in declar- 
ing that the further continuance of the 
war would be attended by unjustifiable 
violations of right. 

1864. Sept. 1. Sherman's Cam- 
paign in G-eorgia. — Capture of Atlanta. 
While Grant was carrying on the siege 
of Richmond, Sherman was prosecuting 
some vigorous movements in the West. 
He left Chickamauga Creek with one 
hundred thousand men for Atlanta. In 
the afternoon of May 15th, a desperate 
engagement was fought with Johnston, 
but the situation of affairs was so un- 
fiivorable to Johnston that he fled to 
Altoona Pass during the night. Bloody 
battles were fought at Lost Mountain 
and Kenesaw Mountain, and then a lively 
race for the Chattahoochee was made. 
Having started first, Johnston came 
out ahead, and retired to the de- 
fences at Atlanta. Sherman's steady 
advance was sensitively felt by the 
confederate authorities at Richmond. 
Davis ordered Johnston to surrender his 
command to the more dashing and reck- 
less general, J. B. Hood. Sherman 
rested his troops till the iSth of July, 
and then completely invested Atlanta. 
Four days later, as McPherson's Army 



632 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



of the Tennessee was moving against the 
confederates by an obscure route, Hood 
dashed boldly out and attacked him. The 
federals wavered at first, but held their 
ground. Gen. McPhei'son was shot dead. 
Meanwhile Stoneman made a disastrous 
failure with his cavalry in an attempt 
to capture Macon, and liberate the suffer- 
ing Union prisoners at Andersonville. 
In the last days of July Sherman shifted 
his whole army upon Hood's line of sup- 
plies. After a month, when the rail- 
ways had all been seized, Hood found it 
impossible to hold Atlanta, and on the 
night of September ist, evacuated it, 
burning military stores, and blowing up 
magazines of powder. The next day 
Sherman entered, and took possession. 
The campaign thus ended, was long and 
severe; and the battles had been fought 
with the desperation of death. The 
loss on both sides was heavy. Sher- 
man's loss for the whole campaign 
thousand. The confcder- 
loss was about forty thou- 
completely exhausted; and 
the heart of the region which had fur- 
nished them military stores and army 
supplies, was paralyzed. 

P^PAL XrXCIO TO MEXICO. 

1864. October. A papal nuncio was 
sent to Mexico, with a denunciation of 
republican principles, and demanding the 
exclusion of all forms of religious wor- 
ship, except the Catholic. This was still 
further followed up in December by the 
" encyclical letter," reiterating this con- 
demnation, and repudiating all freedom 
of faith and conscience. 



was thirty 
ates, whose 
sand, were 



1864. Oct. 7. The Capture of the 
Morida. The confederate privateer 
Florida did not venture out upon the At- 



lantic, but accomplished her work solely 
in American waters. Late in September 
she ran into the port at Bahia, S. A. 
Captain Collins, of the U. S. steamer 
W^a67^^/J■e//, determined to end her career. 
On the yth of October he ran alongside 
and captured her while a part of her 
crew were ashore. The Floj'ida was 
lashed to the Wachusett and taken to 
Newpoi't-Newce, in Hampton Roads, 
where she was sunk. The capture pro- 
duced great excitement. The U. S. gov- 
ernment promptly disavowed the act, and 
punished Collins, The consul to Brazil 
was recalled, having been an accomplice 
in the affair, but the United States did not 
allow the Brazilian government to inter- 
fere, as that nation had in a measure 
imitated Great Britain, 

ROGER B. T±rEY. 

1864, Oct. 12. This eminent Ameri- 
can jurist and chief-justice of the United 
States died at Washington, D. C, aged 
eighty-seven years. He was born in 
Maryland, March 17, 1777. His parents 
were Roman Catholics, and he was given 
a good education. Having graduated at 
Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, he 
began the practice of law in 1799. He 
was noticed for his ability, and was sent 
to the Maryland legislature. He held 
various positions till he was made attor- 
ney-general of the United States b}' 
President Jackson in 1831. He was two 
years later appointed secretary of the 
treasury, but having issued the orders for 
the removal of the United States funds 
from the government bank, he failed to 
be confirmed. In 1836 he was appointed 
and confirmed as chief-justice of the 
United States, in place of Mr. Marshall, 
who had just died. He began his duties 
in January, 1837. ^^ heAd the place 



1863-1868.] 

during stormy times in the slavery agita- 
tion. The Dred Scott decision caused 
rejoicing on one side, and lamentation on 
the other, Mr. Taney attempted to sup- 
port constitutional power very consci- 
■entiously, and in his decisions showed the 
great, inental power he possessed. But 
his views of constitutional power were 
contrar}^ to those held by other eminent 
jurists. He possessed a vigorous and cul- 
tured mind. 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



633 



1864. Oct. 19. Sheridan's Cam- 
paign. — Battle of Cedar Creek. To 

xivoid any further troubles in the Shenan- 
doah, and drive Early back, an army of 
thirty thousand was raised near Wash- 
ington, in August, under General P. H. 
Sheridan. Sheridan made the first step 
by marching to Berryville. Early was 
between this place and Winchester. 
Sheridan advanced on the 19th of Sep- 
tember and defeated Early, sending him 
"whirling through Winchester" to the 
•entrenchments at Fisher's Hill. Again 
on the 2 2d he drove Early back in wild 
disorder, capturing his train of seventy- 
five wagons at Port Republic. At Cedar 
Creek Early concentrated 
his army, but was again 
routed and chased twenty- 
Sheridan now thought it safe 
to visit Washington on some very urgent 
business, and left his army posted on 
Cedar Creek, with General Wright in 
temporary command. But Early rallied 
his men, and on the night of the iSth of 
October slipped stealthily back toward 
the fedei'al lines. At dawn on the morn- 
ing of the 19th the order for an attack 
was given, and the confederates rushed 
forward and drove the sin-prised federals 
in great disorder for five miles, capturing 
their camp and a number of prisoners. 



ISGi. Oct. 18. 
Lord Palmer ■ 
sion died. 

six miles. 



Sheridan had returned from Washington 
and was at Winchester, twenty miles dis- 
tant. He heard the cannonading, but sup- 
posed it to be a reconnoisance, and gal- 
loped leisurely out of the town. But 
when he met the van of the fugitives he 
took it all in at a glance. He put spurs 
to his splendid steed, darted down the lines 
waving his hat, and shouted, "Turn, boys! 
Turn! We're going back to our camp. 
We'll lick them out of their boots ! " The 
effect was magnetic. Hats swung, 
cheers went up, the "boys" faced about, 
rushed forward to the attack, and utterly 
routed the enemy with tremendous 
slaughter, recapturing the lost camp and 
cannon, and taking the confederate bag- 
gage. This virtually destroyed Early's 
army. Sherman had lost seventeen 
thousand men in the campaign; but he 
so thoroughly devastated the Shenandoah 
valley as he went along, that it was said, 
" If a crow wants to fly down the Shenan- 
doah, he must carry his provisions with 
him." This devastation put an end to 
any further raids toward Washington. 
A few skirmishes occurred in the valley 
afterward, but the battle of Cedar Creek 
was the last general engagfement. 



1864. Oct. 25. Last Invasion of 

Missouri. Hoping to receive great aid 
from the secret societies of the North 
that were in sympathy with the war. 
Sterling Price attempted to win Missouri 
back to the confederacy.. In September 
he marched into the state. He did not 
receive the expected aid, and was met at 
Little Osage River on the 25th of Octo- 
ber by Generals Curtis and Pleasanton, 
who defeated him. He then retreated 
into Arkansas, and left the state to the 
Union. 

1864. Oct. 31. Nevada was admitted 



634 NATIONAL 

to the Union as the thirty-sixth state. It 
has 113,090 square miles, and 42,491 
inhabitants in 1S70. Its motto is, " Vo- 
lens et Potens." " Willing and Able." 

TWEKTIETH PRESIDEKTML CTiMPAIGX. 

1864. Nov. 8. The twentieth presi- 
dential campaign was narrowed down to 
the vote for Lincoln and Johnson, or for 
McClellan and Pendleton. The former 
received 2 1 3 electoral votes, and 2,3 16,067 
popular votes. The latter received 21 
electoral votes, and 1,808,725 popular 
votes. Eleven states in the confederacy 
were not represented in this election. 
They had 81 electoral votes, which would 
not have changed the result, even if they 
had all been cast for the democratic 
candidates. 

1864. Nov. 16. Sherman's March to 
the Sea. When Hood evacuated Atlanta 
he struck westward toward Decatur, 
thence noilhward, hoping to draw Sher- 
man back by an invasion of Tennessee. 
Sherman was a little puzzled at first by 
this movement; but when he discovered 
Hood's object, he encouraged it, saying, 
" If Hood will go there, I will give him 
rations to go with," On tlie i6th of 
November he burned Atlanta and started 
on his march for the sea, a step long 
meditated. Georgia was the " foundry, 
workshop, storehouse, and granary of the 
confederacy." The object of the expe- 
dition was to destroy property and lay 
waste the rich agricultural region in that 
state and Alabama, and strike Savannah 
or Charleston, on the coast. The army 
moved in three grand columns, preceded 
by skirmishers, and cavalry under Kil- 
patrick. The confederates soon became 
alarmed at Sherman's undisputed prog- 
ress. He swept on unimpeded, with 



CRISES. 

his lines spread out sixty miles wide, over 
a fertile region three hundred iniles long, 
living on the product of the country, and 
leaving desolation in his track. On the 
13th of December he reached Fort Mc- 
Allister, and stormed it. The mayor and 
citizens of Savannah thought it useless 
to resist, and surrendered that city on the 
following day. On the 26th of De- 
cember Sherman sent the following dis- 
patch to President Lincoln: " I beg to 
present to you, as a Christmas gift, the 
city of Savannah, with one hundred 
and fifty guns and plenty of ammunition,, 
and also about twenty-five thousand 
bales of cotton." Railroads were de- 
stroyed, a large amount of provisions- 
gathered, and the conquest of Georgia se- 
cured, w^ith the loss of only five hundred 
men from an army of sixty thousand. 

HEXRY /?. SCHOOLCRAFT. 

1864. Dec. 10. Mr. Schoolcraft, 
known very widely as an American 
writer upon Indian affairs, died at Wash- 
ington, D. C, aged seventy-one years. 
He was born at Watervliet, N. Y.,, 
March 28, 1793. He was well educated,, 
and traveled in the West in the interest 
of scientific exploration, and became in- 
terested in Indian tribes, with whom he 
was brought into contact in 1831, 
as Indian commissioner. The grand- 
daughter of an Indian chief was married 
bv him in 1823. His studies into Indian 
life and characteristics now became the 
principal work of his days, and resulted 
in those works which have such a stand- 
ard value for all who investigate such 
things now. He was employed by the 
U. S. government in its dealings with 
the Indians. Tlie sources of the Missis- 
sippi River were found in 1832 by a 
party under his charge. 



1863-1808.] 

1864. Dec. 16. Hood's Invasion of 
Tennessee. — Battle of Nashville. With 
great disgust Hood learned that Sher- 
man would not follow him. Early in 
Novemher Hood marched from Corinth 
to Johnsonville, a depot of supplies for 
Nashville. He cajDtured and burnt the 
gunboats and supplies there. Hood 
then advanced northward to the Ten- 
nessee, where he lingered a fortnight, 
uncertain as to Sherman's movements in 
his rear. Sherman's departure relieved 
Hood, and he followed Schofield and 
defeated him after a severe fight at 
Franklin. Thomas concentrated his 
force at Nashville, and Hood immedi- 
ately invested the place. For two weeks 
little was done, owing to Thomas' 
preparation to stidke, and the intense 
cold, which caused much suffering by the 
thinly-clad confederate soldiers. Impa- 
tient, because of Thomas' delay, Grant 
started to take charge of the federal 
troops in person, when he heard of the 
slow general's brilliant victory. On the 
1 6th of December the federals advanced 
to within six hundred yards of the con- 
federate lines, and then the awful work 

, ,„^^ of extermination began. A 

1775-1864. ° 

Walter Savage disastrOUS rOUt of the COU- 

Landor. federates followed. Thomas 

pursued and overtook them at Franklin, 
where they made a feeble resistance, but 
were only accelerated in their flight. 
Thomas desired to relinquish the pursuit, 
after he had driven him into Alabama, 
but Grant ordered him to press on. 
Shortly after. Hood's army was disor- 
ganized, and Thomas' campaign termi- 
nated, which virtually closed the war in 
the West. 

1864. December. A Paraguayan 
army invaded the province of Brazil, 
which is known as Matto Grosso. The 



THE RETURN TO PEACE 



635 

reason for this was because Brazil 
favored Gen, Flores, the Uruguayan 
agitator. A Brazilian steamer upon the 
river had been seized in November by 
Paraguay. The diamond mines of 
Matto Grosso were now seized. This 
was the beginning of that fierce struggle 
which was carried on till the death of 
Lopez, president of Paraguay, in 1870. 

1864. The Columbia Institution for 
deaf mutes, at Washington, was granted 
a college charter by congress, and has 
since graduated pupils with the regular 
degrees of B. A. and B. S. 

1864. A beet-sugar manufactory was 
erected at Chatsworth, 111., by Messrs. 
Gennert. A good quality of sugar was 
made, and other manufactories have since 
been erected in other states. Such sugar 
had been made in the country before, 
but not to such an extent. 

1864. Pullman cars were first made 
by Geo. M. Pullman, who established 
the reputation of sleeping and parlor 
cars. 

1864. An insurrection took place in 
Uruguay, headed by Gen. Venacio 
Flores, the liberal, and aided by Brazil. 
Flores afterward gained power through 
the help afforded him. 

1864. An insurrection took place in 
Bolivia, headed by Gen. Melgarejo, who 
undertook to throw off the government 
of Acha. The next year, 1S65, was one 
of confusion. 

1864. Ecuador was convulsed by 
the unpopularity of certain measures at- 
tempted by President Moreno, one of 
which was the restriction of religious 
liberty, and the giving of all processes of 
education to the priests. A modification 
of it was forced upon Moreno. 

1864. War between Spain and Peru 
broke out upon the seizure of the 



636 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



Chincha Islands by the former power. 
A conflict of considerable severity fol- 
lowed, but was closed at the beginning 
of the next year. 

GRASSHOPPER DEPREDATIOXS. 
1864. Records of crops destroyed by 
grasshoppers, or locusts, as they are more 
truly called, were made in this country 
as early as 1818 and 1819, in Minnesota. 
Other western states suflfered from them 
through the years down to the present. 
But in 1864 the increase was so great as 
to call, for the first time, wide-spread at- 
tention to this evil. Hundi'eds of farmers 
were despoiled of all they had by these 
devouring hordes. Since 1864 great 
study has been given to the question, 
and many ways of killing them de- 
vised. The year of 1874 is known as 
being above all others, a year of great 
destruction of crops. Large portions of 
many states were overrun. The swarms 
passing through the air blackened the 
heavens, and lighting on the fields or 
streets, left no room to step. Kansas has 
suflTered fearfully. In 1875 Missouri was 
ravaged to a great extent. Later years 
have been somewhat freed from the evil. 



1865. January. During the first 
half of January, Francis P. Blair, Sr., 
wa's in Richmond, attempting to bring 
about some consultation looking toward 
peace. He had gone through the 
lines of the Union army upon a per- 
mit, and visited the leading officials of 
the confederate government, with whom 
he had been well acquainted in former 
years. His visit resulted in the fruitless 
conference at Hampton Roads on Feb. 3. 

ED]V>IRD EVERETT. 
1865. Jan. 15. Edward Everett, 
recognized as one of the greatest Ameri- 



can orators, died in JBoston, aged seventy 
vears. He was born in Dorchester, 
Mass., April 11, 1794. At an early 
age he showed the qualities of mind 
which afterward made him prominent 
in life. He graduated at Harvard with 
the highest honors, when seventeen years 
old. He held the position of tutor for a 
time, but was fitting for the ministry, by 
studies in divinity at the same time. His 
literary culture became at this time quite 
great, and when he entered upon the pas- 
torate of Brattle Street church, in Bos- 
ton, his gifts soon gained him wide atten- 
tion. He proved to be an orator of 
unusual power. His ministry, however, 
was short. A call to become professor 
of Greek in Harvard, led him to spend 
four years in England, and uj^on the Con- 
tinent. He improved these years very 
assiduously in study. After his return 
many duties besides those of his profes- 
sorship, fell upon him. He was called 
upon to lecture, and for some years edited 
the North American Review. His first 
great public oration was in 1824, before 
the Phi Beta Kappa society. In this 
year likewise, he was sent to congress, 
and held important places on committees. 
After ten years in congress he sei*ved as 
governor of Massachusetts for four years. 
At the close of this period he was sent 
as minister to England, where his 
wisdom and diplomacy were shown to a 
high degree in the questions then pend- 
ing. From 1845 ^'^ 184S he was 
president of Harvai'd College. After 
Webster's death he was secretary of 
state for a few months. He was in the 
U. S. senate during the passage of the 
Kansas-Nebraska bill, and spoke against 
it firmly. He left political life on ac- 
count of his health. In a short time he 
began that career of public oratory 



1863-1868.] 

which continued till the close of his life. 
Over $100,000 were raised by his oration 
upon Washington, in aid of the Mt. 
Vernon fund. This oration was deliv- 
ered about one hundred and fifty times. 
For other objects he also raised large 
amounts of money by his eloquent ad- 
dresses. His last political nomination 
was for vice-president in 1S60. His 
death was . the occasion of widespread 
expressions of esteem. His life was an 
extremely useful one, and his powers 
were of a superior sort. 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



637 



1865. Jan. 16. Capture of Fort 
Fisher. After Farragut's possession of 
the harbor at Mobile, the attention of the 
navy was directed to the last great 
seaport of the confederacy, Wilmington 
Harbor, N. C. Late in the autumn of 
the previous year, fifty-eight war vessels 
were gathered in Hampton Roads. 
Commodore Porter commanded the 
fleet, and General Weitzel was commis- 
sioned to accompany the expedition v/ith 
a land force ; but General Butler, through 
whom the commission was given, pock- 
eted the docvuiient, and went himself. 
Grant allowed him to go, supposing his 
journey to be a visit to witness a powder 
explosion which was intended to shake 
the walls of Fort Fisher, defending the 
inlet. The expedition pushed out with 
as much secrecy as possible, arrived in 
time, and on the 24th was ready to re- 
duce Fort Fisher. The powder explosion 
was a miserable failure. Porter opened 
upon the fort w^ith his guns, and con- 
tinued shelling it for several hours. A 
feeble reply led him to believe that all 
that was needed was a few troops to 
occupy the fort. On the afternoon of the 
next day the batteries some distance up 
the shore were silenced, and a landing 



was effected. Satisfied that the garrison 
was able and well defended, and know- 
ing that it was soon to be increased by a 
division of confederates from Petersburg, 
Butler ordered a withdrawal. The next 
day the transport departed for Hampton 
Roads, leaving the fleet lying off the 
port. Grant was disappointed by this 
fruitless attempt, and requested Porter to 
remain. General A. H. Terry w^as put 
in command of a land force of eight 
thousand, and returned to the fort on the 
13th of January. On the following day 
the fort was greatly disabled by another 
heavy bombardment from the fleet. On 
the 15th two thousand sailors and a divi- 
sion of soldiers made an assault under 
cover of a cannonade from the fleet. The 
sailors were soon repulsed by a fire fi'om 
the fort, and the fleet was comjoelled to 
cease firing on account of the proximity 
of friend and foe. The capture of the 
fort then devolved upon the soldiers. 
These burst into the fort and drove the 
garrison out, after a hand-to-hand strug- 
gle of several hours. After the troops 
had entered the fort a concealed maga- 
zine exploded, killing two hundred, and 
wounding one hundred, Union soldiers. 
Step by step the hold upon the region 
was extended until the whole vicinity 
was in the possession of the federal 
troops. 

1865. Jan. 31. The Xlllth Amend- 
ment to the constitution of the United 
States passed congress, and was submitted 
by them to the states for ratification. It 
embodied the emancipation proclamation 
by forbidding the existence of slavery on 
any soil occupied by the United States. 
It went into force at the close of this year. 
The final passage of this bill by the house 
produced intense exultation. The senate 
had previously passed it. 



638 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



1865. Feb. 1. Robert E. Lee was 

made general-in-chief of all confederate 
armies. This was brought about because 
of some dissatisfaction with the measures 
of President Davis. 

1865. Feb. 1. Sherman's March 
through the Carolinas. Sherman's 
course was now turned northward 
through the Carolinas. On evacuating 
Savannah, Hardee fled to Charleston. 
Leaving General Foster at Savannah, 
after a month's rest, Sherman started, 
on the 1st of February, northward to 
Columbia through the swamps of South 
Carolina. The confederates strained 
every nerve to check this march, but 
Sherman swept on with the fury of a gale. 
1865. Feb. 3. Peace Conference in 
Hampton Roads. Finding that the con- 
federates were so anxious for peace, Mr, 
Lincoln and his secretary of state con- 
sented to meet A. H. Stephens, J. A, 
Campbell, and R. M. T. Hunter, in a 
peace conference, on board a ship in 
Hampton Roads. After an amicable 
debate of several hours, Mr. Lincoln told 
the confederate commissioners plainl}^ 
that he would accept no other terms than 
the disbanding of their armies, and the 
domination of the National Government 
in the Southern States. This closed the 
conference, and the commissioners re- 
turned, fully determined to fight out the 
difficulty. 

1865. Feb. 17. Columbia, S. C, was 
surrendered to Sherman on his tri- 
umphal march. By order of Wade 
Hampton, a large amount of cotton 
which was stored in the city, was taken 
into the streets and fired. The bales 
were cut, the flames spread, and the en- 
tire city was soon wrapped in the con- 
flagration. 

1865. Feb. 18. Charleston, having 



been evacuated by the terrified confeder- 
ates, was occupied by Sherman's troops. 
The city was in flames, and the soldiers 
set at work as stoutly as possible to ex- 
tinguish the conflagration, and save the 
property. But the city was much in- 
jured. It suffered terribly by the war, 
and with the efforts of the confederates, at 
their departure was almost a city of ruins. 
Several squares were completely de- 
stroyed, and an explosion of powder at a 
depot killed about two hundred persons. 
Flags were raised by the national troops 
over Fort Sumter and other surrounding 
works, and the attempt was made to 
bring peace and order to the distressed 
citizens. 

1865. Feb. 20. The Battle of Old 
Town Creek was fought between the 
garrison of confederates who ,„„^ „ . 

^ 1865. Fenian 

had evacuated Fort Ander- agUation in 
son, and a Union force under '^^ "" ' 
General Cox. The former were defeated 
with a loss of three hundred and seventy- 
five men. This led the way in the 
evacuation of all works along the Cape 
Fear River. 

1865. Feb. 22. Wilmington having 
been evacuated by the confederate troops, 
was occujoied by General Schofield and 
his men. This had been one of the chief 
ports for blockade running in the entire 
South. 

1865. February. The defence of 
Canada was the subject of some very 
earnest debates in the House of Com- 
mons. There seems to have been a fear 
that the United States would retaliate by 
trying to annex that country. 

THE FREEDM±rS BUREAU. 

1865. March 3. A " bureau of freed - 
men, refugees and abandoned lands " was 
established by act of congress for tha 



1863-1868.] 

purpose of relieving the wants of the 
emancipated and keeping them from 
starvation, as well as enabling them to 
learn how to become good citizens. Gen- 
eral O. O. Howard was made commis- 
sioner. Schools were established, and 
hundreds of thousands of poor people, in 
some way, came within reach of these 
influences through succeeding j^ears. 
There was great opposition to some of 
its operations, but it did great good to 
many. A "freedman's bank" was es- 
tablished, and much reproach was after- 
ward brought on the " bureau " by the 
failure of this bank, although investiga- 
tions failed to prove any charge against 
the commissioner. 

1865. March 4. Abraham Lincoln 

was inaugurated president of the United 
States, and Andrew Johnson was made 
vice-president. 

1865. March 7. An accident oc- 
curred on the Camden and Amboy rail- 
way in New Jersey, in which an express 
train plunged into the rear of another 
train, and killed and injured about fifty 
persons, mostly soldiers returning home, 

1865. March 8. Battle of Fayette- 
ville. General Kilpatrick was nearly 
captured by a sudden attack by Wade 
Hampton. But the former, after having 
taken to a swamp, gathered his men and 
dashed again upon the confederates, with 
the entire defeat of the latter. The 
Union force had, however, lost 183 men. 

1865. March 16. Battle of Averas- 
tooro'. Here Hardee was drawn up to 
i"etard Sherman's progress till Johnston 
could prepare for him at Raleigh. But 
a few volleys drove Hartlee back, and 
Sherman felt freed from any further re- 
sistance or impediment. The army now 
marched along in a loose, easy manner. 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



639 

1865. March 19. Battle of Bentons- 
ville. Johnston completely surprised the 
federal army, striking their flank a terri- 
ble blow. If this battle had been lost 
it would have well-nigh ruined for a 
time the Union army. However, the 
bravery and coolness of the federals won 
the battle. At this time Gen. Schofield 
was entering Goldsboro'. There Sher- 
man joined him in a few days, giving 
him the command of the whole force, 
while he himself visited headquarters. 
The army remained at Goldsboro' for 
some time, to receive clothing, etc. This 
ended, in complete triumph, Sherman's 
second grand march. 

1865. March 25. Capture of Fort 
Steadman. Grant held Lee quiet durino- 
the winter, while Sherman and Thomas 
were making the final movements in 
the West and South. Lee's position 
was now extremely perilous, and even 
desperate. Sheridan had come from 
the Shenandoah, swept around in the 
rear of Richmond, destroying the James 
River canal — the chief means of get- 
ting supplies from Columbia, and 
had joined the main army. 

•' J 1865. Cholera 

Lee now nervously beheld upott the conn- 

his last hope of holding his «"'^ °f Europe. 

position expire with the increase of 
Grant's army by a part of the Army 
from Tennessee. His once-proud army, 
now much reduced by desertion, was on 
the verge of starvation. He strongly 
recommended an Emancipation Procla- 
mation, and the arming of the slaves. 
Johnston was held in tow by Sherman. 
If a junction with Johnston could be 
made by Lee, the struggle might be pro- 
longed. To do this was a bold and dan- 
gerous step ; but it was the only hope. 
It was now the evening of the 24th of 
March, and Grant's orders for an attack 



640 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



on the 29th were already out. Lee must 
make the junction immediately, or all 
would be lost. On the 25th he attacked 
Fort Steadman, on Grant's extreme 
right, hoping to draw troops from the 
left, and thereby slij? out. At four 
o'clock in the morning the advance was 
made on the unsuspecting garrison, 
which instantly evacuated it. Had Lee 
pushed on promptly, then and there, vic- 
tory would have been the result. But 
during the delay the federal artillery 
made fearful havoc among his troops, 
cutting off the attacking party from their 
lines. As it was, less than half the 
number (five thousand) returned to the 
lines. Meade ordered an advance, and the 
confederates were pushed back still further. 
By this operation Grant held Lee's army 
more firmly than ever, and the grand 
finale was neither hastened nor delayed. 

1865. March 31. The General Lyon, 
of Wilmington, N. C, was lost off Cape 
Hatteras, with five hundred lives. 

1865. April 1. Battle of Five 
Forks. With nine thousand cavalry, 
supported by Warren's corps of infantry, 
Sheridan pushed out from the federal left 
wing on the 29th of March, and gained 
Lee's rear at Five Forks, twelve miles 
from Petersburg. The last of the con- 
federate communications was now sev- 
ered, and the federal army was ready to 
make a movement in concert for the final 
1804^1865. result. A heavy rain storm 

Richard Cobden. delayed an immediate at- 
tack. On the morning of April ist the 
garrison was assaulted in flank and rear 
by Warren's veterans, and in front by 
Sheridan's cavalry. A few escaped, but 
the greater number was killed, while 
five thousand were taken prisoners. This 
was the key to Lee's position, which im- 
mediately became vmtenable. 



1865. April 2. Wilson's Marcti 
through Alabama and Georgia. While 
the federal armies were gathering around 
Richmond, Gen. Wilson roamed at large,, 
with a large cavalry force, through Ala- 
bama and Georgia. He defeated Forrest 
at Selma on the 2d of April, and dis- 
persed small confederate forces wherever 
they rose ujd for resistance. " He cap 
tured five fortified cities, two hundred 
and eighty-eight pieces of artiller\-, 
twenty-three stands of colors, and six 
thousand, eight hundred and twenty pris- 
oners. He lost seven hundred and 
twenty-five men, of whom ninety-nine 
were killed." 

CAPTURE OF PETERSBURG tIKD RICH- 
MO.XD. 

1865. April 2-3. While the hills 
were echoing the shout of victory at 
Five Forks, on the night of the ist the 
federal artillery before Petersburg opened 
a tremendous fire, and kept it up all 
night. At daybreak in the morning the 
long-expected and fully-preiDared assault 
was made along the whole line. By 
noon the confederate line was broken in 
many places, and several thousand pris- 
oners were captured. Sherman cut 
Lee's last avenue of resources that after- 
noon. The goal for which the Army of 
the Potomac had struggled four long, 
bloody years, was almost within its grasp. 
That night (Sabbath), after a desperate 
effort to hold his position, Lee evacuated 
Petersburg. He had already dispatched 
to Davis at the confederate capital, that 
" Richmond must be evacuated this 
evening." Davis was attending services 
at the Episcopal church when the mes- 
sage reached him. Deathly jDale, he 
arose, and silently walked out. An awful 
silence prevailed through the church, and 



1863-1808.] 

the service was closed. The sad news 
needed no announcement; — the fearful 
work of " fleeing before the enemy " was 
soon commenced. Suddenly the streets 
began to flow with carts of baggage, and 
a hurrying inass of fugitives. The con- 
federate historian, Pollard, says : " Night 
came, and with it confusion worse con- 
founded. There was no rest for human 
eyes in Richmond that night. About 
the hour of midnight hundreds of barrels 
of liquor were rolled into the street and 
the heads knocked in, to prevent a worse 
disorder. As the work progressed, some 
stragforlinsr soldiers managfed to fjet hold 
of a quantity of liquor. From that mo- 
ment law and order ceased to exist." 
The tobacco houses were fired, and at 
dawn " an immense conflagration sounded 
in their ears; tongues of flame leaped 
from street to street; and in this baleful 
glare were to be seen the figures of busy 
plunderers, moving, pushing, and rioting 
through the black smoke, bearing away 
every conceivable sort of plunder." The 
federal army entered that day (the 3d), 
and the city was put under military rule. 
The loj^al people at the North could not 
give expression to their joy. All busi- 
ness was closed in the large cities. Im- 
posing public demonstrations were made, 
and public officials were called out to 
address large and enthusiastic crowds. 
That the civil war was ended, was 
evident; and all that was needed to sup- 
press further hostilities was a military 
display of the national armies. This 
took place a few days later at Appomat- 
tox Court House. 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



641 



1865. April 4. President Lincoln 

visited Richmond the day after the evac- 
uation. He went up from City Point in 
the Malvern, and when it was known 



at his landing that President Lincoln was 
actually before them, the colored people 
collected in crowds to gaze upon him, 
and if possible, to take his hand. He 
spent the day in visiting the principal 
parts of the city, and then departed. In 
two days he returned and held confer- 
ences with leading confederates in regard 
to the establishment of peace. 

1865. April 5. Selma, Ala., was 
captured by Gen. Wilson, and with it 
2,700 prisoners, 32 guns, and many sup- 
plies. The confederate Gen. Forrest was 
now being pushed from point to point. 

1865. April 6. Sheridan captured a 
large lot of Lee's supplies and a portion 
of his men near Appomattox Station. 
These losses made Lee's situation a des- 
perate one. 

, 1865. April 7. The surrender of 
Lee was demanded in a note sent by 
Gen. Grant to that commander. The 
officers of Lee saw that capitulation must 
soon take place, but he did not agree 
with them, and replied to Grant that if 
he would send terms they would be 
learned with pleasure. Lee immediately 
continued his flight, and Grant pushed 
after him. Further correspondence took 
place, but to no purpose, until Lee inade 
one more attempt to escape on the morn- 
ing of the 9th. 

LEK8 SURRENDER. 

1865. April 9. While the capture 
of Petersburg and Richmond was con- 
suming the attention of the federals, Lee 
stealthily escaped. The place at which 
he aimed to concentrate his troops was at 
Amelia Court House, on the south side 
of the Appomattox River, where he ex- 
pected to receive commissary stores, and 
then continue his flight southward by the 
Danville road. Grant ordered Sherman, 



642 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



With his cavah-y and a corps of infantry, 
to intercept the retreat. Sheridan moved 
qnickly and got jDOSsession of the railway, 
capturing the supplies. Lee then passed 
off in a northwesterly direction, while 
hundreds of his men were dropping off 
and deserting — too weak to carry their 
muskets. The federal cavalry hung like 
a millstone on Lee's front, flank, and rear, 
and the confederate soldiers were com- 
pelled to fight, when really too weak 
to walk. Finally, Sheridan planted his 
army squarely across Lee's path of re- 
treat. Lee ordered a charge; but the 
cavalry moved aside, disclosing solid 
columns of infantry, and the order was 
reversed. Lee had concluded to accept 
the generous terms of surrender which 
Grant had proposed, i. e., that the officers 
and soldiers were to be released on parole, 
not to take up arms against the Union 
until exchanged. The capitulation was 
made near Appomattox Court House. 
The officers were allowed to retain their 
private baggage and horses, and those of 
the soldiers who rode their own horses 
were permitted to keep them. 



1865, April 11. Evacuation of Mo- 
bile. Mobile did not tall when Farragut 
closed its harbor. The city was yet ably 
defended by forts Spanish and Blakely. 
The former was a formidable structure, 
defended by rifle pits, torpedoes, trenches, 
and two bastions. General Dick Taylor 
had marched from Louisiana with fifteen 
thousand men to the assistance of the 
garrison, with General Maui'y in the 
field. The federal force consisted of 
Steele's, Smith's and Granger's com- 
mands — about forty thousand in all — 
under General Canby. The federals 
were camped on Fish River. On the 
27th of March the federals advanced and 



began a skirmish, which lasted till the 
3d of April, when Fort Spanish was 
completely invested. Siege guns were 
erected, and on the evening of the 8th the 
entire artillery force of the army and 
navy opened upon the fort. At nine 
o'clock that night the federal troops 
pressed forward and jjnshed the enemy 
out, taking possession at two o'clock on 
the morning of the 9th. Fort Blakely 
fell likewise, and the confederates evacu- 
ated Mobile on the 1 1 th. The Union 
forces marched in and took possession, 
ignorant that the great events in Virginia 
had virtually ended the war. 

LLYCOL.rS L^ST SPEECH. 

1865. April 11. An illumination 
took place at Washington, D. C, in honor 
of the surrender of Richmond. Presi- 
dent Lincoln addressed a large concourse 
at the White House upon the principles 
of reconstruction. 



1865. April 12. Montgomery, the 

original capital of the confederacy, was 
surrendered to the Union troops under 
General Wilson. 

1865. April 13. The closing of the 
draft, the curtailment of the operations 
for procuring military supplies, and simi- 
lar steps, were announced by the secre- 
tary of war for immediate execution. 

1865. April 14. The anniversary of 
the surrender of Fort Sumter was chosen 
as an occasion upon which to raise the 
old flag which had been pulled down at 
its evacuation, once more above its walls. 
Distinguished men were present. Henry 
Ward Beecher delivered an address, and 
Major Anderson, who held command of 
the fort at the outbreak of the war, run 
up the flag. It was an occasion of great 
rejoicing. 



1863-1868.] 

TlSS^SSLY^TIO^ OF LIKCOLK. 
1865. April 14. The country upon the 
morning of this day, was all unconscious 
of the impending tragedy. The victim 
of it likewise dismissed all suggestions of 
possible danger which had been repeat- 
edly urged upon him by fiiithful friends. 
Mr. Lincoln felt that in his case there 
could not possibly be any plots against 
his life. He therefore lived in great con- 
fidence and simple trust. He was in ex- 
cellent health and sjiirits at the time. On 
the morning of the 14th he was occupied 
at breakfast, and after, in hearing from 
his son, Capt. Robert Lincoln, a member 
of General Grant's staff, the details of 
Lee's surrender. He then received some 
of the prominent men of the government, 
and at eleven o'clock attended a cabinet 
meeting in which reconstruction was the 
great theme. A very full consultation 
was held upon it. General Grant being 
present, and participating. At a later 
hour Mr. 'Lincoln arranged to go to 
Ford's Theater for the evening. He did 
so partly because he knew that the peo- 
ple wished to see him in some public 
gathering. For a similar reason he had 
arranged to be accompanied by General 
Grant, but the latter left town late in the 
day, and was therefore not present. Mr. 
Lincoln was accompanied by Mrs. Lin- 
coln, Major Rathbone, and Miss Harris, 
daughter of Senator Harris. John Wilkes 
Booth entered the door of the President's 
box a little past ten o'clock, and before he 
was noticed, fired a pistol, the ball from 
which entered the back of Mr. Lincoln's 
head, passed through the brain, and stopped 
just back of the right eye. At the time, 
Mr. Lincoln was intently gazing upon the 
stage, and did not change his position after 
the fatal stroke, except b}^ the dropping of 
his head forward. Booth, after a brief 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



643 



wrestle with Major Rathbone, in which 
he wounded the latter with a daggei", 
leaped over the front of the box, down 
upon the stage, crying out " Sic sem- 
per tyrannis!" His spur caught in 
the United States flag in front of the box, 
and he fell, but rising quickly he ran to 
a rear dooi", and mounting a horse which 
stood there for him, fled from the place. 
It was afterward found that by his fall on 
the stage he had fractured a limb. The 
theater was now in confusion. Mr. Lin- 
coln was taken across the street to Mr. 
Peterson's house, and examined by sur- 
geons. The wound was seen to be fatal, 
and there was nothing to do but watch the 
slowly ebbing life. There was no con- 
sciousness, and an increasing difficulty of 
breathing. The leading persons of the 
government spent the time by his bedside, 
and could scarcely realize the deed. Mr. 
Lincoln breathed his last at twenty-two 
minutes past seven the next morning. 
This terrible news shocked the land 
as it had never been shocked be- 
fore. Men were appalled. The glad- 
ness of the last few days was turned 
into extreme blackness and mournino-. 
Multitudes gathered everywhere to find 
common sympathy. Business was j^ar- 
alyzed, and pleasure annihilated. The 
country was in inexpressible grief. Much 
of the South was shocked deeply, for an 
expectation had begun to rise there that 
his wisdom would help it out of the diffi- 
culty into which it had fiillen. But the 
end so much feared by some had come, 
and the country was left desolate and 
afflicted. 

ATTEMPT UPOK SEWARD. 
1865. April 14. The horror at Lin- 
coln's fall was doubled when it was an- 
nounced that an attempt had been made, 
at the same time, upon the life of Secre- 



644 



jVA tional crises. 



tary William H. Seward, who was con- 
fined to his bed from the effects of a fall 
from his carriage a few days before. Mr. 
Seward's condition was one of great 
weakness. A little past ten o'clock a 
man named Lewis Payne Powell, push- 
ing past the colored boy who had opened 
the door at his ring, made his way to the 
chamber where Mr. Seward was lying. 
Mr. Frederic W. Seward, the son of the 
secretary, met him in the hall on the 
third floor, and refused him adinission to 
the sick room. Powell had told the boy at 
the door, and now told the young man 
that he had some medicine which he must 
personally deliver. When resisted he at- 
tempted to fire at young Mr. Seward, 
but the pistol snapped. He then felled 
him to the floor with a blow from the pis- 
tol, fracturing his skull. Powell rushed 
to the bedside and plunged with a bowie- 
knife three times, at the throat of Mr. 
Seward, inflicting severe wounds, when 
an invalid soldier named Robinson, act- 
ing as nurse, seized the assassin and was 
himself wounded in the wrestle. Mr. 
Sewai'd in this interval, rolled himself off 
the farther side of the bed^ and Powell, 
realizing that there would be instant 
help, for Miss Seward was calling from 
the window, and the colored boy from 
the door, pulled himself away from Rob- 
inson, rushed through the hall, on his 
way striking Major Augustus Seward, 
another son of the secretar}-, and stabbing 
Mr. Hansell, an attendant, and mount- 
ing a horse at the door, rode away. A 
conspiracy was at once evident. Wash- 
ington was instantly put under military 
care. It was not known what further 
efforts might be made. A tempest 
seemed to have burst, and its lightning 
might shiver some other structure at any 
moment. Saturday, the 15th of April, 



was a day of conflicting emotions. But 
the Sabbath soon came, and brought 
something of reflection. The services of 
that day were everywhere turned to this- 
theme. 

TlBR^H±y LIXCOLK. 

1865. April 15. At twenty-two- 
minutes after seven o'clock in the morn- 
ing, our beloved martyred jDresidcnt 
breathed his last, and a nation was left 
to mourn the loss of one who had carried 
it safely through the most critical period 
of its history, a gigantic civil war which 
had threatened to overthrow it. 

Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth presi- 
dent of the United States, was born in 
Hardin county, Ky., Feb. 12, 1S09. His 
father was very poor, and the future 
president's birthplace was a rough log 
cabin. Though so poor. Air. Lincoln did 
not utterly neglect the education of his 
son, but, mindful of his own deficiency, 
gave him every advantage his circum- 
stances would allow. 

W hen Abraham was eight years old,, 
his father, compelled by poverty and his 
inability to cope with slave labor, left his 
home in Kentucky, and in Spencer 
county, Ind., found a new home, where 
he could labor under more favorable cir- 
cumstances, and where his children might 
in time, by industry and perseverance,, 
become honorable members of society. 
Two years later Abraham's mother died. 
It is impossible to estimate her influence 
in molding the character of her son; but 
it is certain, from his own words, that she 
taught him to read and love the Bible; 
that also, under her instruction, he leai'ned 
to write, and encouraged by his father, 
became able to put his thoughts on paper, 
so that after his mother's death he wrote 
a letter to a former friend of his mother,, 
a traveling preacher, asking him to preach 



1863-1868.] THE RETUR 

a funeral sermon over her grave. In the 
autumn, or early winter of 1819, Mr. 
Lincoln's father was married to Mrs. 
Sally Johnston, a former friend in Ken- 
tucky, who proved a kind stepmother to 
Abraham and his sister. 

As he gi"ew older Abraham was very 
helpful on the farm, often also doing an odd 
day's work for the neighbors. His leisure 
time was devoted to reading such books 
as he could procure from any source. 
Those with which he was most familiar 
during these early years, were the Bible, 
the Pilgrim's Progress, and yEsop's 
Fables. He had, besides, Weem's Life 
of Washington, and a Life of Henry 
Clay. Later, he read a Life of Franklin, 
and Ramsay's Life of Washington. 
Molded by such books, his character 
could not become otherwise than pure 
and noble. 

At the age of eighteen he conceived 
and executed the pi'oject of building a 
flat-boat, for the purpose of taking the 
farm produce down the river to market. 
The next year he took a boat-load of prod- 
uce down the Mississippi to the planta- 
tions near New Orleans. 

Just after Mr. Lincoln had attained his 
majoritv, his father, becoming tired of the 
slow process necessary in the getting of 
land ready for cultivation in the forests of 
Indiana, sold out his claim there, and with 
oxen to carry the family goods, directed 
his course toward the prairies of Illinois. 
After a very tedious journey through 
swollen streams and the prairie mud, he 
reached Macon county, and selected a spot 
on the north side of the Sangamon, at 
the junction of the timber land and 
prairie, for the new home. Abraham 
assisted his father in the building of the 
hewed log cabin, split enough rails to in- 
close a ten-acre lot, and fenced it, and, 



V TO PEACE. 



645 



after breaking the ground and seeing to 
the planting of it, left the new home, and 
started out for himself. 

Mr. Lincoln's experience for the next 
few years was varied; working for the 
neighbors; again taking a boat-load of 
produce down the Mississippi; clerking 
in a store; serving in the Black Hawk 
War; a candidate for the legislature; in 
business for himself. At last he was 
hired by John C. Calhoun to assist him 
in surveying, which occupation, after ac- 
quainting himself with the science, he 
followed steadily for one year, and took 
up afterward whenever he needed to in- 
crease his means of support. 

In 1834, two years after a former nom- 
ination for the legislature, he was again 
nominated, and this time elected. At the 
close of the canvass he borrowed some 
law books of Mr. Stuart, a lawyer of 
Springfield, and commenced the study of 
law. On the assembling of legislature, 
Mr. Lincoln shouldered his pack, and 
went on foot to Vandalia, the capital 
of the state at that time, and about one 
hundred miles distant from his home. 
During this session he said little, but 
was a close observer, was always in 
his place, and performed faithfully such 
duties as devolved upon him. At its close 
he went home as he came, and resumed 
his study of law. In 1836 Mr. Lincoln 
was re-elected, and was then recognized 
as one of the most able in a legislature 
which was composed of men, many of 
whose names have since become well 
known in that state, or in the country. 
At this session began Mr. Lincoln's anti- 
slavery history; he and Dan Stone, his 
colleague, entering upon the journal of 
the house their reasons for not voting for 
some extreme pro-slavery resolutions 
which had passed. 



646 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



On the 15th of April, 1S37, Mr. 
Lincoln took up bis abode in Springfield, 
having been invited by Mr. Stuart to be- 
come his partner in the practice of law 
there. His influence in securing the re- 
moval of the capital to that place had 
given him a favorable introduction, and 
Mr. Stuart's willingness to receive him 
as a partner was a sufficient indorse- 
ment of his powers and acquisitions as a 
lawyer. 

In iS-|.o Mr. Lincoln was again elected 
to the legislature, and it was the last term 
he consented to serve. Two years later 
he was married to Miss Mary Todd, of 
Lexington, Ky. In 1846 he accepted a 
nomination to congress from the Sanga- 
mon district, and was elected by a larger 
majoiity than was ever before given to 
any candidate. He remained but one 
term, and on his return devoted himself 
with assiduity to his business for a num- 
ber of years. 

In 1S54 commenced Mr. Lincoln's 
i^'reat discussion with Mr. Douglas on 
the slavery question. In the same year 
he was nominated by the whig party, to 
the United States senate, but at his own 
request, in order to defeat the regular 
democratic candidate, this party united 
with the Anti-Nebraska democrats, and 
elected their candidate, Mr. Lyman 
Trumbull. 

In the organization of the republican 
party of Illinois in 1S56, Mr. Lincoln 
took an active part, and at once became 
one of the leaders in that party. Mr. 
Lincoln's speeches in opposition to Sen- 
ator Douglas in the contest of iS^S for 
a seat in the United States senate, form a 
most notable part of his history. The 
issue was on the slavery question; Mr. 
Douglas was indifferent to it; while Mr. 
Lincoln, taking the broad grovuid of the 



Declaration of Independence, that all 
men are created equal, and believing the 
negro, as a man, included in this asser- 
tion, was opposed to the extension of 
slavery, and wished it to be put where it 
would be in the course of ultimate ex- 
tinction. Mr. Holland says: "It is in 
vain to look for any better jDresentation 
of the principles of the republican party, 
or a better definition of the issues which 
divided it from the democratic party of 
the time, than are to be found in these 
speeches of Mr. Lincoln." Mr. Lincoln 
was defeated in the contest for a .scat in 
the senate owing to the unfair apportion- 
ment of legislative districts, but received 
a majority of the popular vote. His 
speeches, however, and his debates with 
Mr. Douglas, diffused throughout the 
country by the press, brought him before 
the public, and, through the West 
especially, he was thought of as a very 
probable presidential candidate for the 
republican party in the campaign of 1S60. 
During the season of 1S58 there were 
seven joint debates held upon the chal- 
lenge of Mr. Lincoln. At the close of 
his speech in the first debate, Mr. Lincoln 
spoke as follows: 

" Henry Clay, my beau-ideal of a statesman, 
the man tor wliom I have fought all my hum- 
ble life — Henry Clay once said of a class of men 
who would repress all tendencies to liberty and 
ultimate emancipation, that they must, if they 
would do this, go back to the era of our inde- 
pendence, and inuzzle the cannon which thun- 
ders its annual joyous return; thev must blow 
out the moral lights around us; the}' must pene- 
trate the human soul, and eradicate there the 
love of liberty ; and then, and not till then, could 
they perpetuate slavery in this country ! To 
my thinking. Judge Douglas is, by his example 
and vast influence, doing that very thing in this 
community, when he sa\ s that the negro has 
nothing in the Declaration of Independence. 
Henry Clay plainly understood the contrary. 
Judge Douglas is going back to the era of our 
Revolution, and, to the extent of his ability, 
muzzling the cannon Avhich thunders its annual 
joyous return. When he invites any people 
willing to have slavery, to establish it, he is 



1863-1868.] 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



647 



blowing out the moral lights ai-ound us. When 
he says he ' cares not whetiier slavery is voted 
down or voted up,' that it is a sacred right of 
self-government, he is, in my judgment, pene- 
trating the human soul, and eradicating the 
light of reason, and the love of liberty in the 
American people." 

In the second joint debate, Mr, Doug- 
las attempted to meet this idea in the 
following language : 

"The fourth question of Mr. Lincoln is. Are 
you in lavor of acquiring additional territory, 
in disregard as to how such acquisition may 
aftect the Union on the slavery question? This 
question is \&vy ingeniously and cunningly put. 
The Black Republican creed lays it down ex- 
pressly, that under no circumstances shall we 
acquire any more territory unless slavery is 
first prohibited in the country. I ask Mr. Lin- 
coln whether he is in favor of that proposition. 
Are you opposed to the acquisition of any more 
territory unless slavery is prohibited in it.' That 
he does not like to answer. When I ask him 
whether he stands up to that article in the plat- 
form of his party, he turns, Yankee fashion, and 
without answering it, asks me whether I am in 
favor of acquiring territory without regard to 
how it may affect the Union on the slavery 
question. I answer that whenever it becomes 
necessary, in our growth and progress, to 
acquire more territory, that I am in favor of it 
without reference to the question of slavery, and 
when we have acquired it, I will leave the peo- 
ple free to do as they please, either to make it 
slave or free territory, as they prefer. It is idle 
to tell me or you that we have territory enough. 
Our fathers supposed that we had enough when 
our territory extended to the Mississippi River, 
but a few years' growth and expansion satisfied 
them that we needed more, and the Louisiana 
territory, from the west branch of the Missis- 
sippi to the British Possessions, was acquired. 
Then we acquired Oregon, then California and 
New Mexico. We have enough now for the 
present, but this is a young and growing nation. 
It swarms as often as a hive of bees, and as new 
swarms are turned out each' year, there must 
be hives in which they can gather and make 
their honey. In less than fifteen years, if the 
same progress that has distinguished this coun- 
try for the last fifteen years, continues, every 
foot of vacant land between this and the Pacific 
Ocean, owned by the United States, will be oc- 
cupied. Will you not continue to increase at 
the end of fifteen years as well as now.' I tell 
you, increase, and multiply, and expand, is the 
law of this nation's existence. You cannot 
limit this great republic by inere boundary 
lines, saying ' Thus far shalt thou go and no 
farther.' Any one of you, gentlemen, might 
as well say to a son twelve years old that he is 
big enough, and must not grow any larger, and 
in order to prevent his growth, put a hoop 
around him to keep him to his present size. 
What would be the result.' Either the hoop 



must burst and be rent asunder, or the child 
must die. So it would be with this great na- 
tion. With our natural increase, growing with 
a rapidity unknown in any other part of the 
globe, with the tide of emigration that is fleeing 
from despotism in the Old World to seek refuge 
in our own, there is a constant torrent pouring 
into this country that requires more land, more 
territory upon which to settle, and just as fast 
as our interests and our destiny require addi- 
tional territory in the North, in the South, or 
in the islands of the ocean, I am for it, and when 
we acquire it, will leave the people, according 
to the Nebraska bill, free to do as they please 
on the subject of slavery, and every other 
question." 

In a subsequent debate, Mr. Lincoln 
clearly showed the position of the repub- 
lican party upon this point, in the follow- 
ing language: 

"We have in this nation this element of do- 
mestic slavery. It is a matter of absolute cer- 
tainty that it is a disturbing element. It is the 
opinion of all the great men who have ex- 
pressed an opinion vipon it, that it is a danger- 
ous element. We keep up a controversy in re- 
gard to it. That controversy necessarily 
springs from difference of opinion, and if we can 
learn exactly — can reduce to the lowest elements 
— what that difference of opinion is, we perhaps 
shall be better prepared for discussing the dif- 
ferent systems of policy that we would propose 
in regard to that disturbing element. I sug- 
gest that the difference of opinion, reduced to 
its lowest terms, is no other than the difference 
between the men who think slavery a wrong, 
and those who do not think it a wrong. The 
republican party think it a wrong — we think it 
a moral, a social, and a political wrong. We 
think it is a wrong not confining itself merely 
to the persons or the states where it exists, but 
that it is a wrong in its tendency, to say the least, 
that extends itself to the existence of the whole 
nation. Because we think it wrong, we pro- 
pose a course of policy that shall deal with it as 
a wrong. We deal with it as with any other 
wrong, in so far as we can prevent its growing 
any larger, and so deal with it that in the run of 
'time there mav be some promise of an end to it. 
We have a due regard to the actual presence of 
it amongst us, and the difficulties of getting rid 
of it in any satisfactory way, and all the consti- 
tutional obligations thrown about it. This, gen- 
tlemen, as well as I can give it, is a plain state- 
ment of our principles in all their enormity." 

These seven great debates gave a clear 
exhibition to the principles of the two 
parties, and their effect has never ceased 
to be felt in Illinois. 

In February of i860 Mr. Lincoln visited 
the East. He delivered in New York 



648 



on the 35th of February, the speech 
which by many is regarded as his ablest. 
It exhibited such a depth of historical re- 
search that weeks were required by 
those who were afterward engaged in 
preparing it for a campaign document, 
to find the works which verified his con- 
clusions. The speech was followed 
with the closest attention by his great au- 
dience, and many went away convinced 
that if they were obliged to give up their 
favorite candidate, Mr. Seward, Mr. Lin- 
coln would be well worthy their support. 
Wherever he spoke at the East he was 
received in the same way, and he found 
that at the East as at the West, a man is 
judged by what he is, and what he can 
do. Rev. J. P. Gulliver told Mr. Lin- 
coln that it was the most remarkable 
speech he had ever heard, and on being 
asked what was remarkable in it, said, 
" The clearness of your statements, the 
unanswerable style of your reasoning, 
and especially your illustrations, which 
were romance and pathos, and fun and 
logic all welded together." A jDrofessor 
of rhetoric in Yale College took notes on 
his lecture at New Haven, and gave a 
lecture on it to his class the next day, and 
the next day followed him to Meriden for 
the same purpose. 

The convention which nominated Mr. 
Luicoln for president, met at Chicago on 
the 1 6th of June. Two prominent 
names were before it, each of whose ad- 
herents were many and strong. Mr. 
vSeward, widely known throughout the 
country from a prominent public life of 
thirty years, and recognized both at home 
and abroad as a man of marked ability; 
and Mr. Lincoln, much less widely 
known in this country, and scarcely at all 
abroad, yet almost idolized by his party 
in his own state, and wherever well 



NATIONAL CRISES. 

known. Mr. Lincoln was nominated or 
the third ballot during the second day ol 



the convention. He received the formal 
announcement on the following day, and 
sent his acceptance on the twenty-third- 

Although it was almost certain from 
the first that, on account of the break in 
the opposing party, Mr. Lincoln would 
be elected, yet he took up the honors of 
his new position quietly, losing none of 
his old heartiness and simplicity. He ac- 
cepted as his, the platform of the 
party which nominated him, and wisely 
awaited the results. 

When the result of the election in the 
electoral college was announced before 
congress, it was found that Mr. Lincoln 
had received one hundred and eighty out 
of the two hundred and three votes cast, 
and was the constitutionally elected Presi- 
dent of the United States. 

On the nth of February, 1861, Mr. 
Lincoln started for Washington, stopping 
at all the large cities on his way. In 
his addresses at these places he appeared 
at his very worst, from the fact that he 
had determined not to make his policy 
known, and felt on that account that he 
had nothing to say; hence the speeches 
lacked that life which was usually their 
most striking feature. The whole jour- 
ney was fraught with much danger. 
Many of the Southern States had already 
seceded. Several attempts at assassina- 
tion were afterward brought to light. 
At Philadelphia he was informed by a 
detective of a plot to assassinate him 
while passing through Baltimore; the 
information being seconded at Harrisburg 
by a message from General Scott and 
Senator vSeward, through the son of the 
latter, it seemed best that he leave Har- 
risburg on the evening of the 23d of 
Februarv instead of the next morning as 



1863-1868.] 

previously arranged. By this plan he 
passed through Baltimore in safety, and 
arrived in Washington on Saturday 
morning, February 23. 

In the inaugural address, Mr. Lincoln 
announced his policy as clearly as pos- 
sible. Its tone was conciliatory and 
friendly toward the South, while at the 
same time it showed his firm determina- 
tion to protect United States property, and 
to uphold the constitutional government. 
He followed strictly his policy as laid 
ilown in the inaugural; doing all in his 
power in the first place to prevent the 
war — leaving to the South the initial 
steps; and when he saw that war was 
inevitable, using every means to prevent 
the border states from joining the enemy. 
This latter part of the policy was severe- 
ly censured by a party at the North, as 
compromising, with slavery ; but its wis- 
dom must now be acknowledged, as it is 
not probable that these states could have 
been retained in the Union in any other 
way. 

In the nomination of cabinet officers, 
to Mr. Seward was given the first place, 
not simply as a compliment to the party 
who had been desirous that he be nomi- 
nated to the presidency instead of Mr. 
Lincoln, but because he saw that his wis- 
dom and large experience eminently 
fitted him for the position. 

Throughout his entire administration 
Mr, Lincoln's fixed purpose was to abide 
by the constitution, and from this pur- 
pose he never for a moment swerved. 
Believing that the constitution recog- 
nized as property those who were held 
its slaves in the Southern States, though 
he had always hated slavery, he could 
not make the emancipation of them jus- 
tifiable on any other ground than as a 
•war measure, and did not feel that he 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



649 



could on this ground issue the Proclama- 
tion any sooner than he did. Feelino- 
then that the country was ready for it, 
and that the position of the war demand- 
ed it, he issued it with the firm convic- 
tion that he was following the direction 
of Providence. 

During no other administration have 
the duties devolving upon the president 
been so manifold, and the responsibilities 
so great, as those which fell to the lot of 
President Lincoln. Knowing this, and 
feeling keenly his own weakness and ina- 
bility to meet, and in his own strength to 
cope with, the difficulties, he learned early 
to seek divine wisdom and guidance 
in determining his plans, and divine com- 
fort in all his trials, both personal and na- 
tional. "I should be the most presumpt- 
uous blockhead upon this footstool," he 
says, " if I for one day thought that I 
could discharge the duties which have 
come upon me since I came into this 
place, without the aid and enlighten- 
ment of One who is wiser and stronger 
than all others." The thought that the 
prayers of Christians throughout the na- 
tion were constantly going up for him, 
was always a great source of consola- 
tion. Yet the cares wore upon him; 
through all the abuse heaped upon him 
during the senatorial campaign discussions 
with Mr. Douglas, he never lost his tem- 
per; yet in his presidency often verv 
small things would make him exceed- 
ingly irritable. His fund of stories, and 
hearty enjoyment of those told by others, 
did much to keep up his spirits.' He said 
at one time, " If it were not for this occa- 
sional vent, I should die." He never was 
anxious for his personal safety. Full of 
the kindest feelings toward every one, he 
could not understand how any one 
should feel that enmitv toward him 



650 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



which would lead to his assassination. 
His custom was to walk the streets of 
Washington at night with but one 
unarmed companion; and he often drove 
out to the Soldiers' Home, his summer 
residence, alone. On the day after the 
surrender of Richmond he walked its 
streets with no guard except the sailors 
who had rowed him up the river. And 
yet from the time he left Springfield in 
February of iS6i, his enemies did not 
cease making plans for his assassination 
until he had fallen a victim to one of 
them. He fell just as he had reached the 
pinnacle of his fame, mourned by many 
of his foes as well as by his friends, Eng- 
land vying with America in expressions 
of sympathy for those most nearly affected 
by his loss. His was a life which will 
fitly become a model, its blemishes grow- 
ing dim, and its virtues shining with in- 
creasing luster. His name as the savior 
of his country will live with that of 
Washington, its Father; his countrymen 
being ever unable to decide which is the 
greater. 

1865. April 15. Andrew Johnson 

was sworn in as president of the United 
States by Chief-justice Chase, about six 
hours after Mr. Lincoln breathed his last. 
1865. April 16. Columbus, Ga., 
was seized by Gen. Wilson, and a vast 
amount of property was destroyed, in- 
cluding a confederate ram. On the same 
day La Grange seized West Point, Ga., 
capturing Fort Tyler by a brave assault. 

SHERM±Y'S ATTEMPTED ^GREEME.YT. 

1865. April 18. Sherman had moved 
with great rapidity after the evacuation 
of Richmond, in pursuit of Johnston. 
When at a later day he heard of the sur- 
render of Lee he pushed on still more rap- 



idly, and soon received a note from John- 
ston, suggesting a truce till affiiirs could 
be submitted to Gen. Grant. A conference 
was finally arranged, and Sherman made 
known to Johnston that he had power to 
make terms similar to those made by 
Grant to Lee. But Johnston wished 
some political elements introduced into 
the surrender, and finally on this date a 
paper was drawn up which embodies his 
ideas. It contained statements in regard 
to the recognition of the governments of 
the states in rebellion, and in regard to 
political franchises. A copy was sent to 
Washington, where it was at once indig- 
nantly repudiated. Grant immediatelv 
communicated with Sherman, ordering" 
him to close all truce with Johnston, 
unless the terms of surrender made to 
Lee were accepted by him. 

LLVCOLY'S FUXERAL. 

1865. April 19. The funeral cere- 
monies at Washington were held in the 
East Room of the White House, Rev. 
Dr. Hall of the Episcopal church. Bishop 
Simpson of the Methodist church, 
taking part, and Rev. Dr. Gurley of the 
Presb3'terian church, pronouncing a dis- 
course. At two o'clock a vast procession 
was formed, and escorted the remains to 
the capitol, which was draped in black 
in all its parts, where they were laid in 
state in the rotunda, vmtil the 2ist. The 
scene during these days was indescriba- 
ble. On the 2 1st the remains were re- 
moved, to be carried to Springfield, 111, 
Now began an experience never had iii 
this country before. The body of the 
president lay in state in Philadelphia, 
New York, and Chicago, and other 
great cities, while along the entire route 
was one constant crowd testifying by 
looks and tears to their overwhelming 



1863-1868.] 

grief. The train was everywhere 
watched with sorrow. People assembled 
at all points to see it pass. Never were 
there greater outbursts of affection for a 
dead ruler. 

1865. April 20. Macon, Ga., was 

surrendered to Gen. Wilson. Over a thou- 
sand men were here taken prisoners. Gen. 
Wilson was told of the surrender of Lee, 
by Howell Cobb, the confederate. ' 

detith of booth. 

1865. April 26. The party in pur- 
suit of Booth got upon his ti^ack and 
came up with him at Garrett's farm, 
twenty miles from Fredericksburg, where 
he concealed himself in a barn. He re- 
fused to yield himself up, and the barn 
having been fired, he was shot in 
attempting to escape, by Boston Coi-bett. 
He was mortally wounded, and died in a 
short time. 

V^LEXTIKE MOTT, M. D. 

1865. April 26. This eminent sur- 
geon declined in health very rapidly after 
the shock occasioned by learning of 
the death of Lincoln, and died in New 
York at the age of seventy-nine years. 
He was born on Long Island, Aug. 20, 
1 7S5, and after a severe course of study 
in New York and London, and Edin- 
burgh, entered Columbia College in the 
chair of surgery. His life was devoted to 
this branch of medical work. Sir Astley 
Cooper said of him, " He has performed 
more of the great operations than any 
man living, or that ever did live." He 
was eminent in the world of his day both 
as a man and as a surgeon. His life was 
full of the finer traits of manhood. 

JOHXSTOjY'S 8URREKDER. 



THE liETURN TO PEACE. 



651 



1865. April 26. 

rendered to Gen. 



Gen. Johnston sur- 
Sherman with the 



terms which had been accorded to Lee. 
A body of cavalry under Wade Hamp- 
ton withdrew and refused to unite in the 
surrender. The number of troops given 
up was about 25,000. The capitulation 
included all the troops in the southern 
seaboard states which formed Johnston's 
department. 

1865. April 28. The Sultana ex- 
ploded upon the Mississippi, with a loss 
of 1,330 lives, most of them returned 
Union prisoners. There were 2,106 on 
board. 

SOUTH ±MERimK ALLMKCE. 

1865. May 1. A secret alliance was 
formed against Paraguay by Brazil, the 
Argentine Republic, and Uruguay. They 
resolved to overthrow the government of 
Lopez at any cost whatever, and never 
to disband till that was accomplished. 
.Lopez had already made hostile move- 
ments, and had declared the provinces of 
Corrientes and Entre Rios annexed to 
Paraguay. 

1865. May 2. Proclamation of Re- 
ward. A proclamation was issued by 
President Johnson, stating that there was 
" evidence in the Bureau of Military Jus- 
tice " that the assassination of Lincoln 
and the attempt upon Seward, were parts 
of a conspiracy formed by the heads of 
the confederacy, and therefore offering a 
reward of $100,000 for Jefferson Davis, 
$25,000 each for Jacob Thompson, C. C. 
Clay, George N. Saunders, and Beverly 
Tucker, and $10,000 for William C. 
Cleary. It was afterward made clear 
that these men knew nothing of the 
plans which the assassins tried to execute. 

1865. May 4. Gen. Richard Taylor 
surrendered the confederate forces in Ala- 
bama to Gen. Canby, at Citronelle, on 



652 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



the same terms as made to Lee and John- 
ston. The confederate vessels on the 
Tombigbee River were also o-iven up. 

LIXCOL. V 'H IKTERMEKT. 

1865. May 4. The remains of Lin- 
coln, after having been viewed by thou- 
sands at Springfield, were placed in the 
tomb which awaited them. Bishop 
Simpson pronounced a funeral oration. 
A choir of two hundred and fifty voices 
sang requiems fitting the occasion. The 
final leave was taken, and the great les- 
sons of his life were borne away to a 
anultitude of homes. 

JEFFERSOX IMVIS CtLPTURED. 

1865. May 11. The knowledge that 
Davis had fled from Richmond caused 
the troops through the Southern States to 
be on the watch for him. He at first fled 
with his family, and then separated from 
them, but again rejoined them through a 
report that they would be maltreated. 
.e.^. r- .., He tried to reach the 

1865. Cattle 

plague in Eng- Florida coast, but was 
^''"''' awakened in the morning 

by the approach of cavalrymen whom he 
recognized to be federals, and in attempt- 
ing to get from his tent to his horse, was 
hastily rigged up by his wife and wife's 
sister in a female disguise. But he was 
detected and made a prisoner, and after- 
ward sent to Fortress Monroe. The cap- 
ture was made near Irwinsville, Ga., by 
two parties of cavalry under Lieut.-Col. 
Pritchard and Lieut.-Col. Hardin. 

ltlst bhttle of the imR. 

1865. May 13. The battle of Pal- 
metto Ranche was fought near the Rio 
Grande, in Texas, between a Union 
force under Col. Barrett and a confeder- 
ate force under Gen. J. E. Slaughter. 



The former w^ere forced back with con- 
siderable loss, but the battle was inde- 
cisive. A colored regiment of United 
States troops fired the last volley in this 
battle, and therefore in the war. 

1865. May 22-23. A grand review 

of the national army of the United 
States took place in Washington, D. C, 
where the troops had been concentrated. 
It was a great spectacle, and was viewed 
by all the officers of government, for- 
eign ministers, and also thousands of 
civilians. 

1865. May 25. A day of fasting 
and prayer on account of the death of 
Lincoln, was observed in the United 
States, in accordance with a proclamation 
by President Johnson. 

UPRISING L¥ BOLIVM. 

1865. May 25. An uprising took 
place under one Castro Urquedas, 
against the government of Gen. Mel- 
garejo, who had himself obtained the 
power by insurrection. For the rest of 
the year the province was in great com- 
motion. 



1865. May 26. Gen. Kirby Smith 

surrendered his command to Gen. Canby, 
and thus ended the last regular army 
movements of the war. 

1865. May 29. An amnesty proc- 
lamation was issued by President John- 
son, declaring that the great body of citi- 
zens of the Southern States could receive 
full pardon. He reserved a list of four- 
teen exceptions. 

BISBAKBLKG OF THE ^RMY. 

1865. June 2. Gen. Grant issued an 
address to the " Soldiers of the Armies of 
the United States." and the work of mus- 



1863-1808.] 

tering out of service began. This was a 
task wliich took several months, and in 
its peaceful character surprised the world. 
By Jan. 20, 1866, there had been mus- 
tered out 918,733 volunteers. At the 
time the disbanding began there w^ere 
upon the rolls 1,034,064 volunteers. This 
vast army was speedily absorbed into the 
private ranks of life. There were in the 
army at different dates: 

July I, 186 1, 186,571 volunteers. 

Jan. I, 1862, 575,917 

Jan. I, 1863, 918,191 " 

Jan. I, 1864, 860,737 

Jan. I, 1865, 959,460 " 

The total number of enlistments in 
the Union army was 2,678,967. The 
number in the confederate cause was 
probably near 2,000,000. About 300,000 
men upon each side lost their lives by 
being killed on the field or from wounds 
and diseases in hospitals. About 400,- 
000 in all upon both sides were dis- 
abled and crippled. A full million able- 
bodied men were destroyed or perma- 
nently injured. In the navy department, 
7,600 men at the opening of the war 
were increased to 51,500 at its conclusion. 
The government built 208 war vessels, 
and bought 418. Cornelius Vanderbilt 
gave the United States a steamer worth 
near $1,000,000, which he had with- 
drawn from the Pacific service. The 
navy captured 1,504 vessels attempting 
to run the blockade with supplies for the 
confederates. 

PA Y DEPARTMENT. 

The pay department of the U. S. 
army disbursed in money during the war, 
up to the time when the soldiers had 
been mustered out, $1,100,000,000. The 
loss from defalcations and accidents was 
less than $1,000,000. The entire ex- 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



65^ 



pense of paying the army was $6,000,- 
000, or less than three-quarters of one 
per cent, on the entire amount. In the 
war of iSi3 it cost 4.36 per cent, of the 
entire amount for expenses and defalca- 
tions. 

ARMY MEDICAL DEPARTMENT. 

From May, 1S61, until the soldiers 
were all mustered out in 1S66, the army 
medical department treated 5,825,000 
cases in field and hospital. Of these, 
166,633 were fatal. There were 273,175 
wounded men, of whom 33,777 died. 
The other cases were of all kinds of 
sickness. In this service a vast supply of 
ambulances, railway trains, steamers, and 
general hospital tents had been employed. 
Many circulars of great value had been 
issued to the world. The operations of 
the department are confessedly original 
in much of the work, and are therefore 
very valuable to all nations. The Army 
Medical Museum at Washington grew" 
out of this department. 

SANITARY COMMISSION. 

During the civil war an instrumentality 
grew up which was outside the gov- 
ernment, and of great aid to it. It 
took the name of Sanitary Commission, 
because its aim was to do everything 
possible for the health and vigor of the 
men in arms, and the comfort and resto- 
ration of those who were sick. The first 
society for this purpose was formed in 
Bridgeport, Conn., on April 15, 1861, 
the day of President Lincoln's first call 
for troops. A lady named Miss Almena 
Bates proposed a similar step in Charles- 
town, Mass., on the same day, and a so- 
ciety was soon formed. Soon other 
places were forming like societies. Be- 
fore April closed one was formed in New 



654 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



York City. Rev. Henry W. Bellows, 
D. D., was prominent in suggesting this 
one, and drew up its constitution. In a 
short time the associations linked them- 
selves together, and obtained the sanction 
of the government. On June 9, 1S61, 
Dr. Bellows and others were appointed by 
the secretary of war a " Commission of 
Inquiry and Advice in respect to the 
Sanitary Interests of the U. S. Forces." 
They were to be aided by the war de- 
partment, and to work ni conjunction 
with the medical force of the arm}-. 
Frederic Law Olmsted was to serve as 
resident secretary. Soon its supplies and 
attention were going everywliere the 
soldiers went. It maintained forces of 
wagons, tents, and other necessities. 
Fairs were held in all the principal cities, 
in aid of this great enterprise. At a fair 
in New York $1,181,500 were realized 
above expenses. Correspondingly great 
sums were obtained wherever they were 
held. The grand sum total of money 
given to this commission reached the sum 
of $5,000,000, and of supplies, the sum 
of $15,000,000. By this means soldiers 
in all the forces when sick and wounded, 
were supplied with trained nin-ses who 
had at hand the delicacies and helps of 
all kinds for innumerable cases of need. 
The work was one of vast blessing. 

CHRISTMX COMMISSIO.y. 

Another great power operating for the 
good of the army was the United .States 
Christian Commission. Such a work as 
it afterward did was first suggested by 
Vincent Colyer, of the Young Men's 
Christian Association of New York. Mr. 
Colyer, with two others, entered into 
Christian labor in the camps and hospitals 
after the first battle of Bull Run. Meet- 
ings were held wherever it was possible 



to hold them, and Bibles, etc., distributed 
in great numbers. The United States 
government gave every aid. Nov. 14, 
1 86 1, a national organization was formed 
in New York at a convention called from 
all the North. George H. Stuart of 
Philadelphia was made president. It 
was to aim at elevating the moral and 
religious welfare of the troops. Laborers 
were found, and chapels erected, and con- 
stant moral restraint exercised. Nor did 
its labors end here. I^ike the Sanitary 
Commission, it supplied also the physical 
needs of the soldiers witli many things. 
The Christian Commission laborers were 
the distributors of many bounties sent by 
loving hearts at home. The money and 
supplies of this commission are thought 
to have aggregated $6,000,000. During 
the first year of its existence it had " 1,069 
ministers and laymen at work in the field, 
held 3,945 meetings in camp and hospital, 
distributed 102,560 Bibles and Testa-^ 
ments, 115,757 miscellaneous books, 34,- 
653 magazines and pamphlets, 130,697 
soldiers' and sailors' hymn and psalm 
books, 384,781 newspapers, 10,953,706 
pages of tracts, 300,000 temperance docu- 
ments, and 3,691 boxes and barrels of 
stores and jxiblications." This, and the 
great work done by the Sanitary Com- 
mission, are simply indications of the way 
in which the loyal people of the North 
poured forth their best treasures for the 
cause they loved. Gifts of all kinds Avere 
bestowed upon the go^■erlnncnt unstint- 
ingly. Wealthy men came to its aid at 
such times as to be great helpers, and the 
steady flow of bounties marked a perma- 
nent source. 

1865. June 10. A great fire at Nash- 
ville consumed Union supplies worth 
nearly $10,000,000. 



1863-1868.] 

1865. June 23. The blockade of 
the Southern ports was declared at an 
end in a proclamation issued by President 
Johnson. He afterward issued other 
proclamations removing restrictions upon 
internal commerce, paroling state prison- 
ers, and annulling the suspension of 
habeas corpus. 

THE 8HEX±m)0AH. 

1865. June 28. The Shenandoah 
was the last confederate vessel to commit 
depredations upon American commerce. 
She cruised around the world and cap- 
tured thirty vessels, worth $1,354,958. 
She was built in Scotland, and was 
manned with Englishmen. After having 
been at Australia, her course was turned 
up to Behring's Straits, where on this 
date she apjoeared among a whaling fleet, 
and captured ten vessels, destroying eight 
of them. Her horrid work was well- 
nigh done. Information that the war had 
ended had already been received by the 
captain of the Shenandoah, but on Aug. 2 
another report reached him, and he there- 
fore sailed to England, and delivered up 
his vessel at Liverpool. 

EXECUTION' OF ^SS^SSLVS. 

1865. July 7. The accomplices of 
Booth had been arrested and tried by a 
military commission. The evidence had 
been worked up by Col. Baker, chief of 
the United States detective force. David 
E. Harold, George A. Atzerott, Lewis 
Payne Powell, and Mrs. Mary E. Sur- 
ratt, at whose house the plans seemed to 
have been formed, were hung on this day. 
Michael O'Laughlin, Samuel A. Mudd, 
and Samuel Arnold were sentenced to 
\ hard labor for life upon the Dry Tortugas. 
Edward wSpangler was sentenced to hard 
labor for six vears. 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



655 



1865. July 11. Gen. Robert E. Lee 

was made president of the Washington 
University in Virginia. He served until 
his death, when the institution took his 
name, in addition to that of Washington. 

1865. July 13. A great fire destroyed 
Barnum's Museum in New York. 

1865. Aug. 9. The propellor Pewa- 
bic was lost in Lake Huron, with one 
hundred lives. 

1865. Aug. 14. A great forgery by 
one Ketchum of New York, to the 
amount of $2,000,000, was discovered. • 

1865. Aug. 16. An accident occurred 
on the Housatonic railroad in Connecti- 
cut, in which an engine making a trial 
trip dashed into the rear of a passenger 
train, and killed and wounded about thirty 
persons. 

1865. Aug. 22. Mississippi repealed 
her ordinance of secession in a constitu- 
tional convention, which had on the day 
before declared slavery abolished. 

1865. Aug. 25. The Brother Jona- 
than, of San Francisco, was lost in the 
Pacific, with 146 lives. 

1865. Sept. 10. Alabama held a con- 
stitutional convention, which met this day, 
and during its session nullified her ordi- 
nance of secession, repudiated the state 
war debt, and declared slavery abolished, 

1865. Sept. 13. South Carolina held 
a constitutional convention, which met 
this day, and during its session nullified 
her ordinance of secession, and declared 
slavery abolished. 

1865. Oct. 2. North Carolina held 
a constitutional convention, which met 
this day, and during its session nullified 
her ordinance of secession, declared 
slavery abolished, and repudiated the 
state war debt. 

1865. Oct. 11. Alexander H. Ste- 
phens, and other confederate prisoners, 



656 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



were released from Fort Warren, Boston 
harbor, on parole. 

1865. Oct. 25. Florida held a con- 
stitutional convention which met this day, 
and on the 2Sth nullified her ordinance of 
secession. 

1865. Oct. 25. Georgia held a con- 
stitutional convention which 

1784-1865. 

Lord Palmer- met this day, and during its 
•'''''"■ session nullified the ordi- 

nance of secession, repudiated the state 
war debt, and declared slavei-y abolished. 

1865. October. A destructive earth- 
quake occurred in California, and resulted 
in the loss and injury of much property. 

1865. October. A general insurrec- 
tion occurred among the negroes of Ja- 
maica, W. I. True peace had not been 
enjoyed since the slaves were freed in 
1833. Great bloodshed took place before 
the rebellion was suppressed. The leaders 
were hung or shot. 

1865. Nov. 1. A day of national 
thanksgiving was held, in view of the 
restoration of the Union. 

1865. Nov. 3. The reverses of the 
Paraguayan army were so great that 
Lopez was obliged to withdraw his forces 
from the Argentine territory, and hence- 
forth, for two years, the war was carried 
on within his own province. It was now 
a question of endurance on his part. 

EXECUTION OF WIRZ. 

1865. Nov. 10. Henry Wirz, who 
had been put in charge of Andersonville 
prison by Gen. Winder, and had been 
tried by a military commission of the 
United States on charges of cruelty to 
Union prisoners in his hands, was hung 
in Washington. 

1865. Nov. 24. The Niagara was lost 
on the Mississippi River, with 100 lives. 



1865. Nov. 26. The Spanish gun- 
boat, Covadonga, was captured by the 
Chilian steamer, Esmeralda. The cor- 
respondence of Admiral Pareja was ob- 
tained by the capture, and he, because of 
his ill-success, committed suicide on the 
2Sth. Chili was willing to help Peru in 
her struggle with Spain. During this 
month the treaty which Peru had formed 
\vith Spain in Januarv, ^vas rejected by 
Prado, dictator. In December, Peru and 
Chili formed a treaty of alliance against 
vSpain. 

1865. Dec. 4. Reconstruction Com- 
mittee. A committee of fifteen was 
appointed by congress to inquire into the 
condition of Southern affairs, and report 
upon it. Besides other matters, it took 
up the condition of Union prisoners in 
the confederate prisons during the war, 
and heard elaborate testimony upon the 
question. The existence and work of thi> 
committee annoyed the president, and 
helped to precipitate the rupture which 
soon came. 

1865. Dec. 18. The ratification of 
the Thirteenth Amendment by three- 
fourths of the states was officially de- 
clared by Secretary Seward, and it there- 
fore became part of the Constitution of 
the United States. 

THOMAS CORWIK. 

1865. Dec. 18. Thomas Corwin, 
an American politician, died at Washing- 
ton, aged seventy-one years. He was born 
in Kentucky July 29, i 794, and grew up 
amid the scenes and labors of farm life, 
in which he took a faithful part. He ob- 
tained a common school edu- ^•^^''- Rerogni- 

. tion of coiifeder- 

cation, and benig naturally au government 
bright, he was profited by kv England 

TT T "'"^ France 

all his advantages. He be- rescinded. 
gan the study of law, and was ad- 



1863 -1868. J 

mitted to the bar in iSi8. He soon 
gained a reputation for great wisdom as 
an advocate, and was thought of as a vaki- 
able candidate for political office. In 
1S40 he ran as the candidate of the whigs, 
for governor of Ohio. His canvass, 
which was brilliant, was successful. 
The year 1845 found him elected to the 
United States senate. Under President 
Fillmore he served as secretary of the 
treasury for three years. After a season 
of practice in his profession, he was re- 
turned to congress, but in 1861 was sent 
as minister to Mexico. He left that 
country when Maximilian arrived. Mr. 
Corwin was wise and witty. 

SOLDIERS' HOMES. 

1865. Congress arranged for institu- 
tions for disabled soldiers. They were at 
first called asylums, but in 1873 w^ere 
designated as '^ Homes." Soldiers of the 
war of iSi3, and the Mexican war, arc 
also admitted. The Homes are sup- 
ported by the United States government, 
and are supplied v/ith the comforts of life 
in fair measure. A national Home had 
already been established near Washing- 
ton, after the Mexican war. 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



657 



1865. Virginia City, Nevada, situ- 
ated over the Comstock silver mine, had 
become a place of 30,000 inhabitants in 
four years. The wonderful growth of 
mining towns is illustrated by this place. 

1865. Cholera raged in the United 
States, and destroyed about 13,000 lives. 

1865. The first general Unitarian 
convocation for the countr^^ was held at 
New York. A great discussion arose as 
to whether the body should adopt a 
creed, but it was finally agreed that it be 
left to each one " to judge for himself 
what Christianity is." 



1865. During this year there were 
354 fires, each of which destroj'cd prop- 
erty worth over $30,000, and all of 
which destroyed property worth $43,- 
419,000. Between 1855 '^"^ ^^^5 losses 
by fire aggregated $314,588,000. The 
Smithsonian Institution at Washington, 
met with losses by fire this year. 

1865. An insurrection was fomented 
in San Salvador by Barrios, who had 
been concerned in some previous troubles. 
He was defeated in battle, and was taken 
prisoner by the government of Nicaragua. 
The prisoner was delivered to San vSal- 
vador upon condition that he be not shot, 
but after a time he was executed. 

1865. A constitution was promul- 
gated in Honduras, which has since been 
the foundation of the government of that 
province. 

1865. A Patagonian colony was at- 
tempted this year, but unsuccessfully. It 
was to be of Welsh people, and its loca- 
tion was to be on the Rio Chupat. The 
Argentine Republic undertook to accom - 
plish it. Within a year previous the con- 
gress of Chili had attempted to jDromote 
colonization by giving a Mr. Tornero 75,- 
000 square miles, if he would bring 10,000 
colonists and provide four steam tugs for 
constant service in Magellan's Straits. 
But this has never been carried out. 

1866. Jan. 1. Emancipation Day, 
the third anniversary of the great proc- 
lamation, was widely celebrated by the 
colored people in the South. 

1866. Jan. 12. Henry Clay's old 
home was purchased by the Universit}- 
of Kentucky. 

1866. Jan. 14. A treaty of alliance 
against Spain was formed by Peru, Chili, 
Ecuador, and Bolivia. This treaty led 
to the settlement of some standing differ- 
ences between the allied countries, espe- 

43 



658 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



dally that I'clating to the boundary be- 
tween Chili and Bolivia. By the terms 
of the treaty all Spaniaixls were to be 
banished. 

1866. Jan. 23. The legislature of 
New Jersey, which had the jorevious year 
rejected the Thirteenth Amendment, re- 
considered and passed it. 

ELIPHtILETT .YOTT. 

1866. Jan. 29. Eliphalett Nott, 
prominently known as president of Union 
College, N. Y., died at Schenectady, 
aged ninety-two years. He was born in 
Ashford, Conn., June 35, 1773, and was 
reared imder the fashion of New England. 
His early years were devoted to work on 
the farm, until, gaining a passion for an 
education, he made his way to a brother 
who was a minister, and studied as far as 
possible under his direction. He worked 
at his lessons incessantly, and followed the 
course pursued in colleges at that day 
with such thoroughness that he after- 
ward received a degree from Brown 
University without having attended col- 
lege at all. He then studied theology, 
and was ordained to the ministry at the 
age of twenty-two. With this prepara- 
tion he started out into Central New York 
to labor in the newly settled portions. 
For two years he labored in Cherry Val- 
ley, and was then called to Albany to a 
Presbyterian church. At the death of 
Alexander Hamilton, Mr. Nott preached 
a sermon which brought him a wide 
reputation. It was a masterpiece of elo- 
quence. In 1804 Mr. Nott was made 
president of Union College, and remained 
such for sixty-one years. During this 
period his inventive genius displayed 
itself in helping to solve the great prob- 
lem of the early part of this century, in 
the burning of coal and warming of 



rooms. He invented a stove, the patents 
upon which brought him a large revenue. 
His stoves were sold everywhere. When 
he was eighty years old he gave Union 
College $610,000, providing for great 
additional usefulness by enlarging the 
institution in many directions. Dr. Nott 
was a marked man as an educator in his 
generation, and possessed a high order of 
wisdom. His life passed into many stu- 
dents, and lives to-day in their lives. 

1866. Jan. 31. A great fire con- 
sumed the commissary and quartermas- 
ter's stores at Fort Riley, Kansas, at a loss 
of $1,000,000. 

1866. Feb. 7. A naval battle occurred 
between the Spanish and Peruvian and 
Chilian fleet, in which no severe losses 
were inflicted upon either side. The 
Spanish fleet however, sailed away. 

1866. Feb. 10. Texas held a con- 
stitutional conv^ention which met at this 
date, and during its session declared the 
ordinance of secession null, repudiated the 
state war debt, and declared slavery 
abolished. 

1866. Feb. 11. An anniversary of 
the Sanitary Commission was held at 
Washington, and closed the labors of 
that efficient body. 

1866. Feb. 12. Memorial services 
in honor of President Lincoln, were held 
in the capitol at Washington, it being the 
anniversary of his birthday. Hon, George 
Bancroft, the well known statesman and 
historian, delivered an addi"ess. 

1866. Feb. 22. The famous speech 
of President Johnson, in denunciation of 
members of congress by name, and in 
condemnation of the republican party, 
was made in front of the White House, 
Washington, D. C. 

1866. Feb. 26. President John- 
son's policy of reconstruction, which 



1863-1808.] 

had resu-lted in the rupture between him- 
self and tlie republican party, was in- 
dorsed in a meeting called at Richmond 
for the purpose. 

1866. March 19. The reciprocity 
treaty between the United States and 
Canada expired. 

1866. March 25. The army of 
Juarez in Mexico took Chihuahua, and 
soon followed this victory with others. 
Since September, 1865, Juarez had main- 
tained the republican government at El 
Paso. Fortune had been against him, 
but now it turned in his favor. The 
United States now began a series of 
remonstrances with France for interfer- 
ing in Mexican affairs. 

1866. March 31. Valparaiso, Chili, 
was bombarded by a Spanish fleet under 
Admiral Nunez in spite of remonstrances 
by foreign ininisters and consuls. Dur- 
ing three and one half hours about 3,000 
shot and shell were thi"own into the city, 
and many of the best public and private 
buildings were completely destroyed. 
The loss was $30,000,000, most of which 
fell upon foreign residents. Tn April 
the Spanish vessels left the vicinity of 
Chili, and the war became nominal. 

1866. April 2. The close of the 
war was formall}' announced to have 
taken place, by a jDroclamation issued by 
President Johnson. 

1866. April 5. The secretary of 
foreign affairs in France, in response to 
the remonstrances of the United States, 
announced that the French troops in 
Mexico would be w^ithdrawn within a 
certain time, thus practically repudiating 
Maximilian, and leaving him to fight his 
own battles. 

CniL RIGHTS BILL. 

1866. April 9. The Civil Rights 
bill which had passed congress March 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



659 



15th, and had been vetoed by President 
Johnson, March 37th, was now passed 
by the house of representatives above 
the veto, by a vote of 123 to 41, and be- 
came a law. It had passed the senate 
April 3d, by a vote of 33 to 15. This 
bill made the freedmen citizens of the 
United States, and gave them the powers 
of legal resort in case their rights w^ere 
infringed. It did not, however, give 
the right to vote. An amendment to the 
Constitution was afterward made for this 
object. 

1866. April 30. Incendiary fires at 
Richmond, Va., destroyed two churches 
belonging to the colored people. 

1866. May 2. The bombardment of 
Callao was begun by the Spanish fleet. 
After several hours' conflict the fleet 
withdrew, probably for lack of ammuni- 
tion. The Spanish loss was between 400 
and 500. Admiral Nunez was badly 
wounded. The Peruvians had about 80 
killed and wounded. It was practicallv 
a decisive defeat for the Spanish. 

1866. May 10. The Spanish fleet 
withdrew from Peruvian waters, and the 
war was virtually ended, because it had 
already given up its attempts upon the 
Chilian coast. 

1866. May 21. A fire destroyed the 
Academy of Music and the University 
Medical College in New York. 

GE.¥. WIKFIELD SCOTT. 

1866. May 29. This well-known 
American general died at West Point, 
N. Y., aged nearly eighty years. He 
was born at Petersburg, Va., June 13, 
1 786. He was educated for the law, to 
the practice of which he was admitted in 
1806. His college course was passed at 
William and Mary College. His labor 



660 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



in the law was short. In iSoS he was 
appointed captain in the Hght artillery. 
A fondness for military tactics led to 
thorough study of the same, and resulted 
in his promotion before a long time. He 
was made lieutenant-colonel in July, 
1812, and took an active part in the war 
of 18 1 3, mostly along the Canadian 
frontier near Niagara Falls, where some 
severe struggles occurred. He was taken 
j^risoner at Queenstown Heights after he 
had won the field, through the failure of 
troops to come to his support. He was 
exchanged, and was active in the rest of 
the war. The explosion of a magazine 
at Fort George severely injured him, and 
he was wounded twice at Lundy's Lane. 
His services were deemed so valuable 
1794-1866. Wii- that the position of secre- 
ihm whevjeii. ^^yy of War was ofFcrcd 
him by the president, when peace re- 
turned, but he declined to accept it. Con- 
gress voted him thanks and a gold medal 
for his services. He now spent a year or 
two in Europe, and led a comparatively 
quiet military life after his return, but 
worked closely upon military studies. 
His first public service of value was in 
1S33 in Charleston, S. C, during the 
nullification attempt. His wisdom then, 
as well as at the time of the dispute with 
England over the Maine boundary, did 
much to prevent war. In 1841 he be- 
came commander-in-chief of the ariny of 
the United States. During the Mexican 
war he added to his reputation in the 
country at large. The whig paily nom- 
inated him for president in 1S53, but he 
was defeated by Franklin Pierce, the 
democratic candidate. His tact and dis- 
cretion were again shown in the settle- 
ment in 1859, of the boundary between 
the United States and England on the 
northwest, running through the Straits 



of Fuca. When the civil war broke out 
he was devoted to the Union, but his 
vigor was gone, and age prevented him 
from assuming military duties. He re- 
tired Oct. 31, 1861, but lived to see the 
end of the war. Gen. Scott was verv 
large, and of good projoortions. His ser- 
vice in maintaining the military service 
of the country was very great. 

FKVM.V R^ID OX C±y^D± 

1866. June 1. The Fenian excite- 
ment in Ireland had a great effect in this 
country to stir up the Irish soldiers let 
loose by the disbanding of the U. S. 
army. A congress had been held in 
January, and a military convention in 
February, in which there was a large 
sentiment in favor of making some 
demonstration. Meanwhile, a conflict 
arose. Col. William R. Roberts was 
elected head center of the American 
body in place of O'Mahony, who was 
removed. An attemjot was made to 
gather arms and men for an advance on 
New Brunswick. Five hundred men 
assembled at Eastport, Me., but the 
United States authorities interfered, and 
the prospective aid from New York and 
Boston was not sent. The arms which 
had been sent from Portland were seized, 
and the men at Eastport disbanded. Dur- 
ing this time, through A^Dril and May, 
preparations were being made to cross 
the Canada line from New York. On 
May 19th the United States authorities 
seized 1,200 stand of arms at Rouse's 
Point. At St. Albans on the 30th, a 
seizure was made. On the first of June 
about 1,500 inen crossed into Canada at 
Buffalo. The Canadian militia had been 
called out, and on June 2d a severe 
skirmish occurred, in which the Fenians 
lost heavily in prisonei's and wounded 



1863-1868.] 

men, though not many were killed. The 
way was deemed too hard, and in the 
night they attempted to recross into the 
United States. A United States steamer 
captured 700 of them. Others were ar- 
riving at the frontier, but no further at- 
tempt was thought to be wise at the 
time. Gen. Meade, with United States 
troops, guarded the frontier in Vermont. 
Money had been raised in large amounts, 
but the enterprise now lost its vigor for a 
time, through the resolute action of the 
United States and Canadian authorities. 

FOURTEENTH ^MEKDMEKT. 

1866. June 16. The "fourteenth 
amendment " to the constitution of the 
United States was proposed by congress 
for the ratification of the states. It had 
passed the senate on the Sth by a vote of 
33 to II, and the house on the 13th, by a 
vote of 120 to 32. The president disajD- 
proved it, but it was ratified by the neces- 
sary number of states, and became a part 
of the constitution July 28, 1S68. This 
amendment simply put the Civil Rights 
Bill into the constitution. 

LEWIS C^SS. 

1866. June 17. This American 
statesman died at Detroit, Mich., aged 
eighty-four years. He was born in Ex- 
eter, N. H., Oct. 9, 17S3. At the age of 
twenty he was admitted to the bar, and 
in 1806 entered the Ohio legislature. For 
six years, from 1807, he served as state 
marshal. The war of 1813 found him 
ready to fight, and he went through it 
with honor, rising from colonel of the 
Third Ohio Volunteers to brigadier-gen- 
eral. From 18 1 3 to 1831 he was gov- 
ernor of the territory of Michigan, and 
at the same time was superintendent of 
Indian affairs. He was secretary of war 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



661 



for two years under Jackson, and was 
sent, in 1836, as minister to France. For 
some years thereafter he served in the 
United States senate, and in 1848 was the 
democratic candidate for president of the 
United States. President Buchanan aji- 
pointed him secretary of war in 1857, 
which position he held till the pi-esident 
refused to reinforce Fort Sumter in i860, 
when he resigned. His national sympa- 
thies were very strong, and his private 
character unspotted. He was a man of 
wealth and hospitality. His public career 
of fifty-four years was one of great use- 
fulness. 

PORTL±\D. ME; BURXED. 

1866. July 4. A great fire swept 
nearly one-third of Portland out of exist- 
ence, including a large part of the best 
business portion. A fire-cracker, care- 
lessly used by a boy in a cooper-shop, 
set fire to some shavings, and it seemed 
impossible to check the flames, from the 
very first. Property to the amount of 
$ 1 5 ,000,000 was destroyed , ^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^ 
and many fine buildings Baith of'so- 
ruined. The United States '^''"■"'■ 
government lost largely. The city, which 
was known as the Forest City, because 
of its streets arched with magnificent elm 
trees, was stripped of its beauties. 1,600 
buildings fell, including the city hall, 
which was burned out inside. Engines 
and help were sent from the surrounding 
region, but the fire was not checked till 
the next day. Aid for the poor was sent 
in from many quarters, and the city has 
been largely rebuilt. 

GRE^T TRIP UP THE YUA'O.Y. 

1866. July 23. A party of Ameri- 
cans arrived at the mouth of the Yukon 
River, after a trip of about nine months 



662 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



into the interior. They had descended 
the river 1,300 miles, from a trading sta- 
tion which they had reached by going 
overland to Nulato, and thence partly by 
canoe and partly by foot to Fort Yukon. 
The Yukon River runs through Russian 
America, or Alaska, as it is more prop- 
erly called now, and is one of the great- 
est streams of the world. Frederic 
Whyniper, the artist, was one of the ex- 
plorers, and their trip was in the interest 
of the company which jDroposed to erect 
a telegraph northward along the Pacific 
coast, thence across Behring's Straits, 
thence across Asia, a distance of about 
35,000 miles, to England. The company 
was formed with the idea that it would 
never be possible to lay a cable across the 
Atlantic. The information gathered on 
this trip was A'ery abundant. The winter 
was spent in the interior without diffi- 
culty. Mr. Whymper thought that the 
river would be navigable for i,Soo miles. 



1866. July 23. The first state to be 

formally readmitted to the Union from 
the South, was Tennessee. Her senators 
and representatives were admitted to con- 
gress upon this date. 

1866. July 24. A great fire at 
Nashville, Tenn., destroyed property 
worth $1,000,000. 

1866. July 25. The title of Gen. 
eral of the Armies of the United States 
was created hy congress, and conferred 
upon Lieut. -Gen. Grant. This was the 
first existence of such an officer in the 
military system of the United States. 
Gen. William T. Sherman was promoted 
to be lieutenant-general in place of Grant. 

SUCCESSFUL ylTLAXTIC C?1BLE. 

1866. July 27. At last, after tri- 
umphing over almost insuperable diffi- 



culties, the great victory was won in 
laying an Atlantic cable. A strong, 
flexible cable was shipped on board the 
Great Eastern, which, after a prosperous 
voyage arrived at Heart's Content, New- 
foundland. It then returned to the mid- 
Atlantic, when the end of the cable of 
1865 was grappled, a splice was made, 
and the line continued to Newfoundland 
by the side of the other. These lines 
have never failed, and at once led to 
great efforts in other directions. Marine 
cables have increased very rapidly since 
that day. Mr. Field, whose perseverance 
had brought success, received flattering 
notice from the United States, from Eng- 
land, and from France. He isgs. July 26. 
had worked heroically for ^'''"'^ <>} peace 

•' betiveen Prussia 

the end attained. The first aud Austria. 
message which passed over this success- 
ful line was the announcement of peace 
between Prussia and Austria. The suc- 
cess of this cable led to the abandonment 
of the scheme for a great northwestern 
telegraph by way of Behring's Straits. 



1866. July 30. A great riot oc- 
curred in New Orleans, in which many 
whites and negroes were killed. It 
arose from the reassembling of a con- 
vention which had met two years before 
to form a state constitution. It was 
claimed by the whites to be illegal, and 
brought on an issue between themselves 
and the blacks, who believed in the 
convention. 

1866. July. A great scientific trip 
was made during the year ending at this 
time by Prof. Agassiz through the Ama- 
zon valley in South America. He left 
for the trip on April i, 1865, and was 
afforded every assistance by the govern- 
ment of Brazil. His researches were 
very carefully made, especially into the 



1863-1868.] 

varieties of fishes which inhabit those 
waters. The collections made were very 
extensive, and are now a part of the 
treasure of the museum at Cambridge, 
Mass. 

1866. July. Several cabinet offi- 
cers who had served .under Lincoln and 
been retained by Johnson, resigned their 
positions, because of complete disagree- 
ment with the president's policy. 

1866. Aug. 8. Queen Emma of the 
Sandwich Islands, widow of Kame- 
hameha IV. arrived at New York on a 
visit to the United States, and was re- 
ceived with honor as the guest of the 
nation. 

1866. Aug. 14. A great convention 
was held at Philadelphia according to a 
call, and an attcm2Dt made to found a new 
party as a support for President Johnson, 
but no harmony was possible, and the 
whole affair ended without result. 

1866. Aug. 31. Several piratical 
Chinese junks were destroyed in the 
East Indies by a combined American and 
English force, and many of the pirates 
were captured. 

"^WI.YGIXG AROVXD THE CIRCLE." 

1866. Sept. 6. The corner-stone of 
the Douglas monument at Chicago was 
laid by President Johnson, who seized 
this trip as an occasion for making 
speeches at different places in relation to 
.^^„ c- .. L the conflict between him- 

1866. Septeinber. 

Revolt of Greeks Self and cougress. In one 
m rete. ^^ thcsc specches he used 

the expression above, and the country 
was soon alive with it as a name for the 
presidential tour. 

1866. Oct. 2. The Evening Star, 
of New York, was lost on Tybee Island, 
Ga., with 253 lives. 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



663 



1866. Oct. 7. Several severe riots 
occurred in Jamaica, W. I. 

1866. Oct. 23, The Stonewall Jack- 
son cemetery at Winchester, Va., was 
dedicated with suitable ceremonies. 

1866. Nov. 20. The Grand Army 
of the Republic organized for perpetu- 
ating the friendships and ism. Nov. 7. 
friendly services of the offi- ^'iT, ^'^'''f 

J publicly entered 

cers and soldiers of the late Venke. 
war, held a national convention at In- 
dianapolis, Ind. 

1866. Nov. 22. Raphael Semmes, 
who commanded the confederate cruiser 
Alabama, which was sunk by the United 
States steamer Kearsage, off Cherbourg, 
was made professor of moral philosophy 
in the Louisiana State Seminary. 

1866. Dec. 21. A massacre of 
United States troops by Indians, took 
place at Fort Kearney. Nearlj' 100 men 
were killed. 

1866. A terrible hurricane took 
place in the Bahamas, moving upon Its 
axis at the rate of a hundred miles an 
hour, and moving forward at the rate of 
thirty miles an hour. It swept its path 
of whatever stood In the way. 

1866. The American Asiatic Society 
made great efforts to promote the forma- 
tion of a ship-transit across the Isthmus, 
either by canal or railroad. The society 
laid their researches before the United 
States government, drew up an imaginary 
treaty, introduced the matter into con- 
gress, memorialized Napoleon III., and 
did much to stir up attention to the matter. 

1866. The first successful "Water 
Color Society" was organized in New 
York. The society of 1850 had died. 
Since this date it has been steadily grow- 
ing in favor. 

1866. The Elect Surds, a society for 
the mutual improvement of deaf-mutes, 



664 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



was founded, and now has lodges in dif- 
ferent parts of the United States. 

1866. The National Temperance 
Society was organized, its special object 
being a literary one. It has done much 
to circulate a sound temperance literature. 

1866. American oil was for the first 
time shipped to Syria by a Boston mer- 
chant, 

1866. A yacht race from Sandy 
Hook to Cowes took place for a sweep- 
stakes of $90,000. The Henrietta, Fleet- 
wing, and Vesta sailed, and the first- 
named made the trip in 13 days, 21 hours, 
and 55 minutes, winning the prize. This 
is one of the most exciting races ever put 
on record. 

1866. Vancouver was added to Brit- 
ish Columbia. 

1866. Several provinces of the Ar- 
gentine Republic tried to secede from it 
because of some of the terms of the great 
alliance of 1865. The effort, however, 
was not very violent, and no serious dif- 
ficulty occurred. The war went on 
steadilv against Paraguay. 

1866. Santo Domingo, after a strug- 
gle of about twenty years, became estab- 
lished in its independence from Spain, 
and had put Bacz into the presidency 
near the end of 1S65. He was, however, 
overthrown this 3'ear by a conspiracy, 
and the government was assumed by a 
triumvirate. 

IMPEACHMENT PROPOSED. 

1867. Jan. 8. The right of suffrage 
was given by act of congress to the 
colored men in the District of Columbia. 
This bill was passed over the veto of 
President Johnson. When it became 
known the dav before that the bill had 
been vetoed, Mr. Ashley, representative 
from Ohio, arose and presented a resolu- 



tion that President Johnson be impeached, 
and that the judiciary com- 1-S2186-. 
mittee be directed to inves- ^^'''^°'' <^'''"««- 
tigate the matter. The resolution was 
adopted by a vote of 137 to 38. But 
upon report the house did not feel war- 
ranted in proceeding to imjDeachment, and 
the matter dropped for a time. 



1867. Jan. 11. A convention of col- 
ored men, belonging to the National 
Equal Rights League, met at Washing- 
ton, and adopted an address to congress, 
which received it, and referred it to a 

committee. 

K. P. WILLIS. 

1867. Jan. 21. Nathaniel Parker 
Willis, an American writer, died at his 
home on the Hudson, aged sixty-one 
vcars. He was born in Portland, Me., 
Jan. 20, 1806, and after his youthful 
training was over, studied at Yale, Avhei'e 
he graduated in 1827. His literary ten- 
dencies were visible during his student 
career, and as soon as he struck out into 
the world, they were confirmed. He 
worked upon various publications, and 
during a visit to Europe wrote a series 
of letters, since gathered into a volume. 
A volume of poetry appeared in 183^, and 
from this time on he was constantly en- 
gaged in literary labors. He is best known 
by some poems upon Scriptural themes, in 
which the descriptive element is very ex- 
cellent. Mr. Willis \vas very widely and 
acceptably known, however, as a journal- 
ist and essayist of fine abilities. 



1867. January. The amnesty power 

of President Johnson was taken away by 
act of congress, in the attempt to limit 
him in the carrying out of his policy of 
reconstruction. 

1867. January. The " Credit Mobil- 



1863-1868.] 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



665 



ier of America," which was organized 
as a banking institution, sold out its char- 
ter to the company which proposed to 
build the Union Pacific railroad. The 
capital stock was raised to $3,750,000. 

1867. Feb. 5. Maximilian evacuated 
the City of Mexico, and during this 
month, with about 5,000 men, went to 
Queretaro. The republican troops imme- 
diately took possession of the city. The 
patriot cause was now brightening. The 
French troops were being withdrawn 
from the country. 

1867. Feb. 7. The Peabody fund, 
for the promotion of education at the 
South, was founded by George Peabody, 
with a gift of $2,100,000. 

-1. D. B^CHE. 

1867. Feb. 17. Alexander Dallas 
Bache died at Newport, R. I., aged sixty 
years. He was born at Philadelphia 
July 19, 1S06. Benjamin Franklin was 
his great-grandfather. Air. Bache was 
educated at West Point, and after his 
graduation in 1S35, lie taught for a time 
in the academy. He began astronomical 
work at an early day, and was a close 
student of magnetic and other yariations. 
He went to Europe in 1S36 to study the 
educational work of the old countries, for 
the purpose of aiding in the establishment 
of Girard College, of whose trustees he 
was president. His chief yalue, hoyvcyer, 
was as superintendent of the coast suryey 
of the United vStates. He gaye it the 
best of his wisdom and efforts, the result 
being an efficiency which brought the 
department into the possession of a wide 
reputation. The scientific societies of the 
country honored him with office, and 
many foreign societies with membership. 
He was an untiring worker, and a man 
ofyast usefulness in the scientific world. 



He left a legac}- of $43,000 to the Na- 
tional Academy of Sciences, for scientific 
work. 



1867. Feb. 22. A great insurrection 
took place at Port-au-Prince, Hayti, and 
President Geffrard fled from the island. 
The administration had been exceedingly 
unwise, and gained great disfavor. A 
triumvirate took the power, but in a few 
months Salnave became president. A 
new constitution, still in existence, was 
adopted. 

1867. Feb. 26. Prof. Benjamin 
Peirce was appointed superintendent of 
the Coast Survey of the United States, in 
place of Mr. Bache, who had died. This 
work has been pushed with the utmost 
vigor and success. Great information has 
been collected from first to last concern- 
ing tides, shoals, and banks, ocean cur- 
rents, including the Gulf Stream, and 
other matters of importance to mariners. 

1867. March 1. Nebi'aska was re- 
ceived into the Union as the thirty-seventh 
state. T'he bill to admit it was passed 
over President Johnson's veto. It has 
75,995 square miles, and 132,993 inhabi- 
tants in 1S70. Its motto is, "Equality 
before the law." 

1867. March 2. The military gov- 
ernment bill was passed in the United 
States congress over the president's yeto. 
It created a numlicr of military districts 
covering the insurrectionary states, and 
declared that no state could be received 
into the Union till a state government 
had been formed in an equal rights con- 
vention which should ratify the Four- 
teenth Amendment. The "tenure-of- 
office" bill was passed above President 
Johnson's veto, the same day. This bill 
took from him the power of making cer- 
tain appointments and removals. After 



666 



27ATJONAL CRISES. 



the adjournment of congress he violated 
it, as well as other hills. 

1867. March 16. The last French 
troops evacuated Mexico, sailing for 
home from Vera Cruz. Maximilian was 
making all the efforts he could to with- 
stand patriotic sentiments, but the tide 
was now setting steadily against him, 
and his downfall was certain. The 
republican forces invested the cities still 
held by the emperor's party. 

CHICrifW W^TER WORKS. 

1867. March 25. The first water 
through the great tunnel for the supply 
of Chicago was admitted on this day. A 
tunnel 62 inches high and 60 inches wide 
had been built out under Lake Michigan 
for two miles, in order to get pure water. 
This work was over two years in being 
accomplished. Enormous engines, capa- 
ble of drawing 72,000,000 gallons daily, 
on the North Side, pump the water into 
an iron column for the supply of the city. 
Additions have been since made to these 
w^orks. 

BRITISH XORTH ^.MERIC^Y :4CT. 

1867. March 29. A bill for the 
formation of a federal union in Canada 
having passed pai'liament, was signed by 
the queen. It provided for the " Domin- 
ion of Canada," which was afterward 
inaugurated. The two provinces of On- 
tario and Quebec, with Nova Scotia and 
New Brunswick, formed the dominion 
under the bill. Other provinces have 
since joined it. A governor-general, 
appointed by the crown, carries on the 
government, in concert with a privy coun- 
cil and a dominion parliament. Consid- 
erable opposition was exhibited in some 
provinces to this union, but it has been 
perfected. 



1867. April. The Fenians dispatched 
from New York a vessel named Erin's 
Hope, with military supplies for Ireland. 
The English authorities were on the 
watch for her, and she was unable to 
effect a landing, and returned to America. 
Another vessel was being fitted up, but 
never sailed. This was a year of great 
agitation in Ireland, but the efTorts in 
America did not take public shape. The 
position of the United States government 
was too well known. 

1867. April 2. The city of Pueblo, 
Mexico, was taken by Gen. Diaz, and 63 
of the imperialists, who surrendered, were 
put to death. Gen. Marquez, who was 
marching with 4,000 troops to strengthen 
the garrison, was met and defeated bv 
Diaz. 

1867. April 13. The Ford Theater 
in Washington, D. C, in which President 
Lincoln was assassinated, was opened as 
the Army Medical Museum of the United 
States. It was not occupied ^^^^ .^ •, . 

■I 1S67. April 1. 

as a theater after the fatal Paris Exposition 
night, and soon became the "i"^'"^'- ■ 
property of the government. It contains 
a rare collection of pathological and sur- 
gical specimens, many of which accumu- 
lated during the war. 

1867. April 14. A frightful rail- 
road accident at Carr's Rock on the 
Erie road resulted in the death of 24 per- 
sons, and injury of So more. The disaster 
w^as caused by a broken rail. 

1867. May 13. Jefferson Davis was 
bailed in the sum of $100,000, upon being 
brought before the United States Circuit 
Court at Richmond, Va. The evidence 
of his connection with the assassination 
of Lincoln was not sustained. Horace 
Greeley was among his bondsmen. Mr. 
Davis had now been confined for two 
years in Fortress Alonroe. 



1863-1868.] 

CtLPTFRE of M:IXIMILMK. 
1867. May 15. The cause of the 
emperor at Queretaro became daily more 
desperate. The republicans maintained 
a close siege. At last Maximilian re- 
solved to try to escape. But Colonel 
Lopez, one of his followers, treacherous- 
ly admitted General Escobedo to the 
city, and the emperor, with his two lead- 
ing generals, Miramon and Mejia, was 
arrested. This ended opposition to the 
liberals, who now held the country. 

PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 

1867. May 20. The treaty between 

Russia and the United States for the 

purchase of Alaska, was ratified. The 

,„^, „ ,, civilized inhabitants were to 

1867. Sultan 

of Turkey ziniied have three yeai's in which 
England. ^^ decide to remain, or to re- 

turn to Russia. All churches built by 
the Russian government were to remain 
the property of such members of the 
Greek church as chose to worship ni 
them. This treaty added 500,000 square 
miles to the public domain, making near- 
ly 3,500,000 square miles in all. The 
price paid for Alaska was $7,300,000. 
It has a native population of about 60,000. 
Mr. Seward regarded this purchase as 
one of the chief successes of his life. 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



667 



1867. May 25. Revolutionary 
troubles in Colombia, S. A., culminated 
in the arrest, trial, and banishment of 
President Mosquera. The difiiculties 
were quieted. The arrest of Mosquera 
resulted from a vote of impeachment 
which was passed by the Colombian con- 
gress April 29. 

HAYDEX SURVEYS. 

1867. In the spring of this year the 
first appropriation, consisting of $5,000, 
was made by congress for territorial sur- 



veys in the United States. It was to be 
spent in examining Nebraska. The next 
year a similar amount was appropriated 
for Wyoming, and since then the sums 
have been increased till in later years 
about $100,000 have been appropriated. 
The surveys began at once, and their re- 
sults form a part of the best scientific 
work of the world. Ferdinand V. Hay- 
den is the accomplished head of the 
undertaking. 

1867. June 13. Maximilian was 
tried before a court martial, and sen- 
tenced to be shot. 

1867. June 19. The ill-fated Maxi- 
milian, with Generals Aliramon and 
Mejia, were shot according to their sen- 
tence. The body of the emperor was 
taken to Austria and put into the royal 
vault. In the meantime the emperor's 
wife, who w\as in Europe, ^se?. Reform 
had been made insane by ^'^^ '" England. 
the troubles of her husband. The grim 
tragedy wrought in Mexico during these 
years had many serious effects. 

1867. June 20. The City of Mexico 
surrendered to the republican troojDS, 

1867. June 27. Vera Cruz surren- 
dered to the republican troops. 

1867. July 1. The Dominion of 
Canada was inaugurated with fitting 
ceremonies at Ottawa. 

1867. July 1. Freedom was de- 
clared by an act of the Spanish govern- 
ment, for all children born in Cuba after 
this date. 

1867. July 12. Santa ^957. j„iy_ 
Anna, who was trying to si. Peter's 

death celebrated 

oppose Juarez for personal at Rome, moth 
reasons, was captured, and anniversary. 
banished for eight years. 

1867. July 16. Juarez made an 
entry into the City of Mexico, and was 



G68 NATION. 

received with great acclamations. It had 
been several years since he had been 
forced to flee to other places for the 
maintenance of his government. 

1867. Aug. 12. Secretary Stanton 
of the War Department, who had re- 
tained his position in spite of disagree- 
ment with President Johnson, and had 
refused to resign at the latter's request, 
was removed in violation of the " tenure- 
of-office " act forbidding tlie president to 
make any removal without consent of 
the senate. General Grant was appointed 
in his place, and Mr. Stanton passed over 
the oflicc, under protest. 

1867. Aug. 20. A proclamation 
was issued by President Johnson declar- 
ing that the United States were once 
more in full possession of peace and good 
order. 

1867. Sept. 7. A proclamation was 
issued by President Johnson granting 
amnesty and the franchise to almost all 
the white citizens of the South. 

1867. Sept. 11, A national ceme- 
tery at Antietam was dedicated. 

1867. September. An Indian coun- 
cil was held on the North Platte River, 
with General Sherman. The Indians 
demanded that several roads should be 
discontinued, antl that work on the 
Southern Pacific railroad be stopped, be- 
cause it interfered with their game privi- 
leges. General Sherman declared that 
these demands could not be met, but that 
any actual loss that the Indians should 
suffer would be made up to them. The 
council accomplished nothing. 

ELMS HOWE. 

1867. Oct. 3. Elias Howe, the in- 
ventor of the first completely successful 
sewing machine, died at Brooklyn at the 
age of forty-eight years. He was bom 



XL CRISES. 

in Spencer, Mass., July 9, 1S19, and un- 
til he was sixteen years old worked with 
his father, attending school at times. He 
after\vard ^vorked in a machine shop in 
Boston, having first been employed in a 
cotton mill in Lowell. He seems to 
have had a native aptness for understand- 
ing machinery. After he had conceived 
the idea of a sewing machine he labored 
incessantly to carry it out. Lack of 
funds cri]5pled him, but through the kind- 
ness of an old school acquaintance named 
George Fisher, who loaned him money, 
he was enabled to finish his first machine 
and patent it, in spite of much ridicule. 
He then went to England, but found no 
great encouragement. Mr. William 
Thomas took some interest in the inven- 
tion, and offered to put some machines into 
his manufactory. In two ihgt. Attempt 
vears Mr. Howe, after f; "-""'««'- 
great exertions to raise a Paris. 
little money, came home to America 
with an empty pocket. His wife died 
almost Immediately after he reached her, 
at Cambridge. In his absence attention 
had been attracted to his invention, and 
its success was made by some trial of it. 
The victory in bringing it before the 
public was gained, bu' Mr. Howe still 
experienced the hard way of an inventor. 
He received aid from parties who were 
quite willing to become sharers of his 
effort, now that it seemed likel}^ to suc- 
ceed financially. He received nothing 
for several years because of lawsuits, but 
his income finally reached $200,000 a 
year, from royalties and licenses. He 
acquired $3,000,000 worth of property. 
Mr. Howe was patriotic, and when a 
Connecticut regiment was being raised, 
he entered it as a private. During some 
financial stress of the government the 
men could not be paid off at the ap- 



1863-1808.] 

pointed time, and Mr. Howe advanced 
the money, taking his little share of it 
afterward as a private soldier among 
the rest. 

1867. Oct. 6. Juarez was elected 
president of Mexico over Diaz, his com- 
petitor. 

1867. Oct. 9. A terrible hurricane 
swept along the Rio Grande River. At 
Matamoras twenty-six persons perished, 
and many others in other places. 

1867. Oct. 29. A terrible hurricane 
devastated parts of the AV^est Indies. At 
the island of St. Thomas about seventy 
vessels in the harbor were swept away. 
About i,ooo lives were lost. Other 
islands sufTered in the same way. 

JOHX ^. ^XDREW. 

1867. Oct. 30. John Albion An- 
drew, widely known as the governor of 
Massachusetts during the Civil War, 
died at Boston, aged forty-nine years. 
He was born in Windham, Me., a town 
a short distance north of Portland, May 
31, iSiS. He fitted for college, and 
graduated at Bowdoin in the class of 
1837. -^^^ mind at once sought the 
.study of the law, and the vigor of his 
efforts was noticeable from the first. 
Having been admitted to the bar in 1840, 
he entered upon practice, and pursued an 
even course for many yeai's. In politics 
he was guided very largely by his oppo-, 
sition to slaver3\ "; He had steadily gained 
a hold upon the jjiersons who had come to 
know him, and in 1S60 the people chose 
him by a very large majority to fill the 
chief magistracy of the Old Bay State. 
His eye caught the coming conflict, and 
he began those herculean labors which 
aided the United States government so 
much. He caused the militia of the 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



669 



state to be examined and prepared for 
emergencies. Troops from that state 
were among the first to respond to the 
call of April 15 , 1 86 1 , because of his exec- 
utive ability. Throughovit the war he 
maintained the same untiring zeal. The 
great efforts told upon his system, and laid 
him liable to disease. After five terms of 
service as governor he went back to his 
profession. His was the example of a 
man filling a place for w^hich he was 
raised up, and showing by his capabili- 
ties that he was the exact inan for the 
place. He gained a wonderful hold on 
his state. 

1867. Nov. 6. The first parliament 
of the Dominion of Canada was opened 
at Ottawa. 

1867. Nov. 11. Severe earthquake 
shocks set in through the West Indies, 
and continued for a week. They had 
been predicted by M. Dellisier, a French- 
man. Several small islands were sub- 
merged, and the United States war 
steamer De Soto was dashed up on the 
shore at Santa Cruz. 

1867. Nov. 13. A brilliant shower 
of meteors was witnessed by a great 
many in America. 

FITZ- GREEK E HtLLLECK. 

1867. Nov. 17. This well-known 
American poet died at Guilford, Conn., 
aged seventy-seven years. He was born 
at the same place July 8, 1790. He was 
without an extended educa- _^^„ ,, 

ISSl. November. 

tion, and was engaged in Capture oj 
business for a great part of f^"'-'^"^'^'- 
his life. He found time to cultivate lit- 
erature quite assiduously, and was inti- 
mate with Joseph Rodman Drake and 
other men of letters of the day. 
His " Marco Bozzaris " and " Alnwick 



670 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



Castle " are widely known. A bronze 
statue has been erected to him in Cen- 
tral Park, New York. 

1867. Dec. 2. Charles Dickens 

gave the first reading froin his own 
works in America, to a Boston audience. 
He was eagerly sought for in all the 
leading cities, and read steadily until 
April 2o, when he closed with a reading 
in New York. He received a great 
financial reward from this tour. 

PATROXS OF HUSB^XDRY. 

1867. Dec. 4. The National Grange, 
for the promotion of the farming inter- 
ests of the country, was organized at 
Washington, D. C, by William Saund- 
ers and several other persons who had 
consulted about it in the preceding August. 
Mr. wSaunders was superintendent of the 
gardens of the Department of Agricul- 
ture in Washington. A lower grange 
was organized soon afterward in the 
same city. Since then the order has 
spread all over the Union, till in 1876 it 
was estimated that there were 19,000 
granges in existence. The professed ob- 
ject of the grange is purely the work of 
elevating the condition of the farmer, and 
increasing the value of his products, be- 
sides putting him into more direct com- 
munication with the consumer. A 
prominent element in its work was the 
improvement of the social life of fiirming 
communities. It was to be strictly non- 
political. The enthusiasm over it has to 
a great extent, died out. 



1867. Dec. 18. The Angola disaster 

on the Lake Shore railroad, was caused 
by a bent axle, which derailed a car in ap- 
proaching a bridge. Forty-two persons 
were killed, and several injured. The 
accident was rendered possible by lack 



of modern improvements, for the fact 
that a car had been derailed was known 
long before the bridge was reached, but 
the appliances then in use were not 
sulhcient to stop the train within the 
distance. 

1867. Howard University, at Wash- 
ington, D. C, was organized. It is open 
to students, without distinction of race, 
color, or sex, though specially intended 
to present opportunities for the colored 
people to acquire academic and profes- 
sional training. It was named for Gen- 
eral O. O. Howard, who assisted in 
forming it. 

1867. The first « Phosphate Mining 
Company " in America was organized. 
It resulted from the discovery of beds of 
bone in the soil of South Carolina. The 
nodules of phosphate of lime were discov- 
ered by Professor S. F. Holmes, between 
the Ashley and the Cooper Rivers. He 
was a young planter, and was searching 
for marl. Large beds were found l^efore 
long. His first trace of it was found 
about thirty 3'ears ago. The bones of 
large numbers of extinct animals have 
been dug up from these beds. Thou- 
sands of tons of fertilizers have been 
made from these accumulations. 

1867. Three men on a raft went 
across the Atlantic, from New York to 
Southampton. They called their vessel, 
which was 12^ feet wide by 24 feet long, 
made of three pointed cylinders lashed 
together with boards, and canvas over 
them, the Nonpareil, or American Life- 
Raft. The voyage was safely made. 

STUYVESAKT PEAR TREE. 

1867. The pear tree which was plant- 
ed in the door yard of Governor Stuy ve- 
sant of New Amsterdam, and stood at the 
corner of Third Avenue and Thirteenth 



1863-1868.] 

St., New York, died at the age of more 
than two hundred years. It bore fruit till 
shortly before this date. 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



671 



1867. The yellow fever raged in the 
Southern states. There were a score of 
deaths every day in New Orleans, Por- 
tions of Texas were ravaged by it also. 

1867. Mrs. Myra Clark Gaines re- 
ceived a decision in her favor from the 
United States Supreme Court, declaring 
her title to certain property held by the 
city of New Orleans, to be good. She 
had been fighting for this for years, and 
immediately began suits of ejectment. 
Several millions were recovered by her 
within the next few years. 

1867. St. Thomas and St. John, two 
Danish islands in the West Indies, were 
sold to the United States, but congress 
never ratified the contract, and it lapsed, 

1867. A revolution occurred in Bo- 
livia with the aim of overthrowing Mel- 
garejo and restoring Acha, but it was un- 
successful, and the former regained his 
dictatorial power. Bolivia, during this 
year, ceded ten thousand square leagues 
of fine territory to Brazil. 

1867. The present constitution of 
Peru was adopted. 

1868. Jan. 6. Samuel Nicholson, 
the inventor of the Nicholson pavement, 
died in Boston at the age of seventy-six. 
The pavement was constructed of spruce 
blocks, and was first used in Boston in 
1S48, 

1868. Jan. 10. The Peruvian Revo- 
lution against President Prado, which 
had broken out in December of 1S67, 
proved successful, and the president re- 
signed, and embarked for Chill, Gen. 
Canesco acted as president until April, 
when Col. Balta was almost unanimously 
elected. During this year the construc- 



tion of a railroad from Islay to Arequipa 
was begun. 

1868. Jan. 13. Secretary Stanton 
was restored to the War Department by 
the United States senate, and Gen, Grant 
gave up the office to him very willingly. 
The senate declared the act of the presi- 
dent in removing Secretary Stanton to 
have been illegal. 

1868. Jan. 21. The jurisdiction of 
the president over the Southern states 
was still further lessened by the action of 
congress, in providing for their re-organ- 
ization. 

KU-KLUX KL±Y. 

1868. January, The " Ku-Klux 
Klan" was organized throughout the 
Southern states, from January to May. 
By the end of the latter month, accord- 
ing to the best authorities, it numbered 
500,000 men. The name "Ku-Klux" 
was applied to various kinds of organi- 
zations which existed throughout the 
South; but they were similar in character 
and plan of operation. Some of these 
organizations were named, and some were 
nameless. It is alleged that Gen. N, B. 
Forest was at the head of these societies, 
and was know^n as the " Grand Wizard 
of the Empire." The first Ku-Klux 
parties existed in Tennessee about the 
beginning of 1868, The mysteries and 
secrets of the organization were never 
fully known, although many things were 
disclosed by the investigations of con- 
gress, and a history of the various organi- 
zations of this character was written by 
A, W. Tourgee, who was for some years 
judge of the superior court of North 
Carolina, and who had ample means of 
obtaining thorough information concern- 
ing their methods of working, and the 
extent of their operations. The object of 
the " Ku-Klux" was to oppose the en- 



672 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



forcement of the Reconstruction acts, and 
the elevation and education of the colored 
people ; to prevent the negi"o from exer- 
cising the right of suffrage; to maintain 
the dominion of the ^vhite race; to pre- 
vent the introduction of Northern immi- 
gration and industry. It succeeded in the 
accomplishment of the ends undertaken. 
It changed the political complexion of 
the South in depriving the negro of his 
rights, and in driving out Northern immi- 
gration. Each memher of the Ku-Klux, 
and like societies, was bound by the most 
solemn oath. The organization was 
divided into districts in each of the 
Southern states. At the head of each 
division was a " Grand Cyclops," or 
sometimes a "grand" officer mider a dif- 
ferent term, who, with numerous assist- 
ants, was given power to appoint the 
work and duty of each man in his division. 
The heads of these districts had various 
subordinate divisions. All were under 
the dictation of the " Great Grand Cv- 
clops," or " Grand Wizard." Their 
work was done, for a time, with tlic 
utmost mystery. Men, styling them- 
selves " Ghouls," armed to the teeth, and 
dressed in ghostly disguises, carried on a 
midnight warfare upon the weak and 
helpless colored people. Before the 
nation could be made to realize the fact, 
thousands of colored men and "]:)oor 
whites" were outraged and killed, and 
their homes desti'oyed, on account of their 
political opinions. The alleged object of 
the Ku-Klux was to " redeem the South." 



1868. Feb. 19. The assassination 
of Gen. Mores, president of Uruguay, 
occurred in an insurrection at Monte- 
video. Gen. Lorenzo Battle became 
president in his place. 

1868. reb. 19. The pass of Humaita, 



on the Parana River, held by the Para- 
guayan fortresses, was forced by" the 
allied troops of Brazil, Uruguay, antl 
the Argentine Republic. The Para- 
guayans numbered about 23,000; the 
allies, ^.0,000. The pass was defended 
by one hundred and eighty pieces of ar- 
tilleiy, and was forced by six iron clads. 
The same day the allies stormed a work 
north of Humaita, capturing the stores 
and carnion. The loss on each side was 
about six hundred. This was one of the 
most brilliant actions of the war. It re- 
sulted in cutting off the I^GH. Fchniary. 
^,,. T CJ 1 £11 Disraeli hixame 

su|jpiie.s ot I^opez, who tied, 

^ "^ ^ ' ' prime minister of 

leaving garrisons in the En-zland. 
fortresses. The women of Paraguay 
now t)ffered their services to Lopez, and 
a special camp was arranged for them. 
A regiment of them soon took part in an 
action. The only weapon they carried 
was the lance. At a later time in the 
war they were conscripted, and made to 
do the ^vork of the camp. 

IMPEACHMEKT tIGITtITJOK. 

1868. Feb. 21. The conflict between 
congress and the president was intensi- 
fied by another attempt of the latter to 
remove vSecretary Stanton and to appoint 
General Lorenzo Thomas in the place. 
These steps were put before the senate, 
when it again voted that President 
Johnson had no right to remove the sec- 
retary. General Thomas went to the 
war office and demanded its surrender, 
but Secretary Stanton refused to give it 
up, and told General Thomas to confine 
himself to his own sphere as adjutant 
general. President Johnson did not dare 
to proceed by force, and the affair issued 
in a few days in a vote to impeach him. 

1868. Feb. 24. It was voted by the 
house of representatives to impeach 



1863-1868.] 

Andrew Johnson. The action of con- 
gress was based partially upon President 
Johnson's violation of the Tenure-of-Office 
bill in removing Secretary Stanton from 
the war department, after the senate 
had declared the removal illegal, and 
pai"tially upon several passionate speeches 
of his, denouncing congress in strong and 
bitter terms. The latter charges were 
made in two articles which were adopted 
March 3. 

1868. March 5. An impeachment 
court w^as organized by the senate for 
the purpose of trying the case of Presi- 
dent Johnson. Chief-justice Chase pre- 
sided. The trial continued until May 
1 6th, when the three main articles w^ere 
voted on, and failed to receive the neces- 
sary two-thirds majority. The result 
stood, thirty-five for conviction, and 
nineteen for acquittal; five republican 
senators voted with fourteen democrats 
for acquittal. Chief-justice Chase di- 
rected a verdict to be entered according 
to the vote. 

1868. May 13. The first line 
steamer sailed from Valparaiso, Chili, 
through the Strait of Magellan in a di- 
rect route to Europe. 

1868. May 19. A Soldiers' and 
Sailors' Convention was held at Chicago, 
and nominated General Grant for the 
presidency. 

1868. May 20. The Republican 
National Convention met at Chicago 
and nominated Ulysses S. Grant of 
Illinois, and Schuyler Colfiix of Indiana, 
as candidates for president and vice-presi- 
dent. The convention congratulated 
the country on the success of the recon- 
struction measures, and declared it to be 
the duty of congress to protect all citizens 
in the exercise of their just rights. It 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



673 



declared against repudiation, and con- 
demned the administration of Andrew 
Johnson. General Grant received the 
unanimous vote of the convention; six 
hundred and fifty votes were cast. 

1868. May 22. A Chinese Embassy, 
under the leadership of the Hon. Anson 
Burlingame, arrived in New York. The 
purpose of the embassy was ises. ^uee7i of 
to secure a treaty with the ^P""' fl'^'^ '"■>■ 

. •' realm into 

United States. The re- France. 
suit was successful, and commercial rela- 
tions were established between the two 
countries. The treaty was ratified by 
the Chinese emperor on the following 
year. It is known as the Burlingame 
Treaty, and is the first case in which 
China agreed to the j^rinciples which 
regulate western nations. 

1868. May 23. " Kit Carson " died 
at Fort Lyon, Colorado, from the effects 
of the rupture of an artery in the neck, 
at the age of fifty-nine years. He was 
born in Kentucky, Dec, 24, 1S09, but 
lived while young with his parents in 
Missouri. He subsequently received an 
appointment as hunter, and afterward 
became a guide for Fremont. He was 
active in the West during the Mexican 
war. He was prominently known 
among the Indian tribes, having served 
as agent in New Mexico. In the Civil 
War he became brevet brigadier-gen- 
eral. He real name was Christopher Car- 
son. He became famous throughout the 
United States as a frontier leader and 
scout. 

MMES BFCH:i.Y-LV. 

1868. June 1. James Buchanan, the 
fifteenth president of the United States, 
died at Lancaster, Penn., aged seventy- 
seven years. He was born at Stony 
Batter, Penn., April 23, 1791. His 
father was a poor farmer, who emigrated 



674 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



tVoni Ireland. Although his advantages 
for education were limited, he made such 
progress that in 1S09 he graduated from 
Dickinson College, and four years later 
he began the practice of law. That same 
3'ear the war with England broke out. 
Mr. Buchanan was enrolled as a volun- 
teer for the defense of the city of Balti- 
1868. June. morc. From 18 14 to 1831 

MonumeHt to ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^j^^ Icgisla- 

L,iUlier, at ^ 

Worms. tors of his native state, and 

upon his withdrawal he was appointed 
minister-plenipotentiary to Russia. After 
his return, in 1833, he was elected to the 
national congress. Mr. Buchanan was 
prominent in all debates — giving his sup- 
port to the southern view of slavery. 
Under President Polk he served as secre- 
tary of state. At the close of that admin- 
istration he withdrew for several years 
from public life. He was appointed, in 
1853, minister to England. He remained 
abroad for three years, and after his return 
to America, in 1856, was elected presi- 
dent of the United States. His sympa- 
thies were strongly with the South, and 
upon the outbreak of the Civil War he did 
nothing to suppress secession. At the 
expiration of his term he withdrew 
wholly from public life, and returned to 
his home in Lancaster. 

1868. June 23. Matthew Vassar, the 

founder of Vassar College, died suddenly 
while addressing the trustees of that Insti- 
tution. Mr. Vassar was born in 1 793 in 
England. He gave to the college $800,- 
000 for the endowment fund, and other 
college expenses. 

1868. July 4. The democratic 
national convention assembled at New 
York, and nominated Horatio Seymour 
of New York, and Francis P. Blair of 
Missouri, as candidates for president and 



•vice-president. The platform adopted 
by the convention declared the Southern 
states should at once be received back 
into the Union. It demanded that the 
states be allowed to regulate the suffrage; 
and also that the states should be given 
the power of self-government guaranteed 
by the constitution. Mr. Seymour was 
nominated on the twenty-second ballot. 

IKDMX^ T'IGIL±YCE COMMITTEE ±YB 
LYKCU L>LW. 

1868. July 20. Many of the best 
citizens of Indiana began to deplore 
the ease with which well-known crim- 
inals could evade the law and prolong 
their trials, or be discharged altogether. 
A notorious band of robbers, named the 
" Reno gang," led by the Reno brothers, 
committed several fearless robberies this 
year. Among them was that of the ex- 
press train near Jeffersonvllle, May 32, 
while the engine was taking in water. 
The engineer and fireman were knocked 
down. The express car was then un- 
shackled from the passenger cars, and 
taken by the engine along the road to a 
safe distance, when the car was plundered 
of $90,000 in greenbacks. Members of 
the same gang made an attempt on July 
10, which was defeated through knowl- 
edge conveyed to the express company 
by an engineer, who had shrewdly 
secured the information. A guard on the 
train succeeded in capturing several of 
the men, who were committed to prison. 
The vigilance committee which was 
organized, was entirely secret, with a sys- 
tem of signals. Its motto was, " Law 
and Order, Peace and Protection at all 
Hazards." On July 20 the men who 
had been arrested and imprisoned, were 
being taken by train to Jackson county 
for trial. The vigilance committee way- 



1863-1868.] 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



675 



laid the train, seized the prisoners, and 
after a brief interview, in which they were 
urged to confess, they were hung from 
a beech tree till dead. The next day a 
coroner's inquest was held, with the ver- 
dict of death by some parties unknown. 
The next morning the following procla- 
mation was issued: 

"ATTENTION, THIEVES! 

" The attention of all thieves, robbers, 
assassins, and vagrants, together with 
their aiders, abettors, and sympathizers, is 
called to the doings of the Seymour Vigi- 
lance Committee last night. We are 
determined to follow this up until all of 
the classes above named, whether im- 
ported, or to the 'manor boi'n,' are driven 
forever from our midst. Threats have 
been made of retaliation in case we should 
resort to capital punishment. In answer, 
we say, 'Should one of our committee be 
harmed, or a dollar's worth of any honest 
man's property destroyed by persons un- 
known, we w^ill swing by the neck^ until 
they be dead^ every thieving character 
we can lay our hands on, without in- 
quiry whether we have the persons who 
committed that particular crime, or not. 
This applies not only to Seymour, but 
along the line of the two roads, and 
wherever our organization exists. Law 
and order must prevail. 

" By order of the Committee. 
"Seymour, Ind.,July 21, 186S." 
Another execution was soon held. In 
October the three Reno brothers, and an 
accomplice who had fled to Canada, were 
arrested and brought into the state under 
a requisition. They v\rere placed in jail 
at New Albany, Ind. Dec. 13, seventy- 
five men of the Seymour Vigilance Com- 
mittee surrounded the prison, seized the 
guards, took the prisoners, and hung 
them up in the prison corridors. They 



immediately departed as they came. The 
excitement resulting from these pro- 
cedures was very great. The men who 
were executed were from families of good 
connections, but had given themselves up 
to rough deeds. The state was filled 
with the terror of their names. The 
work of the vigilance committee ceased 
through the fear which had been inspired 
by their acts. 

1868. July 26. The fortresses of 
Humaita, on the Parana River, were 
evacuated b}' the garrisons left in them 
by Lopez. Their supplies had been ex- 
hausted, and they were nearly starved to 
death. The river was now under the 
complete control of the allies. 

1868. July 28. The Fourteenth 
Amendment was officially declared by 
the secretary of state to have been rati- 
fied by the necessary number of states, 
and thei-efore to have become a part of 
the constitution of the United States. 

THADDEUS 8TEVEK8. 

1868. Aug. 11. Thaddeus Stevens, a 
prominent American statesman, died in 
Washington, aged seventy-five years. 
He was born in Peasham, Caledonia 
county, Vermont, April 4, 1793. He 
was of humble birth, and was sickly in 
body, but strong in intellect. He entered 
Dartmouth College, where he graduated 
with honor in 1S14. He isgs. Fenian 
pursued the study of law "■'^'^"^'°''- 
with much difficulty. Hav- co7istabies. 
ing been admitted to the bar, he rose to 
eminence in his profession. He began 
to practice at York, Pa. He entered 
politics in 1S2S, in the exciting contest 
between Andrew Jackson and John 
Quincy Adam's. On the organization of 
the whig party he became a devoted 



676 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



partisan, and added to the declarations 
of the whig platform, which he sup- 
ported, an undying hostility to slavery. 
He was elected to the legislature in 1833 
by the whigs of Adams county, Penn. 
The same party kept him in this position 
imtil 1 84 1. In the Pennsylvania constitu- 
tional convention in 1836 he was active 
in the debates, and prominent in forming 
the constitution. He refused to sign the 
constitution, however, because suffrage 
was restricted on account of color. After 
the adoption of the constitution, Mr. 
Stevens was re-elected to the legislature, 
during a stormy political period. For a 
time there were two legislatures in ses- 
sion ; but at length they quietly united in 
the choice of a speaker. In 1838 Mr. 
Stevens was appointed land commission- 
er. Four years later he removed to 
Lancaster, Pa., where he afterward 
made his home. He was elected to 
the thirty-second congress, and opposed 
M^ith considerable power the repeal of 
the Missouri compromise, the fugitive 
slave law, and Kansas-Nebraska bill. 
He remained in congress almost seven 
terms, until the time of his death. In 
every session he was a recognized leader. 
For three terms he was chairman of 
the committee on ways and means, and 
in the thirty-ninth and fortieth con- 
o-resses he was chairman of the commit- 
tee on reconstruction. He was chair- 
man of the board of managers, on the 
part of the lower house, in the trial for 
the impeachment of President Johnson 
before the senate. He urged upon 
President Lincoln the emancipation 
proclamation. He hated slavery, and 
believed in no compromise with the 
South. He would concede to it not one 
right motive for a single wrong act. He 
believed in and labored for, the extension 



of equal rights to every man, black or 
white, in the Union. 

VIOLEXT EtIRTHQUAKE. 

1868. Aug. 13. A fearful earth- 
quake shock rolled through Ecuador and 
some adjoining portions of the South 
American continent, causing great de- 
struction to life and property. It extend- 
ed a thousand miles along the coast from 
Chili north, destroying Arica, Arequipa, 
and other cities. Scarcely a house was 
left standing in many of these places. In 
Arica, Peru, five hundred lives v^xre lost, 
$13,000,000 worth of property destroyed, 
and no building left without injury. In 
Arequipa, six hundred persons perished, 
and the whole town w^as overthrown. 
In Ecuador, a lake took the place of the 
city of Catocachy. Several other cities 
were engulfed, with all their inhabitants. 
Over 30,000 persons perished, and hun- 
dreds of thousands of others were left 
destitute. The shocks were at first 
every fifteen minutes, then every hour. 
A tidal wave followed, with great dam- 
age to the coast. An island off the port 
of Arica was completely submerged 
three times, and all the garrison were 
drowned. The first wave was forty feet 
high. The United States steamer Fre- 
donia was lost, with all her crew. The 
United States steamer Wateree and other 
vessels wei"e driven far inland, and left 
when the wave retreated. 



1868. Sept. 7. The negro mem- 
bers of the Georgia legislature were ex- 
pelled because of their color. 

1868. Sept. 18. A battle with the 
Indians occurred on Republican Ri\'er, 
resulting in the death of Lieutenant 
Beecher and others of the United States 
army. 



1863-1868.] 



THE RETURN TO PEACE. 



677 



1868. Sept. 19. Many negroes were 
killed in a riot at Camilla, Ga. It was a 
political riot arising from the question of 
granting full political privileges to blacks. 

1868. Sept. 22. A political riot oc- 
curred in New Orleans. A republican 
procession of two thousand negroes was 
stopped by a white man, who rushed in 
and called for cheers for the democratic 
candidates. A conflict followed, in which 
quite a number were killed. 

1868. Oct. 7. Cornell University, 
Ithaca, N. Y., was oj^en for instruction 
under the presidency of Andrew D. 
White. It aims to educate both sexes 
equally. This institution received the 
land given by the United States to indus- 
trial colleges, amounting, in the case of 
New York, to 989,000 acres. Mr. Ezra 
Cornell, for whom it is named, has 
given nearly a million dollars to it, and 
rich gifts have come from other gen- 
tlemen. A large library has already 
been acquired, and the equipment of the 
entire institution is every year growing 
more and more perfect. 

OUTBREAK OF CUBtLX REVOLUTION. 

1868. Oct. 10. The fires which had 
been confined, at last broke forth with 
great fierceness. A plan for overthrow- 
ing the Spanish power in Cuba, had 
been laid by a few earnest hearts and 
minds, as early as August 3, 1S67. 
Three men met at that date, and conse- 
crated themselves to the cause. They 
rapidly increased their numbers, and the 
movement was soon being agitated in all 
parts of the island. It was at last agreed 
to rise in October, 1S6S, and the four- 
teenth day was appointed. But the 
Spanish leaders found out in some way 
about the outbreak, and therefore the 
patriots hastened their plans. Manuel 



de Cespedes, who was the revolutionary 
chief in one department, with two hun- 
dred men around him on the field of 
Yara, declared the island independent on 
this date. The patriot forces at once at- 
tacked some of the Spanish positions 
with success. At Bayamo, Camaguey, 
and other places, they were victorious. 
Efforts were soon made to secure con- 
cert of action, and some form of govern- 
ment. Before the close of the year Spain 
had greatly increased the number of her 
troops in Cuba, and the terrible struggle 
grew in intensity. 

1868. Oct. 21. A severe earth- 
quake occurred in California. In San 
Francisco business was suspended, and 
much damage was done to buildings and 
property. 

TWE.YTY-FIRST PRESWE.YTML C±M- 
PtI^IGjV. 

1868. Nov. 3. The election of this 
year had considerable party feeling in it. 
Four Southern states, Virginia, Georgia, 
Mississippi and Texas, because they had 
not yet been admitted again to the Union 
under the reconstruction acts, therefore 
could not join in the election. Grant 
and Colfax, the nominees of the repub- 
lican party, received 214 electoral votes, 
and 3,015,071 popular votes; while Sey- 
mour and Blair, the nomi- ^„_ ., 

' _ 1868. Novem- 

nees of the democratic party, ber. Suez, canal 
received 80 electoral, and °^"'"^- 
3,709,613 popular votes. Nine of the 
80 were from Georgia, but as the victory 
of the other side was so undoubted, no 
contest was made over the counting of 
them. 



1868. Nov. 25. The Hibernia, from 
New York to Glasgow, was lost on the 
Irish coast, with eighty-five lives. 



678 



NATIONAL CRISES. 



1868. Nov. 27. A band of Indians 

on the Washita River was defeated by 
General Custer. " Black Kettle " and 
nearly one hundred warriors were killed. 

1868. November. War against Para- 
guay was declared to be at an end, Lopez 
having fled to the mountains, where he 
maintained himself some time longer in 
an irregular kind of warfare. The gov- 
ernment of Paraguay was regulated by 
a commission. 

1868. Dec. 14. The repudiation of 
the national debt was denounced by the 
United States house of representatives. 

1868. Dec. 27. The battle of Lomas 
Valentinas occurred in Paraguay, and 
although Loj^ez was severely beaten, he 
did not give uj:). The warfare became 
now more of a wild guerilla fighting. 
This struggle continued till his death in 
battle in 1870. 



JEFFERSOK DtU'IS DISCHARGED. 
1868. December. The prosecution 
of Jefferson Davis, which had been be- 
gun in the United States district court 

at Richmond in 1S67, on isgs. December. 

the charge of treason, was Gladstone 

, , . , , . T 1 became prime 

ended, with his discharge, minister of 
which was secured by the England. 
entrance of a nolle prosegtii in his case. 
He retired to Memphis, Tenn., where 
he has since lived in the retirement of 
private life. 

1868. A National Bolivian Naviga- 
tion Company was contracted for with 
the Bolivian government by Col. Geo. 
E, Church, an engineer from New 
York. 

1868. A submarine cable between 
Cuba and Florida, was opened for the 
use of the public. 





PART VII. 



PPSEI]T DEVEIiOPEQEp. 



1869-1881 







[6791 



" Look up^ lookfo7'th^ and on! 

There's light in the dawning sky : 
The clouds are paj-tifjg^ the night is gone: 

Prepare for the zvork of the day ! 

Fallow thy pastures lic^ 

And far thy shepherds stray. 
And the fields of thy vast doniaiji 

Are waiting for purer seed 

Of knozvledge, desire, and deed. 
For kee}?er sunshine ajid mellower rain ! 

But keep thy garments pure • 
Pluck them back, with the old disdain. 

From touch of the hands that stain ! 

So shall thy strength endure. 
Transm7ite into good the gold of Gain, 
Compel to beauty thy ruder powers. 

Till the bounty of coming hours 

Shall plant, on thy fields apart. 
With the oak of Toil, the rose of Art ! 

Be "watchful and keep us so : 

Be strong and fear no foe : 

Be just and the world shall knoxv ! 
With the same love love zis, as we give/ 

And the day shall never come. 

That fnds us weak or dumb 

To join and smite and cry 
In the great task, for thee to die. 
And the greater task^ for thee to live! " 

— BAVARD TAYLOR. 



[680] 



SECTION XXI. 



TB^U TSiO^ZUMS 02^ TO-DAY. /869-/876. 



y y P to the close of President John- 
son's administration, the attention 
of the people of the United States 
J^\ was wholly occupied with the con- 
flict between congress and the chief 
magistrate. From the early part of 
1869 a change appears. True recon- 
struction of thought and feeling was no 
nearer than before. But a certain in- 
tense strain had been removed, and im- 
mediately a hundred hitherto . repressed 
or unnoticed desires began to assert 
themselves, and struggle for power in 
the life of the nation. The increase in 
the number of national conventions dur- 
ing 1869 verifies this. The immediate 
issues of the war had passed by, and 
other issues crowded to the front. Presi- 
dent Grant's administration had not been 
long under way before the civil service 
reform problem assumed large propor- 
tions, and resulted in a new political ex- 
perience during the next ten years. It is 
not yet settled. The problem of Indian 
civilization came forward likewise, and 
since 1869 a policy has been in operation, 
which has accomplished much, but whose 
full work is not yet done. The problem 
of education received a new statement in 
the situation of the South, but the 

[6811 



answers are not yet truly written. The 
best people of the South, as well as of 
the North, feel that the recovery of the 
former from the terrible effects of the dev- 
astation she endured, by being the field 
on which millions of men tramped in 
war, can only be found in the slow and 
steady training of the young, and of the 
freedmen in the arts of peace. These 
problems are not helped to a settlement 
by rancor, by misrepresentation, and 
kindred instruments, but by patience 
and wise attention. Capital and labor, 
finance, temperance, and social demands, 
have presented themselves for discussion 
and legislation. The greatly increased 
travel by land and sea has caused a thou- 
sand questions to be asked, concerning 
the conduct of railroads and steamships. 
Appliances for safety have been exten- 
sively put into operation. The burning 
of our large cities has roused queries as 
to the proper construction of buildings. 
The revelations of crime have given new 
significance to moral questions. The 
problem of " tramps " has been an annoy- 
ance and a perplexity. The day is full 
of emergencies. The same things exist, 
to a greater or less extent, in the rest of 
the continent. The problems of com- 



682 



P RES EN T DE I ^EL OPMENT. 



inerce are considered widely in South 
America. With the entrance of the 
great modern faciHties and activities, her 
popidation becomes more stable, and her 
governments more secure. The New 
World needs wisdom through all her 
borders. Industry, education, home life 
and moral convictions must prevail every- 
where. Then can the continent live its life 
usefully, and solve that great problem of 
absorbing the members of foreign nation- 
alities, who seek a home among us. 



1869. Jan. 10. John Cassin, an 

American ornithologist, died at the age 
of fifty-six years. He was born near 
Chester, Pcnn,, vSept. 13, 1S13. His 
early education was not extensive, but he 
very early obtained a zest in the stud}' of 
birds. He was at one time in trade for 
several years, but his life, on the whole, 
was devoted to his favorite study. Some 
of his relatives were honorably connected 
with the military affairs of the United 
States at the beginning of the present 
centurv. The ^vorks upon ornithologv 
which Mr. Cassin issued, form a valuable 
part of American literature upon the sub- 
ject. He wrote quite extensively. 

1869. January. A treaty between 
the United States and Colombia, S. A., 
1869. jaii.2i. was concluded, granting the 

Ftrsl Protestant -^^^ ^^ cOUStrUCt a Canal 
meeting in ^ 

Madrid. across the isthmus to the 

former power. Don Santas Acosta was 
the Colombian commissioner, and Caleb 
Cushing the United vStates commissioner. 
The Colombian senate rejected the treaty, 
however, through some adverse influence 
brought to bear on the question. 

1869. Feb. 26. The XVth Amend- 
ment to the constitution of the United 
States was passed by congress, and 
having been afterward ratified by three- 



fourths of the states, was declared in 
force March 30, 1870. It guaranteed the 
rischt of suffrage to all citizens of the 
United States, without regard to race, 
color, or previous condition of servitude. 

1869. March 4. U. S. Grant was 
inaugurated president, and Schuyler Col- 
fax vice-president of the United States. 

1869. March 4. William T. Sher- 
man was made general of all the armies 
of the United States, a position which 
had been occupied by Gen. Grant, but 
was now vacant by the latter's assiunp- 
tion of the presidency. Gen. Sherman 
still retains the place. Washington 
was lieutenant-general, Winfield S. vScott 
was brevet lieutenant-general, and Grant, 
for a period preceding his position of gen- 
eral, was lieutenant-general. 

1869. March 16. A female suffrage 
resolution was presented to the United 
States house of representatives by Mr. 
Julian of Indiana, with the intention of 
having it added to the United vStates con- 
stitution as a 1 6th amendment. It did 
not secure notice before the house. 

J>i.MEH IhLRPER. 

1869. March 27. The eldest of the 
brothers belonging to the celebrated firm 
of Harper Bros., died in New York from 
the effects of being thrown from his car- 
riage by a frightened horse two days 
before. The shock was so great as to 
render him insensible, and put him be- 
yond the reach of help, from the first. 
He was born in 1795, and was conse- 
quently seventy-four years old. He and 
his brothers were brought up on a farm 
on Long Island. The two eldest left 
their home at sixteen years of age, to 
learn the art of printing. They paid 
attention to their task, and set up for 
themselves when their time was their 



1869-1870.] 

own. The steady extension of their busi- 
ness is known to the world. The humble 
beginning of it all is an encouragement 
to patience and industry. James Harper 
was mayor of New York for a term, 
but did not become wholly engaged in 
political life. 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



683 



island was in a fearful condition. There 
were nearly 100,000 Spanish soldiers in 
the island, either of those sent from the 
Old World or raised among Spanish citi- 
zens of the island, who entertained a 
great aversion to native Cubans. Men, 
women, and children, since Jan. i of this 




WILLIAM T. SHEKMAN 



1869. March. Schenck's bill, pro- 
viding for the payment of all national obli- 
gations in coin, was passed by congress. 

1869. March. The banishment of 
three hundred political prisoners was de- 
creed by the Cuban authorities. They 
were sent to Fernando Po, an island west 
of Africa. The Spanish troops were 
now committing great atrocities, and the 



year, had been shot down in the most 
defenceless positions, in one instance in a 
theater. Different districts continued to 
I'ise against Spanish power. 

FIRE LY COMSTOCK LODE. 

1869. April 7. A great conflagra- 
tion occuiTedin the Yellow Jacket, Ken- 
tuck, and Crown Point mines in Com- 



0)84 



PHESEN^T DEVELOPMENT. 



stock Lode, Nevada, and burned for 
months, from six to nine hundred feet 
under ground, in the timbers of suj^port. 
It destroyed quite a number of lives. 

CPB^.Y CO.YSTITrTIO.Y. 

1869. April 10. A national conven- 
tion of Cuba, held at Guaimaro, adopted 
a constitution and made arrangements 
for a legislative body which should nom- 
inate a president of the republic, and com- 
mander-in-chief of the army. Four 
states were created in the republic. 
Slavery had already been abolished on 
Feb. 26, by an assembly of Camaguey, 
which was merged into this national 
convention. Cespedes was present, and 
was prominent in affairs. He was elected 
president of the new republic on the day 
following the meeting of this convention. 
The Cubans had received offers of nego- 
tiation from Spanish leaders, but all 
offers of independence were excluded. 
The horrors of the warfare had just 
begun. 

1869. April 10. A " board of Indian 
commissioners" was authorized by the 
congress of the United States. The 
members, nine in number, were to serve 
without salary in doing what they could 
to better the condition of the Indians 
within the limits of the United States, 
and reduce the extent of the troubles 
between them and the government. This 
was the beginning of the so-called 
"peace policy," which has worked well 
in 251'actice. 

1869. April 26. The presidency in 
Venezuela was seized by Antonio Guz- 
man Blanco, who had been leading a 
revolution for a year or two, and now de- 
posed President Falcon. Blanco assumed 
considerable power, but on the whole. 



since his accession, the country has been 
prosperous. 

PACIFIC R7IILROAD OPENED. 

1869. May 10. At last the under- 
taking which had been watched by the 
whole country with such eager eyes, was 
brought to a happy issue. Everything 
had succeeded according to the most 
sanguine expectations, and the greatest 
specimen of railroad building in the world 
was thrown open as a highway across the 
continent. Great sums of money and 
great masses of material had been con- 
sumed in the work. The first congres- 
sional notice of this enterprise was in 
1S62, when a bill was passed granting a 
subsidy for the purpose. This was fol- 
lowed up, two years later, by another 
bill. The building of such a road had 
been, however, a favorite scheme of Asa 
Whitney as early as 1S46, and he made 
it the subject of much talk and lecturing. 
It was brought to the notice of congress, 
and certain congressmen, among them 
Senator Benton, undertook to aid the 
movement, but without material result. 
Surveys were, however, provided for in 
1S53 to determine which of three routes 
\vould be best. Not much work was 
done on the road before 1S65, but after- 
ward it was joushed on rapidly. The 
greatest amount of rails laid in any one 
day was eight miles. $1,000,000 were 
swallowed up in making the necessary 
surveys. The road crosses nine mountain 
ranges, and reaches, at its greatest alti- 
tude, 8,243 feet above the sea, which 
point is in the Black Hills. The cost, as 
given to the secretary of the interior, was 
$108,778 per mile, or a total of $112,- 
259,360. Fifteen tunnels, at different 
points, aggregate a length of 6,600 feet. 
The hiofhest g-rade is 1 16 feet to the mile. 



1869-1876.] 

The total length of road is o\"er 2,000 
miles, and makes the distance from New 
York to San Francisco a journey of 
about one week, a distance of 3,337 miles. 
Over a hundretl thousand tons of rails 
were employed. Bolts, spikes, and cross- 
ties were used by the million. The Union 
Pacific was built west, and the Central 
Pacific was built to the east from Sacra- 
mento. They were joined with impres- 
sive ceremonies at Promontory Point, 
Utah. The last tie, of laurel wood, with 
a plate of silver ujDon it, was laid, and the 
last spike, composed of iron, silver, and 
gold, was driven in the presence of a 
crowd. The oflicers of the roads and 
others, from east and west, were present. 
The telegraph wires were attached to the 
last rail, and the last blows were signaled 
upon a bell in Washington, D. C, and in 
other parts of the continent. In many 
places crowds had gathered to get the 
first intimation of the completion of the 
great task. When the signal went forth, 
high jubilation took place in San Fran- 
cisco and elsewhere. Travel began upon 
this line within a couple of days, and has 
been successfully maintained till the pres- 
ent time, constituting one of the great 
achievements of the century. 

POWELLS COLORADO EXPEDITIOX. 

1869. May 24. An expedition, organ- 
ized by Major J. W. Powell, for the 
exploration of the Colorado River and 
its tributaries, left Green River city upon 
the perilous undertaking. There were 
ten persons in four boats. The work was 
performed under the direction of the late 
Professor Henry, secretary of the Smith- 
sonian Instifution, and consumed a great 
part of several years. The vast gorges 
and tremendous cliffs of this region were 
almost unknown hitherto, and the record 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



685 



of their exploration given in Major 
Powell's report is as attractive as any 
romance. At times their situation was 
very critical, but by wisdom and energy 
the great task was accomplished, and the 
valuable information given to the world. 

FIRST PEACE JUBILEE. 

1869. June 15-20. Under the lead- 
ership of P. S. Gilmore of Boston, a 
gi'eat festival was arranged for and held 
in that city, in a vast coliseum erected for 
the purpose, and covering nearly four 
acres. Mr. Gilmore had labored with 
great zeal to make his celebration a suc- 
cess. He contrived it in honor of the 
cessation of the American Civil War. 
In spite of great difficulties, and of many 
faint hearts, the scheme was elaborately 
planned, and fully carried out. A vast 
chorus of 10,000 singers, and an orchestra 
of 1,000 pieces, were organized. Presi- 
dent Grant was jDresent during a part 
of the festival. Boston was packed with 
visitors. Of the singers, Parepa Rosa 
made the great impression upon all, her 
voice proving sufficient to reach the 
whole of the great audience, and bring- 
ing her a reception which no other be- 
fore her ever had. The celebrated " Anvil 
Chorus" was introduced, and a hundred 
anvils were beat in unison by a hundred 
firemen. A battery of cannon outside the 
building was fired by electricity, in har- 
mony with the music within. At times, 
the scenes in the audience were wild 
through the uncontrolled enthusiasm 
shown. 

HENRY J. RAYMOND. 

1869. June 18. This eminent Ameri- 
can journalist died in New York, aged 
forty-nine years. He was born in Lima, 
N. Y., January 24, 1820, and graduated 
at the University of Vermont, in 1840. 



686 PRESENT DE \ 

He had in the meantime worked on his 
father's farm more or less, and taught 
school to aid in getting his education. 
Air. Raymond is best known as the 
founder of the New York Times, which 
he put before the public September i8, 
1851. But in the years just preceding he 
186S. June 9. ^"''^'^ ^^'^ experience with Mr. 
liiois in Paris. Greeley, in the establish- 
ment of the New York Tribune in 1S41, 
and from 1S43 to 1S51 upon the " Courier 
and Enquirer," His ability as a rejDorter 
and journalist was very great. In poli- 
tics he took decided ground in favor of 
the Union, but after the death of Lincoln, 
favored the methods of reconstruction 
aimed at by President Johnson. He 
served his own state at times, and in 1864 
was sent to congress. He wrote a " Life 
of Lincoln," and minor publications. 

EXPEBITIOX FOR CUBtI. 

1869. June 26. A secret expedition 
set out from New York to aid the Cuban 
insurrectionists. They left the harbor in 
several companies in small boats, with- 
out arms, expecting to meet, at the ex- 
tremit}^ of Long Island, a steamer, which 
would transport them to their destination. 
The steamer, named the Catherine Whit- 
ing, was seized before she had left the har- 
bor, and subsequently the other bands 
were taken by United States orders, for 
violating neutrality laws. They were 
afterward released upon giving written 
promises not to engage again in such an 
enterprise. About this same time two 
expeditions actually landed in Cuba, one 
under General Thomas Jordan, a West 
Point graduate, and a confederate officer. 
General Jordan was put into command 
of all the armies of the Cuban revolution- 
ists. These expeditions added consider- 
ably to the Cuban strength. 



^ELOPMENT. 

1869. June. An Arctic expedition 

of two vessels left Bremen, and sailed 
between Greenland and Spitzbergen, it 
being thought by many that this route 
would the soonest afford success in north- 
ern explorations. The Hansa was 
wrecked in the ice, on the desolate coast 
of East Greenland, and there was no way 
of escape for the men, save upon a floe 
of ice drifting southward. The ice grad- 
ually diminished as it floated, till they 
were obliged to set themselves adrift in a 
boat which they had preserved. They 
finally reached Cape Farewell, at the 
southern extremity of Greenland, and 
found transportation to Europe in 1S70. 
The other vessel pushed on up the coast 
of East Greenland, and found a great bay 
far north, but could go no further, 
and therefore returned. It is supposed 
that they may have struck the northern 
shores of Greenland. 

1869. July 12. The volcano of 
Colima, which had shown no signs of 
life for forty years, began to emit smoke. 
A flood of melted matter poured forth 
aftei"ward, covering the country in sever- 
al directions. Its activity remained great 
for some years. 

FREXCH C^BLE. 

1869. July 14. Telegraphic com- 
munication was opened be- ^^^, y^^^^^g 
tween France and the Irish cimrdi 
United States, by the com- '^"^'•^^"W.iA.rf. 
pletion of the cable from near Brest to 
Duxbury, Mass. It comes by the way of 
the island of St. Pierre, and has a length 
of 3857 miles. 

1869. Aug. 7. A total eclipse of the 

sun, and which was visible in portions 
of the United States, occurred upon this 
date. 




[6871 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



1869. Aug. 16. A national labor 
convention met at Philadelphia, for the 
purpose of considering the position of, 
workingmen. 

1869. Sept. 1. A national temper- 
ance convention met at Chicago, hav- 
ing the object of promoting the forma- 
tion of a national prohibitory party. 

WILLMM PITT FESSEjYDEK. 

1869. Sept. 8. This eminent Ameri- 
can politician and statesman died, aged 
sixty-two years. He was born in Port- 
land, Me., October i6, i8o6, and gradu- 
ated at Bowdoin College in 1S33, two 
years before the celebrated class which 
contained Longfellow, Hawthorne, John 
S. C. Abbott, and other eminent men. 
After practising law from 1S27 to 1829 
at Bridgeton, Me., he opened an office in 
Portland, and gained speedy success. It 
was not long before he was called to 
enter political life, by an election to the 
state legislature, given him by the whigs. 
He served a number of terms at different 
times. But his chief service was in the 
senate of the United States, of which he 
was a member a great part of the time 
after 1854. He became a leading sena- 
tor. By his powerful opposition to the 
Kansas-Nebraska bill he won the affec- 
tions of thousands. He impressed all as 
a man of great integrity, and of com- 
plete sincerity. He served in 1864-5 as 
secretary of the treasury with great abil- 
ity, but returned to the senate, where ho 
felt more at home. Many of his old 
friends were alienated from him because 
he dared to vote for the acquittal of 
President Johnson on his impeachment 
trial. But men afterward saw that he 
had acted with extreme conscientious- 
ness, and felt that they could not afford 
to lose such a man from the councils of 



the nation. His death caused a wide- 
spread grief. 

BLACK FRIDAY. 

1869. Sept. 24. A great blow was 
given to the commercial interests of the 
United States, by an attempt on the part 
of Jay Gould, and James Fisk, Jr., to 
create a corner in the gold market. 
Never before had there been so fearful a 
determination carried to such a disastrous 
extent. The value of greenbacks had 
been steadily rising since the war closed. 
The operators in this panic undertook to 
secure as much as possible of the $15,- 
000,000 in gold held by New York 
banks, and hoping that the United 
States treasury, which held about $100,- 
000,000, would not dare to afford any 
relief, endeavored to raise the price of 
gold very high, sell out, and pocket the 
gains. They began their scheme, and 
kept purchasing successfully for several 
days. On Thursday it was generally 
known that the two schemers were go- 
ing to force up the price the next day, if 
possible, from 144 to 200. The gold 
room of New York, on the morning of 
Friday, was a scene which beggars de- 
scription, in the excitement and almost 
frenzy at times during the bidding. The 
price was steadily rising, and the bank- 
ers were steadily buying. The persons 
who had gold at their command, and had 
reserved it till this moment, made great 
sums. The price finally reached 160. 
One or two men went crazy, and had to 
betaken away. The streets around were 
packed with a mass of struggling, push- 
ing men. The excitement bade fair to 
continue until all business would have to 
be suspended, because no one could tell 
what price to ask. This result already 
began to be felt. Everything was dark. 



1869-187(5.] 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



689 



But word came in the midst of tlie fury 
that Secretary Boutwell of the United 
States treasury, had placed $4,000,000 
in gold on the market. This broke the 
attempt. Tlie price at once fell rapidly 
in a few minutes, and the operators had 
to forsake their scheme. But they did not 
come out of it with injury to themselves, 
for they saved $1 1,000,000 from the gains 
they had begun to accumulate by the 
plan. They did not, however, get the 
millions they had hoped to obtain. 



1869. September. An extensive 
flood did much damage in Virginia. In 
the streets of Richmond ferry boats were 
used, and the loss of property was great. 
At Harper's Ferry forty lives were lost. 

1869. Oct. 1. The bursting of a port- 
able engine, on the fair grounds at In- 
dianapolis, killed about thirty persons, 
and injured many more. 

FR^KKLLY PIERCE. 

1869. Oct. 8. Franklin Pierce, four- 
teenth president of the United States, died 
at Concord, N. H., aged sixty-four years. 
He was born at Hillsborough, in the same 
state, November 23, 1804. His father 
was a general during the Revolution, and 
ever a prominent politician, so that from 
his earliest years Mr. Pierce was familiar 
with political discussions. In 1824 he 
graduated from Bowdoin College, and 
then passed immediately to his law studies. 
In 1837 he opened an office in his native 
town. From 1829 until 1842 he served 
successfully in the legislature of New 
Hampshire, the national house of repre- 
sentatives, and the Unitecl States senate. 
The bi'eaking out of the trouble with 
Mexico called him from his profession, 
and in 1847 he enlisted as a volunteer 
from Concord. He was subsequently 



made brigadier-general under General 
Scott, and attained considerable promi- 
nence in the Mexican campaign. At 
the close of the war he returned to his 
home, where he prosecuted his profession 
until 1853, when he was elected presi- 
dent of the United States, His adminis- 
tration upheld slaverv, the 

_ ^ •' 1869. Foreign 

fugitive slave law, and in BibUs admitted 
every way tried to strength- '"^° ^^"'"■ 
en Southern measures. Mr. Pierce failed 
of a reelection, and with the exception 
of a trip in Europe, he lived quietly at 
Concord until his death. During the 
Civil War he was a firm friend of the 
vSouth. 



1869. Oct. 14. The severest hurri- 
cane of the present century did extensive 
damage in Cuba, and destroyed two 
thousand lives. 

1869. Oct. 21. A national capital 
convention met at St. Louis, with the 
object of securing the removal of the 
capital of the United States from Wash- 
ington to some city near the Mississippi 
River. 

1869. Oct. 27. The Stonewall, of 
St. Louis, was lost near Cairo, 111,, with 
two hundred and twenty-two lives. 

GEORGE PE^BODY. 

1869. Nov. 4. George Peabody, the 
American merchant so widely known for 
his great gifts for philanthropic enter- 
prises, died at London, aged seventy-four 
years. He was born in Danvers, Mass., 
Feb. 18, 1795- His early years were 
spent in business as a clerk in Thetford, 
Vt., and in Newburyport, Mass. An 
opening occurred for him to become 
partner of Elisha Riggs, at Georgetown, 
D. C, in the drygoods trade. In 1815 
the business was removed to Baltimore, 

44 



690 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



and in se\'cn years the house established 
branch stores in New York and Phila- 
delphia. Before long Mr. Peabody be- 
came the head of the business, and in 
1S37 moved to London, that he might 
the better aid its commercial interests. 
For several years he continued his con- 
nection with the house, but in 1843 '^^ 
severed his relations to it and set u]3 the 
London banking house of George Pea- 
body and Company. He furnished 
money to meet the expense of showing 
American goods at the Exposition of 
1S51. The large gifts of his beneficence 
now began. His wealth had been 
rapidly accumulating, and he began to 
give rapidly from it. He gave $10,000 
to the expedition of Dr. Kane in 1S52, 
$300,000 for Peabody Institute in Pea- 
body, Mass.; $50,000 for a similar insti- 
tute in North Danvers, Mass., and after 
a visit to the United States in 1S57, he 
gave $300,000 for a Peabody Institute in 
Baltimore, a sum which he afterward 
made $1,000,000. He gave for the 
benefit of the poor of London, to be used 
in providing suitable dwellings for them, 
$2,500,000. Again coming to the 
United States he gave $150,000 to 
found an institute of archaeology in con- 
nection with Harvard College, $150,000 
to Yale College, to be used for scientific 
purposes, and $3,100,000 for education at 
the South. The latter was increased in 
1S69 to $3,500,000. He gave in 186S, a 
fund to be used for supporting an art 
school at Rome, and upon a third visit to 
the United States gave $150,000 to the 
Peabody Institute at Salem, $20,000 for 
a public library at Newburyport, $30,- 
000 to Phillips Academy at Andover, 
$30,000 to the Maryland Historical 
society, $10,000 to a public library at 
Thetford, Vt., $35,000 to Kenyon Col- 



lege, Ohio, and $60,000 to Washington 
College, Virginia. In the meantime W. VV . 
Story, the sculptor, had made a statue of 
him, which had been erected in London, 
and unveiled by the Prince of Wales. 
At an earlier day he had declined a bar- 
onetcy at the hands of Queen Victoria. 
He arrived in London from the United 
States in October, about a month before 
his death. His funeral was held in 
Westminster Abbey, and at the direction 
of the Queen a royal vessel brought his 
remains to America. The property left 
by him amounted to $5,000,000. He set 
a noble example of great giving. 



1869. Nov. 24. A national woman 
suffrage convention met in Cleveland, 
Ohio, and was presided over by Henry 
Ward Beecher. 

SHOOTI.m OF :4. I). RICH>lRDSOK. 

1869. Nov. 26. A melancholy oc- 
currence took place in the office of the 
New York Tribune. When Albert D. 
Richardson, who had been quite closely 
connected with that paper as writer and 
war corresjDondent, stepped into the office 
to ask for letters, a lawyer named Mc- 
Farland was there waiting for him, and 
shot him. Mr. Richardson lived about a 
week. The cause of the difficulty was 
in the fact that Mr. Richardson had 
shown kindness to Mrs. McFarland, who 
had been for some years trying to secure 
a separation from her husband. Mr. 
McFarland had in 1S6S attempted to 
shoot ISIr. Richardson while he was es- 
corting Mrs. McFarland home from the 
theater, where she was serving as an 
actress. Mrs. McFarland applied for a 
divorce, and had secured it in the present 
autumn. She was married to Mr. Rich- 
ardson just before the death of the latter, 



1869-1876.] 

while he was lying mortally wounded. 
Mr. Richardson was a brilliant writer. 
He was only thirty-six years old, and had 
written for newspapers from his j^outh. 
During the last part of the war he was a 
prisoner among the confederates. After 
his return north he wrote several books 
which had a wide sale. His death and 
the manner of it, caused a wide excite- 
ment. Mr. McFarland was afterward 
tried, but was acquitted on the plea of 
insanity. 

1869. November. The people of 
Newfoundland refused by public vote to 
unite with the Dominion of Canada. 
The Newfoundland legislature had pre- 
viously voted to effect the union. 

1869. Dec. 1. The Hudson Bay 
company's territory, comprising Prince 
Rupert's Land, which they owned by 
original grant, and Manitoba, of the Red 
River settlement, was transferred to the 
Dominion of Canada, and all rights in it 
suiTendered. The Dominion j^arliament 
erected it into the Northwest Territory, 
and appointed William McDougall as 
lieutenant-governor of it. But Manitoba 
forcibly resisted this appointment, and 
organized a provisional government, with 
a demand for representation in the Do- 
minion parliament. This was finally 
conceded. 

1869. Dec. 10. A national labor 
convention of colored people meeting in 
Washington, D. C, sent a delegation to 
President Grant, pledging him their sup- 
port since he had opened to them the 
higher forms of skilled labor under gov- 
ernment control, among them being ser- 
vice in the navy yards. 

1869. Dec. 16. A terrible explosion 
of all kinds of combustibles occurred in a 
torpedo factory at Titusville, Penn. The 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



691 



effects of the shock were visible in every 
direction, and the whole city a mile away 
was shaken. But one man was in the 
building at the time of the accident. 

EDWm M. STAKTOK 

1869. Dec. 24. Edwin McMasters 
Stanton, a prominent American states- 
man during the Civil War, died at 
Washington, D. C, aged fifty-five years. 
He was born in Steuben- ,„.„ ^^ . , 

1869. Spanish 

ville, Ohio, December 19, Cortex voted for 
18 14. He fitted for college, " """'^-^''y- 
and entered Kenyon, where he studied 
for about two years between 1S31 and 
1S33. In 1836 he began the practice of 
law in Cadiz, Ohio, and soon gained a 
local i-eputation. His first public position 
was that of county attorney. He after- 
ward began practice in Steubenville, 
and in 1845 ^"^^^ brought on in the 
criminal court at Washington, D. C, to 
defend Caleb J. McNulty, clerk of the 
house of representatives. The charge 
was embezzlement. Mr. Stanton won 
his case. After a practice of some years 
in Pittsburgh, he began to receive cases 
before the U. S. supreme court to 
such a degree that to save his time he 
took up his residence at W^ashington. 
He assisted in the defense of Daniel E. 
Sickles when he was tried for shooting 
Philip Barton Key. From 1S60 to 1861 
he served under Buchanan as attorney- 
general of the United States. After a 
few months' practice of his profession he 
was called by President Lincoln to as- 
sume the duties of secretary of war. 
This was at a time when the cares of 
that department were becoming enor- 
mous. Through all the war he stood at 
the head of this department without 
shrinking, and continued at the post 
under Johnson until the question of the 



692 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



legality of his attempted removal by the 
president had been decided in his favor, 
when he voluntarily retired at the ac- 
quittal of Mr. Johnson from the impeach- 
ment charges. A highly complimentary 
vote of thanks was given him by con- 
gress for his ability and integrity in the 
management of the war dej^jartment. 
Mr. Stanton was very much worn down 
by his long labors, but he was almost 
absolutely without property, and had to 
plunge into law again for his own sup- 
port. President Grant nominated him 
for associate-justice of the supreme court. 
He was confirmed withour question, but 
his vigor v\^as gone, and he died of 
dropsy. He was a man of great ability 
and unwavering integrity. 



1869. December. Babcock's fire 
extinguisher was first patented in the 
United States, and has obtained a wide 
sale. 

1869. The American Museum of 
Natural History was incorporated in 
New York. It is ultimately to have a 
building five times greater than the 
Capitol at Washington. A large section 
of it has already been erected. It is to 
aflford laboratories for the use of scien- 
tists of this and other lands who may 
wish an opportunity for making re- 
searches. 

1869. The Cincinnati Base Ball Club 
played during the season with all first- 
class clubs in the United States, and did 
not lose a single game, making one of 
the finest tours on record. 

1869. The National "Woman's Suf- 
frage Association was organized for the 
purpose of laboring to obtain the fran- 
chise for women. 

1869. The Yellowstone geysers were 
visited for the first time by a company 



led by Cook and Folsom. No other 
geysers on the globe compare with 
these in size. They have been examined 
constantly since this date by scientists 
and others. 

1869. The first census ever taken in 
the Argentine Republic was concluded 
this year. 

1869. The Araucanians again gave 
Chili great trouble under the Frenchman 
who calle-d himself their king, but in a 
year or two he left the countr}^, and the 
trouble ceased. 

1869. The freedom of the press was 
granted Cuba by Gen. Dulce, and forty 
new journals started up; but the decree 
lasted only a short time, and they were 
forced to succumb. 

1869. Garcia Moreno was elected 
president of Ecuador for six years. He 
had gained power at the beginning of 
this year by a revolution which over- 
threw Dr. Javier Espinosa, president of 
the republic. In May Rafael Carvajal 
was elected president, but at the close of 
the year another election was held, with 
the above result. 

1869. Mexico was full, during this 
and the previous year, of the agitation 
which always succeeds a war. Different 
leaders attempted to gain power, but on 
the whole the presidency of Juarez was 
quieting the country. 

1870. Jan. 15. Troubles in Hayti. 
Salnave, who had been trying since 1867 
to maintain himself as president of Hayti, 
was at last taken, and after having been 
tried by court-martial, was shot, because 
of his arbitrary tendencies. He had 
struggled against his opponents all in 
vain. The unhappy republic was torn 
with dissensions. But with his death a 
somewhat better state of affairs began. 
Nissage-Saget soon became president. 



1869-1870.] 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



693 



and succeeded in ruling to the satisfaction 
of many. Some attempted to overthrow 
him, but to no purpose. 

1870. Jan. 20. The first colored 
■United States senator, H. R. Revels, was 
elected from Mississippi. He was admit- 
ted to his seat on Feb. 23, when that 
state was re-admitted to the Union. 

GEORGE D. PREKTICE. 

1870. Jan. 22. Geo. D. Prentice, 
an American journalist and poet, died in 
Louisville, Ky., aged sixty-seven. He 
was born in Preston, Conn., December 
18, i8o3. He graduated at Brown Uni- 
versity in 1833. He studied law, but 
never practiced. In 1825 he was editor 
of the Connecticut Mirror, and he at- 
tracted much attention on account of the 
beauty of his style. He was a contribu- 
tor to various periodicals. In 1828, in 
company with John G. Whittier, he pub- 
lished The New England Review. He 
became managing editor of the Louis- 
ville Journal in 1831. This paper 
under his management, became one of 
the leading journals of the West. For 
many years the Journal was an untiring 
whig advocate. Later it became the 
bold and brilliant enemy of secession. 
As a writer Mr. Prentice was spicy and 
bold, brilliant and sarcastic, and in depth 
and beauty of pathos, he had few equals. 
His greatest poem, "Closing Year," was 
written for the Journal in 1849. His 
last years were full of sorrow and trouble 
on account of his unfortunate habits, and 
also his domestic and financial affairs. 



1870. Jan. 23. A collision off the 

coast of Japan, between the British 
steamer Bombay, and the United States 
steamer Oneida, resulted in the loss of 
the latter, with 1 76 lives. 



1870. Jan. 28. The steamer City of 
Boston, from New York to Liverpool, 
was lost at sea, with 191 lives. 

JVE>LTHER BUREAU. 

1870. Feb. 9. The weather bureau 
in the signal service of the United States 
was established by act of congress. 
The joint resolution passed provided for 
the taking of meteorological reports and 
the giving of storm signals by the war 
department. The secretary of war at 
once put it into the hands of Gen. Myer. 
The signal service bureau did not exist at 
that time as such, although Gen. Myer 
had been building up the work of it dur- 
ing the Civil War, doing some weather 
work in connection with it. Within a 
year from this time the work was being- 
done admirably. The system has extend- 
ed, and embraces everything relating to 
changes of weather and temperature. 
Millions of farmers' bulletins have been 
issued. The taking of reports began on 
Nov. I, 1870, and has steadily con- 
tinued. Gen. Albert J. Myer, who 
superintended all this work until his re- 
cent death, obtained the sobriquet of 
» Old Probabilities." 

1870. Feb. 19. At a trial in type- 
setting at New York, George Arensburg 
set 2,064 ci"s, solid minion, six break 
lines, in one hour. 

AKSON BURLIMGAME. 

1870. Feb. 23. Anson Burlingame, 
L.L. D., an American diplomatist, died at 
St. Petersburg, Russia. Mr. Burlingame 
was born in New Berlin, Chenango 
county. New York, Nov. 14, 1822. 
While he was quite young his parents 
removed west; first to Ohio, and thence 
to Michigan. He was educated at a 
branch of Michigan University in Detroit. 



694 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



In 1843 he entered Cambridge law 
school. There he became interested in 
politics, and was an active whig. He 
married a daughter of Hon. Isaac Liver- 
more of Cambridge, and opened a law 
office in Boston, in partnership with Geo. 
P. Bnggs, a son of Governor Briggs. 
In 1S48 he was made president of the 
Young Men's whig republican associ- 
ation, and in 1S49 and 1850 he visited 
Europe. He was elected to the Massa- 
chusetts senate from Middlesex, and one 
year later was a member of the constitu- 
tional convention. He was elected 
to the thirty-fourth, thirty-fifth, and 
thirty-sixth congresses. He was a mem- 
ber of the committee on foreign affairs, 
and showed considerable ability in the 
transaction of business. He figured 
prominently in the great struggle in the 
house of representatives, when the mem- 
bers balloted for nine successive weeks 
for speaker, without a result. He was a 
strong friend of Senator Charles Sumner, 
and when Preston S. Brooks made that 
memorable assault upon Mr. Sumner, the 
act was denounced by Mr. Burlingame 
in the most bitter terms. His speech was 
said to have been one of the most elo- 
quent made on the floor of the house 
during this session. In his fourth contest 
for congi-ess Mr. Burlingame was de- 
feated by Hon. William Appleton. He 
was appointed minister to Austria, but 
the Austrian court refused to receive him. 
The refusal is supposed to have been on 
account of his able and eloquent addresses 
in favor of Sardinia, and the imity of Italy. 
President Lincoln then appointed him 
minister to China, which position he filled 
with marked ability. The Chinese author- 
ities trusted him as they had trusted no 
other foreign man. He visited the United 
States in 1865, but soon returned to his 



post. While here, he was warmly re- 
ceived by his friends, political and per- 
sonal. In 1867 he resigned his position, 
much against the wishes of Prince Kungf 
and the Chinese officials. At length the 
imperial officers offered to send him at 
the head of a Chinese embassy to make 
treaties with all the civilized powers of 
the world. Mr. Burlingame accepted. 
With his celestial colleagues he arrived 
in San Francisco Feb. 25, 1S68. He 
had undertaken this mission in the inter- 
ests of mankind and civilization; but it 
was reported to him that the American 
people were dissatisfied with him for 
having accejDted a foreign trust. He 
was happily surprised, therefore, to find 
the citizens of San Francisco turn out e/z 
masse to greet him. The remarkable 
success of this embassy, under his brilliant 
leadership, is well known. Just as his 
work was about completed, he died in 
St. Petersburg at the age of forty-eight. 
His loss was mourned on three conti- 
nents, by Christian and pagan. The 
power of Mr. Burlingame over the 
Chinese authorities had attracted uni- 
versal attention. His sincere interest in 
their government led the Chinese to rest 
upon his suggestions and his diplomacy. 
Had he lived, the relations of the Chinese 
empire to other governments would, in 
all probability, have been greatly broad- 
ened and strengthened. His work was 
certainly great so far as he was permitted 
to perform it. His death was from pneu- 
monia, which wrought its result very 
quickly, and disappointed the land he was 
serving, as well as the rest of the world. 

FR^XCISCO S. LOPEZ. 

1870. March 1. In a battle on the 
Aquidaban, General Francisco Solano 
Lopez, the last president of the republic 



1869-1876.] 

of Paraguay, fell, and the last band of the 
Paraguayan forces was destroyed. This 
was the final conflict between the repub- 
lic and the allied armies, and the country, 
which had been almost devastated during 
the progress of the war, fell into the 
hands of the latter. But the Brazilian 
troops refused to interfere in the Para- 
guayan election or government, any fur- 
ther than to maintain order. After 
several engagements during the month 
of January, Gen. Lopez had retreated 
with 1,500 men, the remnant of his army, 
to Panandero. His supplies were ex- 
hausted, and he moved from this place, 
leaving behind the women and heavy 
cannon. He at length encamped in the 
mountains, in the limits of the Para- 
guayan tenitory. His camping place 
was on the Aquidaban, and three miles 
from the Taquara. Here Gen. Lopez, 
with starved followers, was completely 
surprised and overwhelmed; the greater 
portion of them were slaughtered. Gen. 
Lopez was wounded while attempting to 
escape, and died immediately on being 
captured. The victorious forces were 
under the command of Gen. Camara. 
Gen. Lopez's life had been one of rash- 
ness and indiscretion. He was born in 
Asuncion, July 24, 1831. His father was 
ruler of Paraguay before him. When 
only eighteen years of age he was given 
the rank of general, and placed at 
the head of 10,000 men. In 1849, in 
the war with Rosas, at the command 
of his father, he mercilessly massa- 
cred the missions of Corrientes. He 
was made envoy to European courts in 
1852, and returned in 1854. He suc- 
ceeded his father in power in 1862. His 
career from this period is well-known; 
how he precipitated his country into a 
conflict with Brazil and her allies; how 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



695 



he started at the head of a magnificent 
army of 70,000 men, and closed his 
career, almost alone, in the fight on the 
Aquidaban. He refused to surrender to 
the last, and died with his sword in 
hand. He left his country, the charge of 
which he had taken in so prosperous a 
condition, destitute and weak. 

GEORGE H. THOM-LS. 

1870. March 28. George Henry 
Thomas, major-general of the United 
States army, died in San Francisco, Cal. 
He was born in the county of South- 
hampton, Va., July 31, 1816. He came 
from one of the old families of Virginia. 
His people were planters, and were refined 
and well-educated. After being liberally 
educated, he began the study of law at the 
age of twenty ; but when he had just begun 
his study his friends secured for him an 
appointment as cadet at West Point. He 
graduated in 1840. His course is said to 
have been thorough, but not brilliant. 
He ranked twelfth in a class of forty-two 
members. In this class were such men 
as Sherman, Ewell, and Jordan. He was 
commissioned a second lieutenant, on 
graduating, in the third artillery. For 
twenty years, from 1840 to 1S60, he was 
in the regular army, and his service 
was in the highest degree honorable. 
He made a good record in the Florida 
war from i840-'42. From 1842 -'45 he 
commanded various forts and barracks. 
He was in the Mexican war, and in 
Texas from 1845 to 1848. He was in 
the Seminole war from 1849 to '50, and 
then an artillery and cavalry instructor at 
West Point, till 1854. He was on fron- 
tier duty from 1855 to i860. He rose in 
rank to be major of the second cavalry, 
and commanded that regiment for three 
years. In August, i860, he was wounded 



696 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



at Brazos River, and came east in Novem- 
ber. When the "American Conflict" 
came, he stood by the Union and made, 
it is well claimed by some of his many 
friends, the best and purest record in the 
war. On the day the flag went down at 
Sumter he reported for duty at Carlisle, 
Pa. On the i6th of June, 1861, he 
crossed the Potomac at the head of a bri- 
gade to combat his old commanders, and 
to invade his native state. In charge of 
the right wing of Gen. Patterson's army, 
he defeated Stonewall Jackson at Falling 
Waters. After the campaign of the 
Shenandoah he was transferred to the 
Army of the Cumberland. This army 
was created x^ugust 15, 1861. Gen. 
Robert Anderson was in command. 
Thomas and .Sherman were brigadier- 
generals. Thomas mu'^tered in the troops 
from Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Ten- 
nessee, that afterward formed the nucleus 
of the great army which he commanded. 
This was at Camp Dick Robinson, and 
the troops were called the first brigade. 
In Buell's campaign Gen. Thomas, hav- 
ing been placed in command of the first 
division, was ordered to move against 
Zollicoflfer, whom he defeated at Mill 
Springs, Jan. 17, 1862. During May 
and June he commanded the i-ight wing 
of the Army of the Tennessee. On Sept, 
30 he was appointed second in command 
of the Army of the Ohio, having refused 
the first. He served in this command at 
the fight at Perryville. In Gen. Rose- 
crans' army he commanded the center. 
January 9, 1863, he was placed m com- 
mand of the fourteenth army corps, and 
led it through the famous Chickamauga 
campaign. Gen. Sherman having started 
to the sea in October, Thomas was left to 
defend Tennessee against Gen. Hood. 
Thomas had 30,000 soldiers; Hood 57,- 



000 veterans. The remarkable and 
famed victory of Thomas at Nashville 
need not be retold. Honors and rewards 
without number were pressed upon him, 
but he declined them all. After the war 
he was placed in command of important 
militarv departments. His character, both 
private and militarv, is without a blemish. 



1870. March 30. The XVth amend- 
ment to the constitution of the United 
States was officiall}' declared to have 
been ratified. Thus the constitution 
proclaims that every man shall be 
allowed the exercise of his rights — with- 
out regard to ^' race, color, or previous 
condition of servitude." 

E.VAM WILLARD. 

1870. April 15. Mrs. Emma (Hart) 
Willard died at Troy, New Yoi-k. She 
was born in Berlin, Worthington Parish, 
Conn., Feb, 23, 1787. She was next to 
the youngest of a family of seventeen 
children. She attended the village 
academy two years, and mastered many 
studies outside of her regular school 
work. It is said that she pursued her 
studies with great eagerness, and under 
man}' difiiculties. She mastered astron- 
omy in her fourteenth year. She began 
the teaching of a district school, and soon 
became noted throughout that portion of 
the state for the thoroughness and j^ecu- 
liar methods of her instruction. She 
abandoned teaching in 1809, and married 
Dr. John Willard. Four or five years 
later, owing to financial reverses, she 
opened a girl's boarding school in Mid- 
dlebury. Her progress in this enterprise 
was marked and rapid. She introduced 
the advanced studies, and especially the 
sciences. In 18 18, encouraged by her 
husband, she determined to open on the 



1869-1870.] 

head-waters of t'ne Hudson, a school for 
the education of women. She published 
a ti'eatise on this subject, and obtained the 
sympathy and support of Gov. Clinton, 
who, in his message of 1820, recom- 
mended that the legislature should take 
miction in regard to the matter, In the 
spring of 1S19 Mrs. Willard opened her 
school in Waterford. This was the first 
iittempt at female education. In 1821 
she removed her school to Troy, the citi- 
zens of that place having tendered her a 
building. The school grew in numbers, 
and its facilities increased. In 1835 her 
husband died, and the management was 
left entirely to Mrs. Willard. She man- 
aged it until 183S, when she placed the 
institution in the hands of her son and 
his wife. In 1846 she traveled 8,000 
miles through Western and Southern 
states in the interests of education. She 
addressed many educational meetings, 
<ind was greeted by many old students. 
A school for women was established by 
her in Athens, and in 1854 she attended 
the World's Educational Convention in 
London, From 1S23 to 18^7 she pub- 
lished many text books on history and 
different branches of science. These 
^vere translated into many European and 
Asiatic languages, and had an immense 
sale. She also published a number of 
essays and poems. She contributed to 
the Literary Magazine, in answer to 
the question, " Will Scientific Education 
Make Woman Lose Her Sense of De- 
pendence on Man ? " This attracted con- 
siderable attention at the time. In 1830 
she published a volume of " Poems." 
She has been justly called the " pioneer 
educator" of women in America. 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



697 



1870. April 24. Blossom Rock, at 

the entrance of San Francisco harbor. 



was blasted so effectually that a depth of 
thirty-eight feet below the water's level 
was attained. Twenty-three tons of 
powder were employed, and 40,000 tons 
of rock were removed. The work was 
done at a cost of $75,000. 

1870. April. A rebellion broke out 
in the province of Entre Rios, in the Ar- 
gentine Confederation. Its leader and 
instigator was Gen. Lopez Jordan. He 
first surprised Gen. Urquiza, his father- 
in-law, in his palace in San Jose, and 
having murdered him, pillaged his palace, 
and confiscated his property. He also 
murdered two of Gen, Urquiza's sons. 
Gen, Lopez then compelled the state as- 
sembly to appoint him governor. He at 
once, on accepting the position, issued 
proclamations in favor of freedom, and 
asked the general government to grant 
him immunity from punishment. In re- 
jecting this request. President Sarmiento 
said : " Liberty has not the dagger for 
its instrument." The president resolved 
to put down the insurrection. After 
closing the ports on the river Uruguay 
he dispatched Gen. Emilio Mitre with 
1. 000 men, with artillery to Concepcion 
del Uruguay. The majority of the 
states recognized the right attitude of the 
president, and supported him in his efforts 
to suppress tlie rebellion. The efforts of 
the government were for some time, how- 
ever, fruitless. 

1870. April 27. A revolution oc- 
curred in San Jose, the capital of Costa 
Rica, one of the five republics of Central 
America. It resulted in overthrowing 
the government of President Jesus 
Jimenez, and the establishment of a new 
government, with Dr. Bruno Camanza 
at its head as provincial governor. The 
leader of the movement was Thomas 
Guardia. 



698 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



1870. May 12. Manitoba was cre- 
ated by an act of the Dominion parlia- 
ment, a separate province, and allowed a 
representation in the Canadian senate 
and house of commons. The new terri- 
tory was taken out of " Rupert's Land 
and the Northwestern Territory," and 
contained ii,ooo scjuare miles. 

1870. May 24. The Fenians as- 
sembled an expedition on the Canadian 
frontier. President Grant immediately 
issued a proclamation against the band, 
and Gen. Meade, who was aided by vol- 
unteers, was sent to enforce it. The 
Fenian leader, Col. O'Neill, together 
with several of his officers, was impris- 
oned. His men and arms were seized 
by the U. S. government officials. Col. 
O'Neill was imprisoned in Windsor, Ver- 
mont. This put an end to the Fenian 
attempts at raising expeditions, for some 
time, 

1870. June 17. Jerome Napoleon 
Bonaparte died in Baltimore, Md. He 
was born at Camberwell, England, July 
7, 1805. His father, Jerome Napoleon, 
was married to Miss Patterson, of this 
country, but the bride was deserted by 
Napoleon in a short time, and she was 
never able to establish him in his proper 
relations to the French court. Her son, 
Jerome, was a man of ability. He grad- 
uated at Harvard with honor in 1826, 
and studied law, but never practiced. He 
married a lady of Roxbury, Mass., and 
afterward, by inherited property, became 
the wealthiest citizen in Baltimore. 

DEPARTMEXT OF JUSTICE. 

1870. June 22. An act was passed 
establishing an executive department to 
the United States government, called the 
Department of Justice, with the attorney- 
general at its head. The attorney-gen- 



eral henceforth became a member of the 
cabinet. 



1870. June 23. A Spanish law 

against slavery in Cuba was passed. 
All born after its passage, and all over 
sixty years old, were to be free. The op- 
position to it was so great, however, that 
it could not be enforced. 

8:iX DOMLVGO. 

1870. June 30. The United States 
senate refused to comply with the recom- 
mendations of Gen. Grant regarding the 
annexation of San Domingo, and the 
treaty to this effiict was rejected. Col. 
Fatens was appointed to communicate 
the decision of the senate ,„,^ ^ 

imo. June o. 

to President Baez of the Great fire in 
San Domingo Republic, Cj>nsta''ffP^':- 

^ -i ' 7,000 butlding!. 

who at once sent a mes- and 2,000 i^ves 
sage to congress, conclud- "^''^y'^'^ • 
ing as follows: "The measure will, 
nevertheless, succeed in the end, for it is 
a necessity in the progress of humanity, 
whose unseen agent is Providence itself." 
The negotiations for this treaty were re- 
newed, but rejected, but the Protectorate 
of San Domingo was extended by the 
United States one year from the subse- 
quent July. 

ADMIRAL DAHLGREX. 

1870. July 12. John A. Dahlgren, 
a rear-admiral in the United States 
navy, died in Washington. He was born 
in Philadelphia in iSio. On Feb. i, 
1826, he was appointed midshipman from 
the state of Pennsylvania. From 1S27- 
'29 he made his first cruise in the frigate 
Macedonian, of the Brazil squadron. 
From iS30-'32 he was with the Ontario, 
a sloop of the Mediterranean squadron. 
In 1S32 he was promoted to passed mid- 



1869-1876.] 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



shipman. From iS36-'43 he served in 
the coast survey. In 1837 ^^^ ^<^?> made 
a lieutenant. From iS47-'57 he was en- 
gaged in ordnance duty. During these 
ten years he perfected the invention of 
the Dahlgren gun. He became a com- 
mander in 1855, and in i85S-'59 com- 
manded the ordnance ship Plymouth. 
He w^as on duty at the Wasliington navy 
yard in i86o-'i,of whicli President Lin- 
cohi appointed him commandant in 1S62. 
At the same time he was commissioned 
captain. He was shortly afterward ap- 
pointed chief of the bureau of ordnance. 
Captain Dahlgren was promoted to be 
rear-admiral on the 7th of February, 1863. 
He remained with the Union in the Civil 
War, and was actively engaged in the 
summer of 1863 in the memorable oper- 
ations against Charleston. Admiral 
Dahlgren commanded the naval forces, 
and General Gillmore the land troops. In 
February, 1864, he commanded a success- 
ful expedition which ascended the St. 
John's River and aided in placing a mili- 
tary force in Florida. From iS66-'68 
Admiral Dahlgren commanded the 
South Pacific squadron, and in 1869 he 
commanded the Washington navy yard. 
The latter position he held until his death. 
He made several improvements and in- 
ventions in naval guns, and was loved by 
all those under his command. His death 
was a great loss to the navy. 



1870. July 15. The actual transfer of 
the whole Hudson Bay territory took 
place. This included Manitoba. The 
transfer had been delayed on account of 
troubles in the latter territory. 

1870. July 17. George Ashmun, a 
leading American politician, died in 
Springfield, Mass. He was born in 
Blandford, Mass., December, 1S04. He 



699 

graduated at Yale College in 1823. He 
attained to great eminence in his profes- 
sion, the law. He was in the Massachu- 
setts legislature from 18^^,- 
'39, and in the national con- uon of Eugiish 
gress from 1 84 c; to ' ^ I . He '°""'"^''' ^" '■^' 

_ ' ~^ •-' vise aulhorized 

was chairman of the repub- rersion of the 
lican convention at Chicago ^^^^"' 
in i860. He was a friend and defender 
of Daniel Webster. He was also a warm 
supporter of President Lincoln. He was 
noted for his ability and wonderful per- 
sonal magnetism. He is said to have per- 
suaded Stephen A. Douglas to supjDort 
Lincoln's administration. 

1870. July 29. Benjamin Nathan, 
a wealthy New York citizen, was mur- 
dered in his own chamber, a crime which 
caused the greatest excitement because of 
the mysterious circumstances of the deed. 
The utmost silence prevailed all night, 
and in spite of the fact that the windows 
of his room were open, no sound was 
heai-d by watchmen near by. The mem- 
bers of his household, some of whom slept 
in the next room, were not awakened. 
But a terrible wrestle had apparently 
taken place. The room was stained freely 
with blood indifferent parts, and the head 
and face of the victim revealed nine fear- 
ful wounds. Heavy rewards were of- 
fered ; $30,000 b}^ tlie mayor of New 
York, for the arrest and conviction of the 
criminals. One thousand dollars were 
offered for the recovery of each of the 
diamond studs from the bosom of Mr. 
Nathan's shirt. Other rewards were 
offered for watches, etc., and one of $ i ,000 
for the identification of the iron strap 
found in the vestibule of the house. The 
stock exchange, of which Mr. Nathan 
was a member, offered $10,000 for the 
criminals. The affair was one of great 
secrecy. 



700 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



1870. July. Lopez Jordan, as the 

leader of the rebelhon of Entre Rios 
against the general government of Argen- 
tine Confederation, at the head of 2,500 
men, captured Encamacion, a flourish- 
ing port in the province of Entre Rios. 
The city was given up to the soldiers for 
plunder and outrage. Two hundred 
prisoners were reported to have been put 
to death by Gen. Jordan, who was assisted 
by Gen. Caccres, of the province of Cor- 
rientes. On the following month the 
rebellion began to assume more alarm- 
ing proportions. 

1870. July. The Southern states 
had all been now virtually readmitted to 
the Union by congress. 

1870. July. Gen. Dulce, leader of 
the Spanish troops in Cuba, was expelled 
by the volunteers, and Gen. de Rodas 
was put in command. The war was full 
1870. July- of cruel features, and the 

Poj^^.i^,nm. United States tried to in- 

zty voted ov Vat- 

ican Council. ducc Spain to closc the ef- 
fort she was making, but all to no pur- 
pose. Contests had taken place during 
the year, with varying results. The 
Spanish were becoming more and more 
merciless to all whom they captured. 
De Rodas served only till the close of the 
year, when Gen. Valmaseda assumed 
command. 

1870. July. At a trial of steamboat 
speed on the Mississippi River, the R. 
E. Lee went from New Orleans to St. 
Louis in 3 davs, iS hours, and 14 minutes. 

1870. July. Augustin Morales, the 
bitter enemy of Mclgarejo, again incited 
a rebellion in Bolivia, but was soon sup- 
pressed in his attempts. During this 
month the discovery of the rich silver 
mines in the Sierra del Limon Verde 
produced great excitement through the 
republic. 



7IDMIR7IL FARRAGUT. 
1870. Aug. 14. David G. FaiTagut 
died at Portsmouth, N. H., aged sixty- 
nine years. He was born near Knox- 
ville, Tenn,, July 5, iSoi. His father 
was a Revolutionary soldier, and the 
young David was entered in the United 
States navy, on board the illustrious Essex 
as a midshipman, at the age of eleven 
years. This was the beginning of a 
brilliant naval career. During the war 
of 1S12 he continued on board the Essex, 
until she surrendered to the Phoebe and 
Cherub. He had taken an honorable 
part in the actions in which the Essex 
had been engaged. In 1S23 he was 
with Commodore Porter, who had com- 
manded the Essex in his descent upon 
the pirates of Cuba, when he annihilated 
their station in a hot contest twelve hours 
long. Through the grades of rank one 
after the other, Farragut passed, until he 
had had a naval experience of nearly 
half a centurv, at the breaking out of the 
Civil War. This was a time for the ex- 
hibition of his patriotism and skill. When 
Virginia seceded he hastily left Norfolk 
with his family, and whatever they could 
carry, and located in New York, on the 
Hudson. In 1S62 his first service took 
place at New Orleans, where his deed 
excited the astonishment of all who knew 
the fortifications. Some old officers, 
upon hearing it had been j,„o. Rome an- 
done, declared that it could '";''^'^ ^" Italian 

kini^dom. Pope 

not be done, and that the re- excommimicaied 
port was a hoax. He those wiio did it. 
served on the Mississippi and the coast 
of Texas with great assistance to the 
Union troops. His next deed of surpassing 
brilliance was in Mobile Bay, where he 
passed the forts and defeated a strong con- 
federate fleet of iron clads. As a token 
of esteem for this great achievement, the 



1869-1876.] 

office of vice-admiral was created by con- 
gress, and Farragut, who had been first 
rear-admiral of the navy, was appointed to 
it. His services were so important that 
congress, in iS66, created the office of ad- 
miral, and placed him in it. After the 
war he was in charge of the European 
squadron, and was everywhere shown 
great honor. He stands on the highest 
round of naval reputation in America. 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



701 



1870. Aug. 22. A proclamation of 
neutrality in the Franco-German war 
was issued by President Grant, and at a 
later day other steps were taken to pre- 
vent American waters from being used 
for war purposes. 

1870. Sept. 7. The French Repub- 
lic was recognized by Mr. E. B. Wash- 
burne, minister of the United States to 
France. 

1870. September. Insurrection in 
Peru. During the most prosperous and 
satisfactory government of Colonel Balta, 
in Peru, an insurrection of imported 
Chinese laborers broke out. The most 
18121870. shocking outrages wereper- 

Charies Dickens, petratcd by the Chinese be- 
fore they could be checked by an armed 
force. Men, women and children were 
subjected to their tortures. The revolt 
resulted in the killing of forty whites, and 
three hundred Chinese. 

1870. September. In the Argen- 
tine Republic the government forces 
had an engagement in Entre Rios with 
the whole rebel force under Lopez Jor- 
dan, resulting in a victory for Jor- 
iHio. Sept. 1-2. dan. The losses of the 

Battle of Sedan. _ „. r 

Natoieoniii government forces were 
taken. hcavy ; 1,500 men were 

killed and wounded on both sides. The 
official report stated that on the 23d the 
government troops, under General Rivas, 



fought a long and bloody battle with 
nearly 9,000 rebels at Santa Rosa. The 
result was the overwhelming defeat of 
Jordan, who escaped with only six hun- 
di-ed out of his entire army, all else being 
lost. 

GEK. ROBERT E. LEE. 

1870. Oct. 12. Robert Edward Lee, 
commander-in-chief of the confederate 
armies m the war of the rebellion^ 
died at Lexmgton, Va. He was born 
at Stafford, Westmoreland county, Vir- 
ginia, Jan. 19, 1S07. He was the 
son of Col. Henry Lee, known as 
" Lighthorse Harry," of Revolutionary 
fame. In 1S25 he entered West Point, 
and in 1829 he graduated second in his 
class of forty-six members. On grad- 
uating he was appointed lieutenant in the 
corps of engineers. At a later date. Cap- 
tain Lee was selected as chief engineer in 
Gen. Scott's army in Mexico. Owing 
to brave conduct he came out of the war 
a brevet-colonel. From 1S52 to 1855 he 
was supevintendent of West Point Mili- 
tary Academy. Li October, 1859, he 
commanded the forces that were sent to 
suppress John Brown at Harper's Ferry. 
When Virginia seceded from the Union 
on April 17, 1 86 1, he i-esigned his com- 
mission in the regular army. 1^0. Isabella, 
In a letter to Gen. Scott, he 
said : " Save in defence of 
my native state, I never 
again desire to draw my sword." In 
writing to his sister the same day, he 
said: "With all my devotion to the 
Union, and the feeling of loyalty and 
duty of an American citizen, I have not 
been able to make up my mind to raise 
my hand against my relatives, my chil- 
dren, and my home." There can be no 
doubt that Lee was entirely sincere in 
taking this step. It is equally true that 



^neen of Spain 
abdicated in fa- 
vor of her son 
Alfonso. 



702 



he was devoted to the Union ; hnt the 
dictates of his heart and the noble in- 
stincts of his soul forbade him to fight in 
a cai-ise, whether right or wrong, which 
he knew would ultimately bring death 
and desolation to the homes and friends 
of the Southern people. For the sake 
of his fellow men he was willing to bear 
reproach, and lay aside the feeling of 
loyalty. It is evident that 
even to the last 
moment, that con- 
flict might be 
avoided. Virginia 
had not yet united 
with the confed- 
eracy, although 
having with- 
drawn from the 
Union. Lee was 
appointed major- 
general of the 
forces of the state. 
The state joined 
the confederacy in 
May, and the con- 
federate capital 
was removed to 
Richmond. Five 
major - generals 
were created by 
the Southern con- 
gress, in the following order: I. Cooper, 
A. S.Johnston, R. E. Lee, J. E.Johnston, 
and G. T. Beauregard. On June 3, 1862, 
the confederate army of Northern Vir- 
ginia was placed under the command of 
Gen. Lee. He soon had an army equal in 
numbers to the forces of Gen. McClellan. 
Lee virtually raised the siege of Rich- 
mond after the battle of Malvern's Hill. 
Aug. 30 Pope was defeated at the second 
battle of Bull Run, and soon after Lee in- 
vaded Maryland. After the battle of An. 



PRESENT DE \ ^EL OPMENT. 

tietam, Sept. 16 and i 




GEN. R013ERT E. LEE 



he recrossed the 
Potomac into Virginia. Dec. 13, Lee 
defeated Burnside at Rappahannock, and 
May 3-4 worsted Hooker at Chancellors- 
ville. Then came the attempted inva- 
sion of Pennsylvania. July 1-3 came 
the " inevitable but accidental " encounter 
which took place at Gettys- ^sio-ms. 

burg. In the three days' Prince Amadeus 

conflict Lee lost 36,000, ^^'"^ "f^P""'- 
and Gen. Meade, 
the Union com- 
mander, 23,000 
men. Lee fell 
back to the Rapi- 
dan. During the 
autumn and win- 
ter both armies 
remained in Vir- 
ginia. In the 
spring Gen. Grant 
having assumed 
the command of 
the federal armies, 
came to Virginia 
to conduct the 
operations against 
Lee, and to move 
"on to Rich- 
mond." Grant 
had about 140,000 
soldiers, and Lee 
60,000. Grant had taken the position 
that the confederacy must be destroyed 
by destroying its armies. From this 
tiine till Appomattox his plans and 
operations w^ere directed against Gen. 
Lee, who outgeneraled him until, over- 
come by starvation and a vastly su- 
perior foi'ce, he surrendered. After the 
war Lee lived for a time in seclusion 
and in comparative poverty, having 
lost his fortune in the struggle. In 
1S65 he became president of Washing- 



1869-1876.] 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



703 



1870-1872. 
Fratico-Prus- 
sian 7var. 
French empire 
overthroTjii. 
Paris ruled by 
the Commune. 



ton College, Lexington, Va. He died 
from the effects of a stroke of paralysis. 
Gen. Lee was a man of great nobility of 
character, and superior intellectual pow- 
ers. As a soldier he was brave, and pos- 
sessed great ability. He is rivaled only 
by his conqueror in generalship. It is 
claimed that he was at one 
time offered the command 
of the Union armies, but 
this claim is not at all sub- 
stantiated. His death was 
a great loss to the South and Union, as 
it is evident that his policy from the first 
would have been in favor of reconstruc- 
tion and order in the South. 

1870. Oct. 19. A great earthquake 
occurred in the northern and eastern jDor- 
tions of the United States. Although in- 
comparable with some of the earth- 
quakes of the South American States, it 
was the greatest ever known to have oc- 
isno. Reichstasr curred in that part of the 
continent. The shock was 
greatest in the larger cities. 
It was felt in Canada, in 
the New England and the 
Middle States, and as far west as Michi- 
gan and Chicago. There were two 
shocks, each lasting a few seconds. The 
interval between the two was brief. It 
occurred in the forenoon. The observed 
time varied at different places from 1 1 :45 
to 1 1 :oo. This earthquake was regarded 
as quite a phenomenon, and became the 
subject of much scientific investigation. 

1870. Oct. 19. The Cambria, of 
New York, was lost on the Irish coast, 
with 170 lives. 

1870. October. Orelie, a pretended 
emperor of Chili, attempted to place a 
small army in the field, but as soon as the 
government began to take action in the 



at Berlin voted 
to have a Ger- 
man empire. 
King William of 
Prussia made 
emperor. 



matter, he had disappeared, and his fol- 
lowers were then desirous of making 
peace. 

1870. Nov. 4. At a trial of brick- 
laying in PhiladeljDhia, W. D. Cozzens 
laid 703 bricks in 13 minutes. 

1870. Dec. 13. At a trial of strength 
in New York, R. A. Pennell put up a 
ten pound dumb bell 8,431 times in 4 
hours, 34 minutes. 

1870. Dec. 24. Rev. Albert Barnes, 
D. D,, an American author and clergy- 
man, died in Philadelphia, Pa. He was 
born in Rome, N. Y., Dec. i, 1798. He 
graduated at Hamilton College in 1S30. 
He was the author of several religious 
books; was an able and eloquent min- 
ister of the gospel. Over a million vol- 
umes of his " Notes on the New Testa- 
ment" were sold at home and abroad. 
At the division of the Presbyterian 
church into "New School" and the 
" Old School," he was one of the active 
" New School " leaders. 

1870. The great East River bridge 
between New York and Brooklyn was 
begun, and is not yet finished. Its span 
across the water reaches 1,595 feet, and it 
hangs 135 feet above the river surface. 
It is swallowing up millions of money. 

1870. The first narrow gauge rail- 
way, the " Denver & Rio G'-ande," was 
constructed between Denver and Colo- 
rado city. 

1870. The American steamship 
company of Philadelphia was formed. 
Four iron steamers were put upon the 
ocean, and composed the only European 
line carrying the American flag. 

1870. The ninth census of the United 
States was taken, and gave a population 
of 38,558,371. It was taken at a cost of 
$3,336,511.41. The increase since i860 
had been 33.65 P^^' cent., or about ten per 



ro4 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT 



cent, less than in any other decade, owing 
to the Civil War. 

1870. The first census was taken in 
Colombia, South America. 

1870. The National Association of 
American Colleges for Rowing was 
organized, and arrangements made for 
contests, which are held annually on the 
commencement reunion at Saratoga. 

1870. The congress of Colombia, 

S. A., approved a new treaty with the 

United States, for an inter-oceanic canal 

across the Isthmus of Darien. There is 

a clause in the treaty to the 

1810. Dec. 25. _ -' 

Moiii Cents itin- effect that Colombia cannot 

nel computed. ^^^^^ eXclusivC right tO the 

United States, or any other power, to 
send armed vessels through the canal in 
time of war. The president of the 
United States ordered a thorough exam- 
ination of the Isthmus, and a survey of a 

route. 

IRTH.MVS EXPLORATION. 

1870. The United States undertook 
two quite extensive surveys for inter- 
oceanic communication, one of them 
across the Isthmus of Darien, the other 
across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The 
report upon the latter route was that a 
canal could be cut without much diffi- 
culty. A route was found across the 
Isthmus of Darien which was judged 
favorably by the other party. 



1870. The Swedish Arctic expedi- 
tion collected a number of aerolites on 
the coast of Greenland, and carried them 
to Stockholm. The following year 
another collection was made. ' The 
largest aei"olite weighed twenty-five tons; 
the next largest, ten tons. These were the 
same that Captain Ross learned of from 
the Esquimaux in i8i8. Some as large 
have been found in Mexico and Brazil. 



1871. Jan. 10. The great miners" 
strike began in the coal mines of Penn- 
sylvania. The reduction of wages by the 
operators was the cause. 

1871. Jan. 11. The San Domingo 
commission bill was passed by congress. 
According to the resolution of congress,, 
President Grant appointed three commis- 
sioners, B. F. Wade of Ohio, A. D. 
White of New York, and S. G. Howe of 
Massachusetts, to visit San Domingo, 
and report upon the condition of aflliirs 
in the island. The report made to con- 
gress, in April, 1S71, was highly flavor- 
able to annexation, but it did not meet 
with any success, and the whole matter 
lapsetl. 

1871. Jan, 12. Italian unity was 
the subject of a great meet- ,^,^ ^ 

•' '^ lull. January. 

ing held in New York to Paris bom- 
express sympathy with the 
efforts of Italian patriots, and to record the 
joy at the progress made in the direction 
of unifying that land. 

GEORGE TICK.yOR. 

1871. Jan. 26. George Ticknor, 
LL. D., one of the greatest scholars of 
America, died in Boston. He was born 
in that city on August i, 1791, and grad- 
uated from Dartmouth College in 1S07. 
He made a special study of the classics 
for a number of years. In 1S13 he was 
admitted to the bar, but never practiced. 
From 1S15 to 1S20 he visited Europe. 
On his return he became professor of 
French and Spanish in Harvard College, 
which position he resigned in 1835, to 
again go abroad. From this time until 
1849 he was engaged on a "History of 
Spanish Literature." This became the 
standard authority on the subject on 
which it treats, and was translated into 
the Spanish and German languages. 



1869-1870.] 

The citizens of Boston are greatly in- 
debted to him for the success of their 
public library. He contributed a biog- 
raphy of Lafayette to the North Ameri- 
can Review, and was also the author of 
a number of other papers. He was the 
personal friend of Prescott, the historian, 
and while in Eui'ope made the acquaint- 
ance of many distinguished men. He 
was a friend of Goethe, Scott, Madame 
De Stael, Byron, Southey and others. 
America owes to him a debt of gratitude 
for his service in the field of literature. 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



705 



1871. January. A rebellion broke 
out in the state of Boyaca, in Colombia, 
S. A., against the administration of Presi- 
dent Perez. The insurgents prepared to 
invade Funja, the capital, and were de- 
feated after a few minor engagements, at 
Saruca, in February. One hundred men 
of the rebel forces were killed and 
wounded. 

1871. Feb. 1. The government of 
Honduras declared war against Presi- 
dent Duenas, of San Salvador. Several 
leading oflicers of San Salvador deserted 
their president, and joined the forces of 
the Honduras government. President 
Duenas was also obliged to contend 
against revolution at home. Minor con- 
flicts took place occasionally until April 
7th, when a decisive battle began at San- 
tana, and lasted three days. The troops 
of San Salvador were overwhelmed, and 
anarchy reigned supreme in the republic. 
The citizens formed a tem- 
porary government, which 
within a few days, having 
restored something like or- 
der, gave way to a new government, 
with Gonzalez at its head as provisional 
president. The new administi'ation was 
enthusiastically received by the people. 



1811. Feb. 26. 
Treaty of peace 
arraiinred be- 
tween France 
mid Germany. 



Amnesty 
declared in 
A iistriafor polit- 
ical offenders. 



Full liberty of the press was declared at 
this time by the new power. 

1871. Feb. 6. A collision occurred 
near Hamburg, N. Y., on the Hudson 
River railroad, in which ^^7^ p^j, g 
twenty-one persons were 
killed, and a large number 
wounded. A freight train 
had been partially thrown from the track, 
and was run into by an express train. 

1871. Feb. 9. A United States fish 
commission w\as created by congress. 
Professor Spencer F. Baird was ap- 
pointed commissioner. The object was 
the study of the food fishes of the coast, 
the promotion of fish culture, and the 
stocking of exhausted waters. Many 
valuable researches have been made 
since this date. Alillions of shad, salmon, 
and white fish have been hatched and 
placed in lakes and rivers. 

.-illCi: C^RY. 

1871. Feb. 12. Alice Gary, widely 
known as a writer of poems and sketches, 
died in New York at the age of fifty 
years. Her bhthplace was near Cincin- 
nati, Ohio, where she was born April 
26, 1820. She did not receive much 
education in her youth, and began writ- 
ing poetry when eighteen years old. 
From 1850 she and her gifted sister, 
Phoebe, lived in New York city, and 
constantly entertained at their delightful 
home the literary people of the time. 
The little gatherings in their pleasant 
rooms were a source of great pleasure to 
a large circle. There is nothing artificial 
about the productions of Miss Gary, but 
they are always sweet and tender, and 
real. She was a great sufferer for a long 
time at the last, but was full of resigna- 
tion and cheer. Her published works 
number about thirteen volumes. 



706 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



1871. Feb. 16. A Japanese em- 
bassy arrived in San Francisco. One of 
the mission, Mr. Mori, was to represent 
his country at Washington as charge 
<r afaires. He was the first minister 
sent by the Japanese government to re- 
side in a foreign land. 

TREATY OF ir^MIXGTOK. 

1871. Feb. 27. A joint high com- 
mission, composed of five British and 
five American statesmen, assembled at 
Washington for the purpose of settling 
the Alabama difliculty, and other ques- 
tions. During the Civil War the Eng- 
lish government, in plain violation of in- 
ternational law, had permitted cruisers to 
assist the confederacy in naval operations. 
Much damage was done by these British 
cruisers, but more by the Alabama than 
any other vessel. The result of the dis- 
cussions of the committee, which came to 
an end May Sth, was the Treaty of 
Washington, by which the claims of the 
two nations against each other should be 
submitted to four boards of arbitration. 
The Alabama claims were to be sub- 
mitted to a tribunal to sit at Geneva, 
Switzerland ; the general claims of other 
kinds to a tribunal to sit at Washington, 
D. C; the San Juan boundary question 
to the decision of the German emperor, 
and the coast fishery question to a tri- 
bunal to sit at Halifax. 



1871. February. A slave insurrec- 
tion was quelled in the province of 
Minas Geraes, Brazil. 

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 

1871. March 3. An act of congress 
was passed, in accordance with which a 
board of seven commissioners was ap- 
pointed by President Grant to investi- 



gate the question of making reforms in 
the manner of government appointments, 
and of establishing a set of rules to deter- 
mine qualifications of applicants. George 
William Curtis of New York, was made 
chairman. This agitation had extended 
widely among the people, and a large 
number of voters were ready to be 
swayed one way or the other, according 
as this object could or could not be at- 
tained. 

1871. March 6. A terrible scene 
took place in the court house at Meridian, 
Miss. The presiding judge, Brambette, 
and several negroes were killed. 

Sm^fLEY yLXD LIVIjYGSTOXE. 

1871. March 21. Henry M. Stan- 
ley, the traveler, set out from Zanzibar on 
his first trip into the interior of Africa, to 
make a determined search for Dr. Living- 
stone, as he had been commissioned by 
James Gordon Bennett, pro- ^^^^ March i. 

prietor of the New York Paris entered by 

Herald. One hundred and ei mati troops. 
ninety-two followers accompanied him. 
The trip was successful, though many long 
doubted it. Dr. Livingstone was found 
on Nov. lo, at Ujiji, on Lake Tangan- 
yika. vStanlcy returned the next season, 
and gave his information to the world. 
Honors were conferred upon him by 
many. Stanley was born near Denbigh, 
Wales, in 1840. He drifted round the 
world from an eaidy age. John Row- 
lands was his true name. The present 
name he took from a merchant who em- 
ployed and adopted him in New Orleans. 
He traveled extensively before liis 
African trips. 

1871. March 31. British Columbia 

was i-eceived into the Dominion of Can- 



1869-1876.] 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



707 



1871 
Cmnmune at 
Paris. 



ada. The former, before giving consent to 
, ,„ this union, made an express 

March 18. ' ^ 

Stipulation that the latter 
should build a railroad 
from the Province of Ontario to the Pa- 
cific coast, to be finished in i88i. It was 
hoped that this w^ould become a favorite 
line for Chinese and Japanese traxle. 

1871. March. The yellow fever 
raged terribly near the city of Buenos 
Ayres, and carried off 26,000 people in 
100 days. Business was everywhere 
prostrated, and hundreds of people fled 
for their lives. 

1871. April 11. A treaty of indefi- 
nite truce between Chili and Peru on the 
one hand, and Spain on the other, was 
signed at Washington, D. C. 

KU-KLUX BILL. 

1871. April 20. Congress passed a 
bill for the enforcement of the XlVth 
amendment, which came to be called the 
Ku-Klux bill, because it provided for the 
bringing of offenders against the recon- 
struction efforts before the U. S. courts. 



1871. April 30. The massacre of 

one hundred Apache Indians who were 
United States captives, was committed at 
Camp Grant, Arizona, by enraged set- 
tlers, both Mexican and American, who 
had suffered from them. 

1871. May i. The "legal tender" 
act of the United States was declared 
constitutional by the supreme court, 

1871. May 19. A terrible explosion 
of a load of nitro-glycerine took place 
near Titusville, Penn. The explosive 
was loaded in cans. Everything in the 
vicinity was shattered, and a large exca- 
vation, twelve feet wide and five feet 
deep, was made in the road beneath the 
carriage. 



1871. May 27. A mine disaster oc- 
curred at West Pittston, Pa., in which 
about twenty men perished 300 feet be- 
low the surface of the ground. 

1871. May. A revolution in Guate- 
mala, under Granados, overthrew Presi- 
dent Cerna, and elevated the former to 
the presidency. A counter revolution in 
behalf of the deposed president, led to the 
banishment of the archbishop of Guate- 
mala, and the Jesuits who were con- 
cerned in kindling it. 

1871. May. The revolution in the 
United States of Colombia was brought 
to a close in an engagement at Tilpa, 
where the insurgents were completely 
routed, and many of them slaughtered by 
1,000 government troops. The insur- 
gents numbered eight hundred. 

1871. May. An attempted revolu- 
tion in Peru was checked. 

1871. June 11. Several Corean 
fortifications on the river Ham, were 
bombarded and captured by a United 
States squadi-on under Admiral Rodgers, 
because a short time before the squadron 
had been fired upon by Corean batteries 
while it was engaged in making certain 
surveys of the river in the interests of 
commerce. Prisoners were taken by 
Admiral Rodgers, but were freed very 
soon. 

1871. June 17. Clement L. Val- 
landigham, the Ohio democrat, chiefly 
known for the bold stand he took in op- 
position to the Union cause in the war, 
and his subsequent arrest and exile in 
Canada, died. He had been a lawyer, 
and an editor, and at times held jDolitical 
office. The last years of his life were 
spent in Ohio, and he became known 
finally for supporting the idea that the 
democratic party should take a " new 
departure." 



708 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



1871. June 18. A severe earth- 
quake shock was felt on Long Island 
and Staten Island, N. Y. 

1871. June 29. The Polaris, nnder 
Charles Francis Hall, and fitted out by 
an appropriation from congress, sailed 
from New Vork to make an attempt to 
reach the open polar sea. This was the 
last voyage of the lamented leader, who 
died in Greenland. 

1871. June. The first woman ad- 
mitted to the American Institute of 
Homeopathy in Philadelphia was Dr. 
Mercy B, Jackson of Boston. 

1871. July 5. A severe earthquake 
shock was felt at Visalia, Cal, 

1871. July 9. A terrible storm did 
great damage at Dayton, Ohio, and de- 
stroyed many lives. 

1871. July 12. A great riot oc- 
curred in New York between the Orange- 
men and the Irish Catholics. The 
Catholics were determined to prevent 
the Orangemen from parading on the 
1 3th, in celebration of the battle of the 
Boyne. The Orangemen in their pa- 
rade were lawlessly attacked. The re- 
sult, as reported at the time, was sixty- 
seven persons killed, and one hundred 
and thirtv-seven wounded, 

1871. July 18. A great fire in 
Gaudeloupe, W. I., left nearly 30,000 
persons homeless. 

1871. July 30. The steamer West- 
field exploded, and nearly 100 persons 

were killed. 

PHOEBE mRY. 

1871. July 31. Phoebe Cary, younger 
sister of Alice Cary, died in Newport, 
R. I., at the age of forty-seven years. 
She was born Sept. 4, 1S34, and de- 
veloped considerable talent during her 
life. Her experience was very much like 
that of her sister, and in their New York 



home they came to be very near to one 
another. In the last sickness of Alice, 
Phoebe was her " ministering angel." 
The latter published four or five volumes, 
and is best known by the tender hymn, 
" Nearer Home," which she wrote in 1S42. 



1871. Sept. 13. Whaling Disaster. 

The Arctic whaling fleet, consisting of 
3S vessels, nearly all of which were from 
New Bedford, Mass., became packed in 
the ice, and thirty-one were either crushed 
or abandoned. The fleet passed Behring's 
Strait in June, engaged in whale fishing 
for a month, and then worked its way 
north as far as Wainwright Inlet, Alaska. 
Here, after whaling for a time, the ice 
began to gather around them, and be- 
cause the fleet had provisions for three or 
four months only, it was decided to escape 
by row boats to some of the vessels still in 
open water. This was safely done, and 
the seven vessels sailed for the Sandwich 
Islands. The lost ships had on board 
14,355 barrels of oil. 

1871. Aug. 2. The first narrow 
gauge cars ever built or used in America, 
arrived at Denver, Col., to be placed upon 
the Denver and Colorado railroad. The 
cars were each 35 feet long, 7 feet wide, 
10^ feet high, and carry 36 passengers. 
The sills of the car were 27 inches from 
the ground, instead of 45 inches, as in an 
ordinary car. 

1871. Aug. 20. A destructive fire 
raged at Williamsport, Penn., and de- 
stroyed property to the amount of $3,- 
000,000. 

1871. Aug. 26. A terrible railroad 
accident occurred near Boston, Mass., at 
Revere Station, in which thirty-three 
lives were lost, and many persons were 
injured. A crowded local train was run 
into at its rear by an express train. 



1869-1876.] 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO- DAT. 



709 



1871. August. In Peru a fruitless 
attempt was made to overthrow the gov- 
ernment of President Balta. The con- 
spirators were arrested. 

1871. September. Slavery was abol- 
iH~i. Sept. 1. ished in Brazil in the case 
Thiers became of n^\\ slaves owned by the 

Presidejit of 

France for government, by an act de- 

iitreeyears. daring them free at once. 

It also declared all colored children born 
thereafter, to be free, 

1871. Oct. 1. A military revolt 
occurred in the City of Mexico, and was 
only suppi'essed after much bloodshed. 

GREAT FIRES. 

1871. Oct. 8. One of the most appal- 
ling calamities that our history records, 
befell the people of Northeastern Wis- 
consin on and before this date. A con- 
flagration, the occurrence of which was 
itself almost a phenomenon, destroyed 
forests, homes, farms, villages, and over 
one thousand lives; it made three thou- 
sand people destitute. The surviving 
spectators declare the fire to have been 
accomjDanied by a violent hurricane. It 
extended over a district ten miles wide, 
and of indefinite length. At Peshtigo, 
one of the towns swept out of existence, 
and vicinity, six hundred lives were lost. 
The people were suddenly aroused on 
going from church by a loud roar, like 
the coming -of a storm. In a few mo- 
ments the heavens were lit up by the 
light of the approaching fire, and almost 
before the people were aware of its ap- 
proach, the tornado of fire enveloped 
them. Unlike the city of Chicago, enter- 
prise could not rebuild forests and crops; 
consequently the devastation was terrible. 
The actual loss would probably be placed 
at about $4,000,000. 

1871. Oct. 8-9. The Chicago fire, 



the greatest conflagration since the burn- 
ing of Moscow in 1812, occurred. The 
fire broke out in an out-of-the-way por- 
tion of the city, on De Koven street, and 
originated from the explosion of a lamp 
kicked over by an angry cow — probably 
the most noted cow in the world's his- 
tory. The flames, fanned by the wind, 
spread over the city, and thousands of 
homes and industries were changed into 
blackened and desolate ruins. The num- 
ber of buildings destroyed was 17,450, 
covering about 2,124 ^cres, a tract of 
land nearly four miles long, and one mile 
wide. One thousand six hundred stores, 
28 hotels, 60 churches, and 1,500 dwell- 
ings, were burned. The loss was almost 
$175,000,000. The insurance was $98,- 
000,000, and was distributed among two 
hundred insurance companies, sixty-four 
of whom failed in consequence of their 
losses. Ninety-eight thousand were made 
homeless, and 250 lives were lost. Fifty 
thousand of the homeless inhabitants left 
the city in a short time. Great contri- 
butions were sent in from all over the 
country, and some from across the ocean. 
At this date hardly a trace of the fire re- 
mains. Chicago was rebuilt on a much 
grander scale, and now her jDopulation 
has doubled itself. 



1871. Oct. 12. President Grant is- 
sued a proclamation commanding the Ku- 
Klux bands to disperse in South Car- 
olina. 

GEK. ROBERT ±¥I)ER80K 

1871. Oct, 26. Major-general Rob- 
ert Anderson, known for his connection 
with Fort Sumter, died at Nice, France, 
aged sixty-six years. He was born at 
" Soldier's Retreat," near Louisville, Ky,, 
June 15, 1805, At twenty years of age 
he graduated from West Point, and was 



710 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



steadily connected with the army. His 
services were always valuable. He went 
through the "Black Hawk" war, the 
Florida war, and the Mexican war. He 
was quite badly wounded at the battle of 
Molino del Rey, in the latter. At one 
time he instructed at West Point. Fail- 
ing health prevented him from serving- 
through the Civil War, and he withdrew 
with a brevet as major-general. He was 
in Europe from 1868 till his death. A 
manual of his preparation, from the 
French, has been of constant use in the 
war department. 

THOMAS EWim. 

1871. Oct. 26. Thomas Ewing, an 
American statesman of a former genera- 
tion, died at Lancaster, Ohio, aged 
eighty-one years. He was born in Ohio 
county, Va., December 38, 17S9. His 
early days were like the days of manv 
American public men, days of hard work 
and small means. He earned money 
enough to enable him to go through col- 
lege, by working in the Kanawha salt 
works. He was admitted to the bar 
in 1S16, and rapidly took rank with the 
leaders of those days. He rose in his 
practice, to the United States supreme 
court. He was in the United States sen- 
ate from 183 1 -1837, and was promi- 
nent in all matters. He was instrumental 
in putting the postoffice dej^artment on 
a reorganized basis. Under Harrison and 
Tyler he was secretary of the treasury. 
He resigned at the exodus from Tyler's 
cabinet. The department of the interior 
w^as organized by him, and he became 
its first secretary, under President Taylor. 
He afterward served again as secretary 
of the treasury, and also in the senate. 
He was an able, vigorous man and 
thinker, and a whig in politics. 



TAMM±YY RIXG BROKEX UP. 
1871. Oct. 28. The first official 
action was taken against the fraudulent 
" Ring " in New York, which had at its 
head Wm. M. Tweed. Tweed was ar- 
rested, most of his accomplices having 
fled, and gave bail for $ i ,000,000. By 
a process of fraud, which had been go- 
ing on for a number of years, millions of 
dollars were stolen from the public treas- 
iny of the city. The wrath of the citi- 
zens now began to make itself felt. 



1871. October. Benito Juarez, in 

this month, was reelected president of 
Mexico. He selected an able cabinet to 
assist him in administering the affairs of 
the government, which, under his ad- 
ministration, were ably and efficiently 
managed. 

1871. Nov. 5. The sinking of the 
floor of the African Baptist church at 
Louisville, Ky., caused a serious loss of 
life. In the struggle to escape from the 
building, eleven persons were killed, and 
many seriously injured. 

CHARLES FRAXriS HALL. 

1871. Nov. 8. Charles F. Hall, the 
Arctic exjilorer, who had set out with 
such high hopes in the Polaris, died sud- 
denly in Greenland, aged fifty years. 
The first of his life was spent in black- 
smithing, and a later period in journal- 
ism. In some way he became interested 
in the efforts to find Sir John Franklin, 
and by his first experiences in the Arctic 
regions, became very fully acquainted 
with northern life. It was supposed by 
some that he was poisoned, but it is 
fudged by the best authorities that he 
died of apoplectic troubles. His death 
was a great loss to Arctic reseai'ches, to 
which he had contributed largely. 



1869-1876.] 

1871. Nov. 13. A severe storm 

raged in the Central and Southern states. 
The tide reached a higher point tlian at 
any time since 1S51, and during the 
storm many birds which were native to 
the Arctic regions were picked up on the 
coast. 

1871. Nov. 16. A raining disaster 
occurred by the falling of the roof of the 
mine under Hyde Park, a part of Scran- 
ton, Penn. The props had given way, 
and an area of twenty acres, thickly cov- 
ered with buildings, fell three feet. The 
damage amounted to $50,000. 

GR^VD DUKE ALEXIS. 

1871. Nov. 18. The Russian fleet ar- 
rived in New York with the Grand Duke 
Alexis. On the 20th a reception was 
given to the Grand Duke in New York, 
and on the 23d he visited the president 
and the capitol at Washington. His tour 
was one of great pleasure to all parties, 
leaving pleasant impressions. 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



711 



1871. Nov. 22. A steamer was 
burned, between New York and Nor- 
wich, Conn. The fire was discovered as 
the steamer w^as entering the Thames 
River, and after being once extinguished, 
burst forth a second time in such fury that 
access to life boats and preservers became 
impossible, and the passengers and crev/ 
attempted to save themselves by swim- 
ming. A portion were rescued, but 
seventeen lives were lost. The boat and 
cargo were a total loss. 

1871. Nov. 23. Melgarejo, the Bo- 
livian dictator, was killed by his son-in- 
law. His death occurred a few months 
after he had been deposed and succeeded 
by Morales, who was also killed within a 
year. This was the final result of 
the third revolution instigfated and led 



by that professional revolutionist, Morales. 
He had returned to Bolivia, i8ii. Nov. 28. 
while President Melgarejo jf"''"'' "{ . 

^ ■' C.ommuuf snot in 

was absent from the capital, Paris. 
La Paz, crushing rebellion in other parts. 
The President returned from his expedi- 
tion to find the city fortified, and in arms 
against him. The revolutionists, being 
poorly armed to contend with Melgarejo's 
well-armed force, incited 20,000 Indians 
to attack him, while Morales should set 
fire to the city. The plan was successful. 
Melgarejo was defeated, and fled into 
Peru. Morales took charge of the gov- 
ernment. The city was first plundered 
and the people outraged by the savages, 
who had been for many years held in ab- 
solute subjection. 

1871. Nov. 28. Mrs. Bridget Carroll 
of New York, died at the age of 102 years. 
She had ten children, thirty-seven grand- 
children, and four great grand-children. 
Her teeth were perfectly sound till almost 
the last years of her life, and her eye- 
sight until the last year enabled her to 
thread a fine needle without glasses. 

1871. Dec. 16. Cataeazy, Russian 
minister, was called home at the request 
of the United States government, because 
of discourtesy to the authorities. 

1871. December. In Mexico manv of 
the states were in a state of anarchy, and a 
complete prostration of business occurred 
in many places. The revolution had 
taken shape from numerous minor revo- 
lutions that had been continually arising 
during the year. The rebels now had 
almost entire control of the states of Du- 
rango, Coahuiha, Nuevo Leon, Sonora, 
Oaxaca, and several others. ^§7^, « qi^ 
The government was op- Cat/why move- 

, . me7ii ill Ger- 

posed on all sides, and it many. 
seemed for a time that the insurgents 
would reduce the whole republic to a state 



712 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



of anarchy, although the government was 
still confident of success. At this time 
the question of annexation to the United 
States was freely discussed. 

OLEOM^IRGARIXE. 

1871. The first patent for 'this sub- 
stance was granted to H. W. Bradley. 
It is manufactured by churning different 
kinds of fat with milk. Sometimes a lit- 
tle cream is added. The sale of the ar- 
ticle has been very large, because it could 
be put upon the market at a cheaper rate 
than pure butter could be. vSome of it 
can be told from genuine butter only with 
diflSculty. 

1871. Dr. Mary P. Jacobi of New 

York, was the first woman to graduate 
from the Paris Ecole de Medicin. She 
iS7i. Rome had previously been the first 

made the capital ^^.o,-,-,^^„ ^^ graduate from 

of Italy by Victor ^ 

EmamieL the College of Pharmacy, 

Xew York. The second •^\'\zc was con- 
ferred ujDon her in Paris for her gradu- 
ating thesis. 

m'0.yD:lLE MIKE DIMSTER. 

1871. The Avondale disaster in the 
Wyoming Valley, Penn., originated in 
the ignition of some overheated timbers 
in a shaft, and the consequent burning of 
many of the supports of the tunnels. 
The situation was one of great difficulty, 
and loo or more miners lost their lives. 



1871. At a yacht race in New York 
harbor the " Magic," an American sloop, 
won the " Queen's cup " over all others, 
running fortv-three miles in four hours, 
seven minutes, and fiftv-four seconds. 

1871. Professor Agassiz's deep-sea 
dredging expedition in the steamer Has- 
seler, sailed around Cape Horn. Several 



eminent scientists accompanied him. 
Worthy results were obtained from the 
trip. 

1871. The first free public schools in 
Texas were opened in Austin. 

1871. The Province of Ontario in 
Canada became very active in the build- 
ing of foctories. Canadian cheese and 
butter attained a great reputation in the 
commercial world, and the exports be- 
came large. 

1871. The Apache Indians killed 
during the year a large number of white 
settlers. The number is estimated at 
about 200. Much projDcrty was also 
destroyed. 

1871. Several riots, resulting in the 
killing of many Chinamen, occurred in 
California. 

1871. A great interest was taken in 
the promotion of general education by 
Sarmiento, the illustrious President of the 
Argentine Confederation. A large num- 
ber of schools and colleges were estab- 
lished in the different provinces. Several 
railroads and telegraph lines were also 
put into o^Deration. 

1871. At the beginning of the year 
Lopez Jordan, the rebel commander, had 
at his disposal about 15,000 troops, but in 
April he was routed by the national force, 
and the province of Entre Rios subju- 
gated and pacified. Only Santiago now 
remained under rebel rule. 

1871. The English Windward Isl- 
ands were put under the governor of 
Barbadoes. The latter is the most im- 
portant English station in the region. It 
is surrounded by coral reefs, and has a 
healthful climate, though subject to hui'- 
ricanes. 

1871. At a snow-shoe race in Mon- 
treal, Canada, J. F. Scholes went one 
mile in 5 min., 39^ sec. 



1869-1876.] 

TH£ FISKE TRAGEDY. 
1872. Jan. 7. James Fiske was shot 
by Stokes. A crime which agitated the 
whole country because of the circum- 
stances which caused it, and the peculiar 
history of the victim, took place at 
the Grand Central Hotel, New York. 
James Fiske, the great speculator and 
man of the world, had become entangled 
with Edward S. Stokes, with whom he 
had had business relations, over an actress 
named Helen Josephine Mansfield. For 
some time she had been supported by 
Fiske, but finally an intimate acquaint- 
ance grew ujD between her and Stokes, 
which Fiske greatly resented. This led 
to legal actions between the two men, 
and it was because Stokes heard that his 
rival had begun a new process against 
him, that he found and shot Fiske on the 
stairway of the Grand Central Hotel. 
Both men had wives, and the case pre- 
sents one of those terrible revelations ot 
society which lead to the greater and 
more sensitive guarding of the home bv 
all pure and upright hearts. The warn- 
ing of this crime was loud and clear. 
Stokes was tried and sentenced to be 
hung, but was afterward, upon a new 
trial, sent to Sing-Sing, whence he was 
released in 1876. 

MME8 FISKE, JR. 

1872. Jan. 7. This daring New 
York speculator, who came to such an 
end, was born in Pownal, Vt., April i, 
1835. His boyhood was passed amid 
im. Raih.ay surrouudiugs totally unlike 
openedin jnpaji. thosc of his later years, for 
his father was a poor peddler, unable to 
do anything for the boy, who received 
only a scanty common-school education. 
After having tried life as a hotel waiter, 
and later as a member of a circus com- 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



718 



pany, James, Jr. bought out his father 
and traversed the country for himself, 
with a showy, dashing team. Soon after- 
ward he became salesman in the Boston 
house of Jordan, Marsh & Companj-, 
where in time he was made a partner. 
His next appearance was in New York, 
where he opened a broker's office, having 
for capital a borrowed silver watch. 
Soon he ingratiated himself with Daniel 
Drew, who placed him in partnership 
with Belden, and used the firm in fight- 
ing Cornelius Vanderbilt for the posses- 
sion of the Erie railroad. In 1867 
Fiske was one of three candidates for the 
office of director, and a compromise re- 
sulted in the election of Fiske and Gould 
as directors of the road. From this time 
on he conceived and succeeded in carry- 
ing through, speculations in which the 
gain was reckoned by millions. Black 
Friday in September, 1869, will long be 
remembered on Wall Street, New York, 
as having been largely due to his plans 
of speculating in gold. He was also 
manager of two lines of Long Island 
Sound steamers, and colonel of the 9th 
Regiment of the New York State Guard. 



1872. Jan. 15. A proclamation in 
Cuba, issued by Valmaseda, the Spanish 
commander, declared that all Cuban in- 
surgents who should be seized after this 
date, should be shot ; and that imprison- 
ment for life would be the lot of all who 
gave themselves up. 

1872. Jan. 17. An ice-boat sailed 
from Poughkeepsie to Hamburg on the 
Hudson River, a distance of nine miles 
in eight minutes. 

1872. Jan. 18. A great storm in- 
jured the harbor and shipping of Aspin- 
wall on the Isthmus, to the extent of 
$500,000. 



714 



PRESENT DE 



1872. Feb. 17. The five states of 
Central America met in convention at 
La Union, San Salvador, to consider the 
cjnestion of forming another federation, 
hnt they were not able to come to any 
agreement. A treaty was signed, how- 
ever, and certain national purposes and 
enterprises were declared. But the de- 
sired result was never reached, 

1872. Feb. 23. A passenger train 
fell twenty-five feet by the giving away 
of a bridge near Elliston on the Cincinnati 
and Louisville railroad. Of the sixty- 
five jDassengers, nearly all were killed or 
wounded. 

1872. February. A " labor reform " 
convention was held at Columlujs, Ohio, 
and nominated Judge David Davis of 
Illinois, for president, and Joel Parker of 
New Jersey, for vice-president. Each 
nomination was declined, and a conven- 
tion held later at Philadelphia, nominated 
Charles O'Conor of New York, for j^resi- 
dent. No nomination ^vas made for vice- 
president. 

1872. March 7. The Westinghouse 
brakes saved many lives on the night 
train between Boston and New York, 
which was partially thrown from the 
track near Springfield, Mass. The por- 
tion thrown off fell to the ice in the river, 
and the wreck took fire. But the prompt 
action of the brakes had prevented any 
sleeping car from leaving the rails. 

1872. March 19. Ole Bull, the cele- 
brated violinist, narrowly esaaped from 
the Clinton House, Iowa City, as it was 
being burned. 

1872. March 26. An explosion in 
a colliery near Ashland, Penn., fatally in- 
jured ten men. 

1872. March 26. An earthquake 
destroyed several towns in Inyo county, 
in the southern part of California. About 



VELOPMENT. 

three hundred shocks were noticed within 
a few hours, and nearly one hundred and 
fiftv persons were killed or injured. This 
was the severest earthquake known in 
California since 1S12. 

1872. March 30. A destructive 
tornado in vSt. Louis overthrew a brick 
market house, and injured se\eral persons. 

1872. March 30. The English Lee- 
ward Islands were this year made a con- 
federation, and put mider a governor-in- 
chief. They have about 750 square miles, 
and I 25,000 inhabitants. 

S. F. B. MORSE. 

1872. April 2. Samuel Finley Breese 
Morse, the inventor of the electric record- 
ing telegraph, the wires of which well- 
nigh encircle the globe, died in New York, 
aged about eighty-one years. He was 
born in Charlestown, Mass., April 27, 
1 79 1, and was the eldest son of Jedediah 
Morse, the eminent geographer. His 
early tastes were artistic, and after gradu- 
ating at Yale College in iSio he went to 
Europe and studied imder Washington 
Allston and Benjamin West for four years. 
He then returned to the United States, and 
devoted himself to his profession. In Com- 
pany with other artists he founded in 1S26 
the National Academy of Design in New 
York city. While in college he had 
been much interested in scientific topics, 
and had become familiar iso5~ist2. Rev. 
with electro - magnetism. ^- ^- Maurice. 
Upon his return from Europe in iS32,on 
board the Sully, to accept the professor- 
ship of the Literature of Arts and De- 
signs in the University of New York, he 
heard a gentleman describe the recent 
French discovery of the method of ob- 
taining the electric spark from a magnet. 
He always claimed that this suggestion 
enabled him to conceive the system of re- 



1869-1876.] 

cording telegraphy. Upon reaching 
New York he began to carry out his 
conception, and as early as 1835 he ex- 
hibited some effects produced through a 
wire hung on the walls of his room. 
After many trials and some disappoint- 
ment he obtained through the aid of con- 
gress, his final success. In all of this he 
was greatly indebted to the suggestions 
of several scientific friends whose names 
are not usually associated with the tele- 
graph. Prof. Morse also took the first 
daguerreotype in America. He had re- 
ceived while on a visit to Paris some 
drawings from Daguerre, describing the 
apparatus to be used. The close of the 
life of Prof. Morse was crowded with 
honors. Almost every sovereign in the 
world conferred on him some distin- 
guished title. His last public service was 
in unveiling the statue of Benjamin 
Franklin in New York. 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



715 



1872. April 11. A boiler burst on 

board the Mississippi steamer Oceanus, 
twenty miles above Caii'o, and from 
seventy-five to one hundred persons were 
reported killed. 

1872. April 24. A fearful plunge 
was taken by three unknown men, sup- 
posed to be from Chippewa, Ontario, 
who were carried over Niagara Falls. 

1872. May 1. The " liberal repub- 
lican" convention met at Cincinnati, 
and nominated Horace Greeley of New 
York, for president, and B. Gratz Brown 
1812. Submarine of Missouri, for vicc-prcsi- 

teleffra-th to i , f-pi , • 

. \ ,. r dent. 1 he convention was 

Australia jrom 

India. composed of those repub- 

licans who at this time were so vigor- 
ously opposing the administration of Gen. 
Grant, and those democrats who were 
opposed to the tendencies and principles 
of their own party. The platform de- 



clared for civil service reform, specie pay- 
ments, the i-emoval of political disabili- 
ties at the South, and reliance upon the 
local self-government of the South, to 
complete the work of reconstruction. 

1872. May 12. The New York 
Mercantile Library was opened for the 
first time on vSunday. 

1872. May 15. At a trial of rail- 
road speed on the New York Central, 
the directors' car ran from Rochester to 
Syracuse, a distance of 81 miles, in 82 
minutes. 

1872. May 15. The Tripoli, of the 
Cunard Line, went ashore off the Irish 
coast. The 500 steerage passengers 
were saved, but the valuable cargo was 
a total loss. The company had lost but 
one steamship before. 

1872. May 23. A statue of Shaks- 
pere, by J. Q. A. Ward, was unveiled in 
Central Park, New York. William 
Cullen Bryant delivered an address on 
this occasion. 

1872. May 23. A destructive tor- 
nado swept over a part of Cincinnati, 
doing considerable damage. 

1872. May 24. Professor Albert 
Hopkins of Williams College, died at 
Williamstown, Mass. Although a stu- 
dent in every department of science, he 
was especially devoted to astronomy, and 
it was through his agency that the 
astronomical observatory at Williams, 
the first ever erected in the country, was 
built. 

1872. May 27. The tug-boat Ep- 
silon exploded at her pier in New York 
harbor, killing cvei'y man on board. 

J±ME8 GORDOX BEX}^'ETT. 

1872. June 1. James Gordon Ben- 
nett, who reared a monument to his 
name in founding the New York Herald, 



716 PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 

was born in Scotland in 1795. His 
180G-1872 parents educated him for 



Charles "j. 
Lever. 



the priesthood, but the en- 
terprising, ambitious spii'it 
of the man asserted itself, and when he 
was twenty-four 3'ears old he came to 
America with but $25 in money, and 
his mind filled with the experience of 
Benjamin Franklin. His wanderings 
finally brought him to Boston friendless, 
penniless, and hungry, where he found 
employment as proof-reader in the house 
of Wells & Lilly. In 1822 he went to 
New York, and had a varied experience 
until 183^. He was connected from time 
to time with different newspapers, either 
as reporter or correspondent. At one 
time he began lecturing upon political 
economy, but failed in this direction. 
His first success was as a correspondent 
from Washington to the Enquirer. His 
letters attracted wide attention. After 
the consolidation of the Enquirer with 
the Courier, he became associate editor, 
but at the end of three years dissolved 
his connection, because of political differ- 
ences with the editor. In May, 1S35, the 
New York Herald was founded with a 
capital of $500, and in a cellar on Wall 
Street for a publishing ofiice. His j^er- 
severance was sadly tried, once by rob- 
bery, and twice by fire during the first 
fifteen months, but his indomitable will 
carried him through all obstacles. As 
the capital increased, the paper was en- 
larged. Bennett knew that the people 
wished for news, and he gave them their 
desire, regardless of exjDcnse. He once 
gave $25 for a telegram of three words. 
His first venture was in sending out boats 
to intercept foreign vessels coming into 
the harbor, and get from them news and 
passenger lists. During the Civil War 
he emjoloyed 63 war correspondents. 



One of his last and best known enter- 
prises was in sending Stanley to Africa 
in search of Dr. Livingstone. He died 
in the Catholic faith, bequeathing the 
Herald, which had brought him a large 
fortune, to his son James Gordon Ben- 
nett, Jr. 

1872. June 5. The national repub- 
lican convention met at Philadelphia, 
Pa., and nominated Ulysses S. Grant for 
president, and Henry Wilson of Massa- 
chusetts, for vice-president. 1805-I872. 
The platform fovored a f^ff'"'^'^'^ 

^ Italiaii revolu- 

continuance of coercive iwuist. 
measures in the South, until full and 
equal rights should be given to the 
negroes. There was at this time a 
division of opinion among many of the 
party leaders, in regard to the attitude 
the government should maintain toward 
the Southern states. Some favored the 
withdrawal of the troops from these 
states, and leniency — a policy of " recon- 
ciliation." But the majority favored Pres- 
ident Grant's attitude. The result was 
that a number of the more liberal ones 
joined the liberal republican ranks. 

1872. A grand campaign attack 
upon President Grant's administration was 
made in congress by Carl Shiu'z, who 
moved that a committee be appointed 
to investigate the alleged sale of arms to 
French agents during the Franco-Prus- 
sian war, by the war department of the 
L^nited States, in violation of our treaty 
with Germany. The debate was hot 
and extended. The committee exoner- 
ated the departments of all wrong in the 
matter. 

1872. June 10. The Weather Bureau 
of the United States was authorized by 
act of congress to add stations and re- 
ports to its service for the special benefit 



1869-1876.] THE PROBLE 

of the commercial and agricultural in- 
terests of the countr}'. 

1872. June 17. The World's Peace 
Jubilee, planned by Gilmore, was opened 
in Boston at the Coliseum, a temporary 
building covering between five and six 
acres. The musical force consisted of a 
chorus of 2o,ooo voices, and an orchestra 
of 2,ooo musicians. More than 200 emi- 
nent vocalists and composers were pres- 
ent from different countries ; also the chief 
,^^„ ^ military bands of England, 

1812. Jiaie 12. •> & ' 

"Jesuits expelled Fraucc, and Germany, and 

from Germany. ^j^^ ^^^\^-^^^ cOmct quartCttC 

of the emperor William. The arrange- 
ments were much like those of the first 
great peace jubilee held under the same 
direction in 1S69. 

1872. July 1. Twenty deaths from 
sunstroke occurred in Boston, and more 
than seventy in New York. The sun 
thermometer at Washington indicated 
151-. 

1872. July 9. The national demo- 
cratic convention met at Baltimore and 
accepted the platform and candidates of 
the liberal republicans. The object of 
this step was to unite, if possible, the vote 
of both parties, and change the adminis- 
tration. This also virtually committed 
the democratic party to the results of the 
war, and the carrying out of the work of 
reconstruction. 

1872. July 12. Uxbridge Bank 
Robbery, The house of the cashier of 
the bank in Uxbridge, Mass., was en- 
tered, and he and his family were bound 
and gagged. A young man who served 
as clerk was led with a rope around his 
neck to the bank, and forced to unlock 
the safe. The robbers secured $13,000, 
after which they took the young man back 
to the house, gave each of their victims 
some water, re-gagged, and left them. 



MS OF TO-DAT. 



717 



1872. July 15. A part of the roof 

of the Copper Falls' mine, near Lake 
Superior, fell in 200 feet, killing and in- 
juring a number of the workmen. 

BEMTO JUAREZ. 

1872. July 18. Benito Pablo Juarez, 
president of the Mexican republic, died 
in the City of Mexico, aged sixty-six years. 
He was born in the village of San Pablo 
Guetatas, in the state of Oajaca, March 
21, 1S06. His parents, who were in re- 
duced circiunstances, died when he was 
quite young, and Benito was left in the 
care of an uncle. At the age of twelve 
he was still unable to speak or write 
Spanish, but being impressed with the 
advantages of education to be obtained in 
the city of Oajaca, he resolved to leave 
his home, and seek these advantages. He 
fell in with the family of a friar for 
whom he did general service, and was 
thus enabled to obtain his first education, 
which he completed in 1835. The friar 
jDlaced him in a seminary, where he re- 
mained during the year 1S26, but he soon 
after abandoned it for the study of law. 
It is said that he was thus induced to 
change the course of his life on account of 
the political condition of his country, the 
ignorance of the people, and the supersti- 
tion of the clergy. He graduated from the 
college of law in Oajaca with honor. 
While prosecuting his studies he also held 
the chair of natural philosophy in the in- 
stitution. In 1S36 he was unjustly im- 
prisoned on certain charges made by the 
conservatives. From 1842 to 1845 ^^^ 
was chief judge of the republic. In 1845 
his party, which was opposed to the cor- 
rupting influences of the dominion of the 
clergy, was partially triumphant, and 
Juarez became secretary of state in Oaja- 
ca. This office he gave up and filled the 



718 



PRESENT BEVELOPMENT. 



position of chief-justice of the superior 
court until 1S46. In August of this year 
the state of Oajaca, a revolution headed 
hy vSalas having been successful, resumed 
its sovereignty. A triumvirate took 
charge of tlie government, and the con- 
stitution of 1S34 ^vas restored. Arteaga, 
one of the triumvirate, was elected gover- 
nor. Juarez, another member, was 
elected to the general constituent con- 
gress of 1846, where he supported Presi- 
dent Farias in negotiating a loan of $14,- 
000,000 on church property to defray the 
expenses of the war then going on be- 
tween the United States and Mexico. 
He succeeded Arteaga as governor in 
1847, ''^"'^^ he\.d this position till 1852. 
Many valuable reforms were introduced 
by him during his administration. On 
retiring he left a surplus of $50,000 in 
the treasury, the state debt and contribu- 
tions to the national government having 
been paid. Soon after, that implacable 
enemy of the people and their law, .Santa 
Anna, seized the government. One of 
his first acts was to have Juarez, whom 
he hated, seized, and secretly taken into 
exile. He lived in destitution in New 
Orleans for nearly two years, when a 
revolution against Santa Anna having 
broken out, he returned in July, 1855, 
and joined the insurgents under the 
leadershij) of Gen. Alvarez. Oct. 4 Al- 
varez was proclaimed president, and he 
immediately appointed Juarez minister of 
justice and religion. He performed his 
duties with marked aliility and wisdom. 
When Comonfort became president on 
Dec. II, 1S55, he appointed Juarez gov- 
ernor of Oajaca, in order to remove him 
from the cabinet. In September, 1857, 
he was elected president of the supreme 
court of justice, which position is equiva- 
lent to vice-pi'esident. In October Com- 



onfort made him minister of the interior. 
Comonfort's government came to an end 
in 1857. Juarez became president by 
virtue of his office of chief-justice. But 
his enemies opposed him with such vio- 
lence that he was compelled to move 
his government from one point to another 
initil,Jan. 11, 1861, having defeated the 
opposing forces under Miramon, he en- 
tered Mexico. In March he was con- 
firmed president by a general election in 
which Lerdo de Fejada was his opponent. 
The three most important acts of his ad- 
ministration are as follows: The suppres- 
sion of religious authority in govern- 
mental afflnrs, the confiscation of church 
property, and for two years the suspen- 
sion of the payments on ac- ^^_„ _., . 

i •' 1S12. Pilgrim- 

count of the foreign debt, ages to Lour des 

and of all national liabilities. "' ^''"""■ 
This last measure resulted in the forma- 
tion of an alliance between England, 
France, and Spain, and an invasion of the 
republic. The allied forces reached Vera 
Cruz on Dec. 8. Juarez promised to 
protect the interests of the creditors, and 
the English and Spanish forces were 
withdrawn ; but France began the dreamy 
scheme of establishing French dominion 
in the Western world. Juarez met for 
a long time with nothing but reverses. 
In June, 1866, his arms began a series 
of victories which continued until July 
16, when he reentered the capital. In 
October he was reelected president, and 
again in 1871. After a series of revolu- 
tions, peace was restored in 1873. He 
died from apoplexy. His life had been a 
long and useful one to his country. He 
was the one great obstacle to the over- 
throw of patriotic hopes and institutions. 



1872. July 24. In the college re- 
gatta at vSpringfield, Mass., the Amherst 



1869-1876.] 

crew of six oars rowed three miles in 
16 minutes, 33 seconds. It was the best 
college time on record. 

1872. July 24. The car and loco- 
motive shops of the Erie Railway, at 
Jersey City, were destroyed by fire, sev- 
eral acres being burned over. 

1872. July 24. Ealph Waldo Emer- 
son's house at Concord, Mass., was de- 
stroyed by fire. Air. Emerson had lived 
here for more than thirty years. 

1872. Aug. 5. A tornado at Harris- 
burg, Pa., unroofed a large number of 
buildings, and did other damage. 

1872. Aug. 10. A collision, in a 
dense fog, occurred in Long Island 
vSound between the Bristol, of the Fall 
River Line, and an unknown barque. 
The barque immediately sunk, but the 
Bristol proceeded as far as Newport, 
when she was found to be sinking, and 
was beached without any loss of life. 

LOWELL MASOK. 

1872. Aug. 11. Lowell Mason, the 
eminent musical composer, died at 
Orange, N. J., aged eighty-one. Dr. 
Mason was born in Medfield, Mass. 
When twenty years old he went to Sa- 
vannah, Ga., and it was while here that he 
wrote the music for Heber's Missionary 
Hymn, and published his first compilation 
of church music. This attracted the 
attention of gentlemen in Boston, and he 
was induced to return in 1S27, and was 
given the charge of the music in Dr. Ly- 
man Beecher's church. In 1855 he re- 
ceived the degree of Dr. of Music from 
the University of New York city, which 
was the first instance in which an Ameri- 
can college had conferred the degree. 

He was probably the author of more 
sacred tunes, and the compiler of more 
books, than any other man in this country. 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



719 



1872. Terrific thunder showers did 

much damage in Eastern and Central 
Massachusetts, destroying considerable 
property. The house of J. G. Whittier, 
in Amesbury, was struck by lightning, 
and the poet himself prostrated. 

1872. Aug. 18. Burglars entered 
the Third National Bank at Baltimore, 
and took away plunder to the amount of 
$500,000. 

THE METIS DISdSTES. 

1872. Aug. 30. A collision occurred 
on Long Island Sound, a little south of 
Watch Hill, between the propellor Metis, 
and an unknown schooner. It is sup- 
posed that the schooner sank immedi- 
ately, but the Metis was thought to be so 
slightly injured that the captain refused 
all assistance from the Nereus, and headed 
for Providence. She was soon found to 
be sinking, however, and the boats were 
lowered, but only two of them succeeded 
in reaching the shore. As the Metis 
sank, a cargo of cotton stowed on the 
main deck lifted the hurricane deck com- 
pletely off, and thus formed a raft on 
which fifty-three persons drifted toward 
the shore. When it was half a mile 
from land the raft broke up, but nearly 
all were saved. Of the 163 persons on 
board the Metis, twenty-two were lost. 



1872. Sept. 3. The " straight-out " 
democrats, who were dissatisfied with 
the regular nomination of Greeley and 
Brown, met in convention at Louisville, 
Ky., and nominated Charles O'Conor 
of New York, for president, and John Q. 
Adams of Massachusetts, for vice-presi- 
dent. These nominations were declined. 

1872. Sept. 12. Thirty Chinese 
boys arrived in San Francisco upon a 
journey to this country, to be educated. 



m 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



They were placed in families in Con- 
necticut and Massachusetts. 

alabtlma claims award. 

1872. Sept. 14. The Alabama Claims 
commission, which had met according to 
the terms of the Treaty of Washington to 
settle the difficulties arising from the in- 
juries inflicted hy the privateer Alabama 
upon American commerce, rendered its 
decision, awarding $15,500,000 in gold to 
the United States. The commission met 
at Geneva, in Switzerland, Dec. 15, 1S71, 
and was composed of five arbitrators, viz., 
Charles Francis Adams, appointed by 
the United States, Sir Alexander J. E. 
Cockburn by England, Marcos Antonio 
d'Aranjo, baron d'ltajuba by Brazil, Jacob 
Staempfli by Switzerland, and Count 
Paolo Federigo Sclopis de Salerano by 
Italy. Caleb Cushing, William M. 
Evarts, and Morrison R. Waite, acted as 
counse' for the United States. The 
award was based upon the judgment that 
the cruises of the Alabama, Florida and 
Shenandoah had violated English neu- 
trality in the American Civil War. The 
award was soon paid, and the distribu- 
tion of it to the multitude of claimants 
has been a source of great perj^lexity 
since. 

1872. Sept. 25. Peter Cartwright, a 

prominent Methodist clergyman, died 
near Pleasant Plains, Sangamon Co., 111., 
at the age of eighty-seven years. He 
was born in Virginia, September i, 17S5, 
but removed to Kentucky with his par- 
ents, where he joined the Methodist 
church about 1801. He soon entered the 
ministry, was appointed presiding elder 
in 181 2, and remained such for a 
period of fifty years. He delighted to 
preach to the backwoodsmen, with 



whom he had great power. He was 
possessed of the natural qualities which 
made him ,an acceptable companion of 
the " rough and ready," and won his way 
everywhere by his gifts of heart and 
tongue, in sjDite of a lack of education. 
He baptized more than 13,000 persons 
during his long and active career, and 
preached 15,000 sermons. He was once 
a member of the legislature of Illinois. 

1872. Sept. 27. The State Lunatic 
Asylum at Nevvburg, Ohio, was burned, 
causing a loss of five lives and $500,000 
in property. 

1872. Sept. 30. Pauline Lucca, a 
great German vocalist, sang for the first 
time in this country, at New York. She 
was received with great favor. 

"FANNY FERNr 

1872. Oct. 10. Mrs. Sara Pajson 
Willis Parton, wife of James Parton, an 
American writer, and herself a writer 
widely known as " Fanny Fern," died in 
New York, aged sixty-one years. She 
was born in Portland, Maine, July 7, iSi i, 
and was a sister of N. P. Willis, the well- 
known poet and journalist. She was for 
several years the wife of Charles H. 
Eldredge of Boston, but being left with- 
out means by his death, she at last ven- 
tured upon a literary line. Her first 
essay was disposed of with difficulty for 
half a dollar, but before long her fame 
was made. Her books sold by thou- 
sands of copies, and she was eagerly 
sought for as a contributor to the press. 
Her life from this time on was taken up 
with this work. In January, 1856, she 
became the wife of Mr. Parton. 

WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 

1872. Oct. 10. William Henry 
Seward, a prominent American states- 



1869-1876.] 

man, died in Auburn, New York, aged 
seventy-one years. He was born in Flor- 
ida, Orange Co., N. Y,, May i6, iSoi, 
When quite young he ran away from 
home to attend school. Before he was 
fifteen years of age he had fitted himself 
for Union College, from which institution 
he graduated with honor in 1S20. In 
1S22 he was admitted to the bar, and be- 
gan the i^ractice of law in Auburn, but 
his political taste was soon developed. 
He became prominent about this time as 
a political orator. He made several 
notable speeches against the democratic 
leaders in New York. In 1S30 he was 
elected to the state senate by an anti- 
mason vote. His majority was 2,000. 
In 1833 he made a short tour of Europe. 
In 1834 he was defeated by W. L. Marcy 
for governor of New York, but in 1838 
he was elected over Marcy by a majority 
of 10,000. During his administration he 
introduced many valuable reforms. Prom- 
inent among these were the extension of 
general educational advantages, and the 
protection of fugitive slaves. He was 
reelected in 1840. He retired from office 
Jan. I, 1S43, '^'^'■^ returned to the practice 
of law in the State and United States 
courts. lie appeared as volunteer coun- 
sel in a number of important cases; 
among these was the case of Van Zandt, 
who was charged with harboring fugi- 
tive slaves in Ohio. Mr. Seward was 
an active supporter of Henry Clay for 
the presidency in 1844, and also of Gen. 
Taylor in 1848. He was elected United 
States senator from New York, in Feb- 
ruary, 1849. The slavery agitation was 
now becoming prominent, and Mr. Sew- 
ard soon became the leader of the admin- 
istration party in the senate. On account 
of the avowal that he would make no 
further concessions to the slave power, he 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DA T 



721 



was denounced for sedition. In a speech 
on the admission of California into the 
Union on March 11, 1850, he said: "It 
is true, indeed, that the national domain 
is oui's. * * * But there is a higher 
law than the constitution which regulates 
our authority over the domain, and de- 
votes it to the same noble purposes. The 
territory is a part, no inconsiderable part, 
of the common heritage of mankind, be- 
stowed upon them by the Creator of the 
universe. We are his stewards, and 
must so discharge our trust as to secure 
in the highest attainable degree, their 
happiness." This speech, from which 
the extract is taken, caused much com- 
ment in the press, and by the public. He 
was the recognized leader of the anti- 
slavery wing of his party, and ably op- 
posed to the last any compromise with 
the slave power. He made speeches on 
various measures, and many of these were 
widely circulated. In all he expressed 
his firm determination to stand by the 
union, in peace or war, at whatever cost. 
He was re-elected senator in 1855, and 
continued in the senate through his 
second term, which expired March 4, 
1 86 1. He actively supported John C. 
Fremont, the republican candidate, in 
1856. In 1859 he again traveled 
through Europe, and visited Egypt and 
the Holy Land. In i860 a majority of 
his party favored him for the presidency, 
but Mr. Lincoln was nominated. On 
the election of Mr. Lincoln Mr. Seward 
was appointed secretary of state. The 
Civil War had virtually begun, but for 
some time Mr. Seward thought the diffi- 
culties between the North and South 
could be peaceably settled. During the 
progress of the war he developed a re- 
markable diplomatic ability in his deal- 
ings witli foreign powers. His skill in 

46 



722 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



such matters probably saved our govern- 
ment from foreign entanglements at this 
joeriod. His decisiveness in the Trent af- 
fair is well remembered; also his repres- 
sion of the intervention of the proposed 
alliance between France, Great Britain 
and Russia to settle the civil disputes in 
the United States. His course in regard 
to the French in Mexico caused the down- 
fall of French dominion thei'e. He reor- 
ganized the diplomatic service on a much 
better basis. He continued in his position 
as secretary of state on Lincoln's reelection 
to the presidency, and suffered severely in 
the trying scenes of the assassination. 
After his recovery Mr. Seward resvuned 
his duties as secretary of state; but having 
supported President Johnson's reconstruc- 
tion policy, he became unpopular with his 
party. In 1869 he traversed the Western 
states and visited Alaska, which had been 
purchased jDrincipally through his efforts. 
In August, 1S70, Mr. Seward, with his 
family, started on a tour of the world. 
He was received abroad with marked 
distinction. He returned in October, 
1 87 1. A book on his foreign travels, 
made up of his observations, was edited 
by his adopted daughter, Olive Risley 
Seward. Many of his speeches and ad- 
dresses are printed in separate volumes. 
During his lifetime he wrote extensively. 
He wrote a popular biography of John 
Quincy Adams; also of De Witt Clinton. 
His life was one of sterling quality. 



1872. Oct. 15. At a trial of ball 
throwing in Brooklyn, N. Y., John Hat- 
field thi'ew a regulation ball 133 yards, 
I foot, 7^ inches. 

S^X JU^K BOUNDARY. 

1872. Oct. 21. The difficulty be- 
tween England and the United States 



over the possession of several islands be- 
tween Washington Territory and Van- 
couver Island, among them vSan Juan, 
was decided by the emperor of Germany, 
to whom it had been referred under the 
Treaty of Washington, in favor of the 
United States. England withdrew under 
the decision. 

1872. Oct. 22. The steamship Mis- 
souri, from New York for Havana, took 
fire off Abaco, and the flames spread so 
rapidly that of the one hundred persons 
on board, only about twelve were saved. 

EPIZOOTIC. 

1872. Oct. 25. This disease among 
horses prevailed all through the United 
States. In New York 40,000 horses 
were attacked by it in ten days, and 13,- 
000 in Brooklyn, causing almost an en- 
tire suspension of street cars and public 
conveyances. The drays of the express 
companies were drawn by men, and in 
New Bedford a bridal couple were con- 
veyed to the depot by oxen. The dis- 
ease proved to be of ancient date, having 
been known in the third century, B. C, 
and at different times since then. 

TWENTY- SECOND PRESIDENTML C:iM- 
PAIG.Y. 

1872. Nov. 5. The campaign which 
ended in the election of this date, resulted 
in the election of Grant and Wilson, the 
nominees of the republican party. They 
received 286 electoral, and 3,597,070 pop- 
ular votes. The democrats and liberal 
republicans gained 47 electoral, and 
2,834,079 popular votes. But as Greeley 
died in November, the votes for him in 
the electoral college were cast for Thomas 
A. Hendricks and others. Small popular 
votes were cast for Charles O'Conor, the 



1869-1876.] 

straight democratic nominee for president, 
and for James Black, tiie temperance 
nominee. Quite a number of scattering 
votes in the electoral college were cast, 
both for president and vice-president. 
The campaign was one of great heat, 
and the result was very disappointing to 
many who had hoped the new liberal 
republican and democratic movement 
would sweep the country. 

GEK. G. G. MEADE. 

1872. Nov. 6. General George Gor- 
don Meade died at Philadelphia, aged 
fifty-six years. He was born at Cadiz, 
Spain, when his father was U. S. consul, 
Dec. 30, 1815. In 1835 he graduated at 
West Point, and was immediately tested 
in the Florida war. He resigned his 
commission, and after five years of com- 
paratively quiet engineering life, the 
Mexican war broke forth in which he 
served first upon the staff of Gen. Taylor, 
then upon that of Gen. Scott. His con- 
duct in this war was very honorable, and 
his gallantry undisputed. His engineer- 
ing life was again renewed in making 
surveys of the northern lakes until the 
Civil War burst out. He was now made 
brigadier-general of volunteers, and served 
through the entire war with great fidel- 
ity. At one time he was commander of 
the Army of the Potomac. He was in 
the greatest battles of the East and dis- 
played high military qualities. His ser- 
vices at Gettysburg were very great. 
After the v/ar he was in constant mili- 
tary employ. His mind was scholarly, 
and his judgment sound. Harvard con- 
ferred the degree of L.L. D. upon him. 

GREAT BOSTON FIRE. 

1872. Nov. 9. A repetition of the 
Sfreat Portland and Chicasro calamities 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



723 



occurred in the burning over of sixty-five 
acres in the very heart of the business 
sections of Boston. There was a loss of 
fourteen lives, four hundred and forty-six 
buildings, and $73,600,000. The most 
solid blocks went down before the blaze 
like tinder, and streets which ,„„„ ,, 

1812. November. 
had been thought almost Serious Ulness of 

fire-proof because of the P'-'"<^'^''f^"i<^^- 
mass of stone in the buildings on either 
side, were swept desolate. It was a great 
misfortune to thousands of persons directly 
and indirectly connected with the trade 
which was thus terribly interrupted. Yet 
the energy of business men began at 
once to clear away the smoking ruins, 
and Boston is rebuilt in finer style than 
ever before. 

SAD FUK 

1872. Nov. 25. A large lot of nitro- 
glycerine in cans was stored in an inclos- 
ure near Yonkers, N. Y., and a high 
fence put around it, with notices upon all 
sides stating that it was dangerous to go 
near or meddle with the inclosure be- 
cause of the nitro-glycerine within it. 
Four young men of Yonkers went off 
fishing, and having exercised themselves 
till they were tired, started on a tramp 
for home, in a mood for mischief. Hav- 
ing arrived at the nitro-glycerine inclos- 
ure they concluded to have a little fun in 
testing the thing which was said to be so 
deadly. They took what they sujjposed 
to be a safe distance, and began throwing 
stones at it. In a few minutes an ex- 
plosion occurred which shook the vicin- 
ity, blew two of the young men into 
fragments, and almost fatally injured and 
crippled the other two. 



1872. Nov. 29. The largest for- 
feiture ever recorded as paid to the U. 
S. government vi/as drawn from Weld & 



724 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



Co., East India merchants, who were 
charged with an extensive system of cus- 
tom house frauds, and settled the case by 
paying $480,000. 

HORACE GREELEY. 

1872, Nov. 29. Horace Greeley, an 
American jDoHtician and journalist, died 
at Pleasant ville. New York, aged sixty- 
one years. He was born in Amherst, New 
Hampshire, Feb. 3, 181 1. He was of 
Scotch - Irish de- 
scent. His father 
was character- 
ized by his ina- 
bility to keep out 
of debt. Indeed, 
financial capacity 
was something 
no member of 
the family was 
ev^er known to 
possess. By the 
time Horace was 
six years of age 
he could read 
anything that 
came within his 
reach. When 
quite young he 
possessed a re- 
markable fond- 
ness for newspa- 
pers of all kinds, and he early expressed a 
determination to become a printer. In 
1821 his father removed to West Haven, 
Vermont. At the age of fifteen Horace 
became an apprentice in the office of the 
" Northern Spectator," in East Poultney. 
Outside of office hours he kept up his 
studies with much diligence. He learned 
his trade rapidly, and soon became an 
expert. It is said that through his 
entire life he was known to his inti- 




HORACE GREELEY. 



mate friends by the name of " Print- 
er." During his apprenticeship he was, 
as ever after, remarkable for his ob- 
stinacy, and his familiarity with polit- 
ical statistics. After working in James- 
town and Lodi, N. Y., and Erie, Pa., he 
went to New York in search of employ- 
inent, in August, 1831. He arrived in 
the city with $10 and his bundle of 
clothes, his proceeds from former work 
having been turned over to his father. 
By undertaking a 
job on a small 
testament, which 
no other printer 
would or could 
do, he managed 
by working 
twelve and four- 
teen hours a day, 
to earn $5 or $6 
a week. He 
worked as a jour- 
neyman in differ- 
ent offices until 
1S33, when, with 
^ Francis V. Story, 
he began the 
publication of the 
" Morning Post," 
the first penny 
daily ever pub- 
lished. Dr. H. 
D. Shepard was its editor. In July, 
1S33, Mr. Story was drowned, and Jonas 
Winchester became Greeley's new part- 
ner. In March, 1834, the firm began 
"The New Yorker," with Mr. Greeley 
as editor. This continued till 1841. 
During this time Mr. Greeley wrote for 
other papers. In 1S40 he edited the 
" Log Cabin," a Harrison organ, which 
reached a circulation of 80,000. In 1841, 
April 10, Mr. Greeley became " Founder 



1869-1876.] 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DA T. 



725 



of the New York Tribune." The first 
issue was 5,000 copies, which Mr. 
Greeley said he "had considerable diffi- 
culty in giving away." And it is evident 
the " Tribune" would have been simply 
founded and nothing more, had not Mr. 
Greeley taken an active business man as 
partner. This was Thomas McElrath. 
The paper started with a circulation of 
500. The history of Mr. Greeley's won- 
derful career and that of the "Tribune" 
are inseparable. Under his editorial 
management it became the leader of 
public opinion, and the greatest journal in 
America. To his power and ability are 
due the attainments and influence of 
American journalism. In his autobiog- 
raphy he wrote, " Fame is a vapor; pop- 
ularity an accident; riches take wings; 
the only earthly certainty is oblivion; no 
man can foresee what a day may bring 
forth, while those who cheer to-day will 
often curse to-morrow; and yet I cherish 
the hope that the journal I projected and 
established will live and flourish long 
after I have moldered into forgotten 
dust, being guided by a larger wisdom, a 
more unerring sagacity to discern the 
right, though not by a more unfaltering 
readiness to embrace and defend it at what- 
ever personal cost ; and that the stone which 
covers my ashes may bear to future eyes 
the still intelligible inscription, ' Founder 
of the New York Tribune.' " He served 
in congress from Dec, 1848, to March, 
1S49. He became a disciple of Charles 
Fourier, and vainly attempted to found 
settlements in America in accordance 
with the ideas of that philosopher. He 
was the life-long friend of the laboring- 
classes, and the bitter foe of the slave 
power. Besides working for various re- 
forms through the columns of his great 
paper, which had now attained an enor- 



mous circulation, he delivered many lec- 
tures. The winter of 1855-56 he spent 
in Washington, commenting on various 
matters in his "Tribune" letters. In 
1S59 he made an overland journey to 
San Francisco, and was received as a 
hero all along the route. In i860, at the 
Chicago convention, he was largely in- 
strumental in securing the nomination of 
Abraham Lincoln for the presidency. 
This is said to have been owing to a per- 
sonal feeling between Mr. Greeley and 
Mr. Seward. At the breaking out of the 
rebellion Mr. Greeley favored peaceable 
secession if the majority of the Southern 
people would vote for it. When the 
war had actually begun he violently de- 
manded its prosecution, and started the 
cry of "On to Richmond." At the close 
of the war he favored general amnesty 
and universal suffrage, and when Jeffer- 
son Davis was arrested, signed his bond 
for bail. Mr. Greeley's motives in this 
conduct were undoubtedly noble; but he 
nevertheless received the severe censure 
of the Northern public. In 1869 he was 
defeated for the office of comptroller of 
the state of New York, and in 1870 was 
defeated for congress by S. S. Cox. In 
1872 he made a journey to Texas, and 
made several notable speeches. In 1872, 
May I, Mr. Greeley became the liberal 
republican candidate for president. In 
the election he received the electoral 
votes of a majority of the Southern states. 
During the canvass he was greatly af- 
fected by the loss of his wife. His polit- 
ical opponents were most unsparing in 
their criticism and ridicule. At the close 
of the struggle Mr. Greeley was almost 
a mental and physical wreck. He died 
in a private asylum. His simple, yet 
most impressive funeral in New York 
was attended by the most eminent men 



726 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



in the land, the president and vice-presi- 
dent of the United States, and chief-jus- 
tice, being present. Among his works 
are, " The American Conflict," " Polit- 
ical Economy," and "Recollections of a 
Busy Life." His writings are numerous. 
During his life he was misunderstood in 
many of his motives and measures which 
he always intended should work for the 
good of his country. 

EDWI.y FORREST. 

1872. Dee. 12. This eminent Amer- 
ican actor died of apoplexy, aged sixty- 
six years. He was born in Philadelphia 
in i8o6. His dramatic taste developed 
so early that when a mere boy he became 
a member of an amateur theatrical club, 
and appeared on the regular stage when 
thirteen years old, winning even then 
considerable reputation. Two years from 
this time he first attempted the charac- 
ters of Shakespeare, and in 1826 was so 
successful as Othello that he was engaged 
at the Bowery theater for three years. 
After this he enjoyed popularity at the 
Park theater for many years. In 1825 
he appeared in London, where he re- 
ceived much attention from eminent men, 
and made the friendship of Macready. 
They, however, afterward became much 
embittered against each other. Upon his 
return to America he and his English 
wife were enthusiastically received, and 
upon a second visit to England in 1845 
the best society of London and Edinburgh 
received them. It was now that the 
friendship between Mr. Forrest and Mr. 
Macready was broken, and two years 
later when the latter was playing Mac- 
beth in New York, a mob composed of 
Forrest's friends assailed the opera house, 
and a disgraceful riot followed. In 1S50 
Mrs. Forrest obtained a divorce and 



$3,000 a year, which for twenty years 
her husband resisted paying. In 1858 
he retired to private life, but several times 
reappeared upon the stage, his last ap- 
pearance being but a week before his 
death. He left a large part of his prop- 
erty to found a home for aged and desti- 
tute actors. 

GEORGE C^TLLY. 

1872. Dec. 23. George Catlin, 
widely known for his studies of Indian 
life, died at Jersey City, N. J., at the age 
of seventy-six years. He was born in 
Pennsylvania in T796, and fitted himself 
for the practice of law. In a short time 
he took up painting. In 1832 he went 
West and entered the great Indian region 
of the country. For eight years he vis- 
ited tribe after tribe, studying their man- 
ners and customs until he had a record of 
forty-eight different tribes. He had also 
painted many individuals among them. 
He returned from the mouth of the Yel- 
lowstone River down the Missouri to St. 
Louis in a canoe with two men, steering 
the frail vessel himself. Having finished 
his paintings he went to England in 
1S40, where he published a large illus- 
trated work on the American Indians, in 
1841. He exhibited his paintings, and 
became known as the highest authority 
in the world upon Indian life. He pub- 
lished other works and returned to the 
United States a year before his death. 



1872. Dec. 25. The floor of a Baptist 
church near Williamsport, Pa., gave 
way, and three hundred persons were 
precipitated into the cellar. Eleven wei-e 
killed, and many more wounded. 

1872. Dec. 27. An ice-jam in the Mis- 
sissippi River above Memphis, destroyed 
much shipping and other property. Sev- 



1869-1876.] 

eral steamboats with valuable cargoes 
were sunk. 

1872. Dec. 31. A passenger train 

was thrown from the track near Pros- 
pect Station, on the Buffalo and Pittsfield 
rail-way, by the breaking of a rail. It 
was thrown over an embankment twenty- 
six feet in height, and the passengers 
were buried in the ruins, which were 
soon in flames. Nearly all perished. 

1872. The Silk Association of Amer- 
ica was formed. After various vicissi- 
tudes the silk culture of America is on 
the increase, and promises to be large at 
some time not far distant. 

1872. A speaking automaton, in- 
vented by Faberman of Vienna, was ex- 
hibited in the United States, and caused 
great astonishment. 

1872. The first census in Brazil was 
taken this year. 

1872. A severe sickness visited a re- 
gion in Brazil, and out of a population of 
i8,ooo in various towns, carried off 1 3,000. 

1872. At a trial of strength in Bos- 
ton Dr. Winship lifted 2600 pounds in 
harness. 

EIGHT HOUR MOVEMENT. 

1872. The agitation among the work- 
ing classes over the number of hours in a 
day's labor increased, until during this 
year it reached a great height. Work- 
men through all the large cities clamored 
for a reduction from ten hours to eight; 
clinging so far as possible to a demand 
for the same pay for the latter as they 
had had for the former. Some employ- 
ers were inclined to favor the movement, 
others favored it, but insisted upon reduc- 
ing the pay in the same proportion. 
Still others would not consent to a re- 
duction of the hours, whether the pay 
was reduced or not. Strikes were oc- 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



727 



casioned by the agitation, and the problem 
looked like a serious one, when in 1873 
the great panic came, and left workmen 
glad to get any work at all, without ref- 
erence to the number of hours they la- 
bored. Nothing has been heard since of 
the " eight hour movement." 



1872. Ku-Klux Investigation. Dur- 
ing the year many efforts were made to 
expose the Ku-Klux organizations in the 
Southern states. Congress voted $20,000 
to defray the exjDense of an investigating 
committee appointed for this purpose. 
The press discussed the matter with 
much excitement. The i^esult of all was, 
after many witnesses had been examined 
by the congressional committee, the ex- 
posure of the plans and workings of 
these mysterious organizations. The ex- 
istence of the bands, which was at first 
regarded by the country as a huge joke, 
proved in the end to be instead a horrible 
reality. 

1872. In Honduras, Gen. Medina 
was deposed, and Don Celeo Arias was 
made provisional president. 

1873. Jan. 10. Samana Bay. A 
United States company leased the harbor 
and shore of Samana Bay in San Do- 
mingo, in an attempt to carry out some 
of the objects sought in the proposed an- 
nexation of that island to the United 
States. But the rights of the company 
were annulled the next year because of 
the non-payment of the rent. 

1873. Jan. 30. An extreme cold 
wave was felt throughout New England. 
Prof. Loomis, of Yale Col- laos-isis. 
lege, reported that in a rec- Napoieoti in. 
ord of the last hundred years there 
had been no colder day. In twenty- 
nine Massachusetts towns, the average 
was 2 1 ,9 deg. below zero. 




[728] 



FIRST STEAMER ON THE ORINOCO. 



1869-187(]. 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



(29 



LIEUT M^URY. 
1873. Feb. 1. Lieut. Matthew F. 
Maury, an eminent American student of 
marine and astronomical phenomena, 
died at Lexington, Va,, aged sixty-seven 
years. He was born in Virginia, Jan. 
14, 1S06, and entered the naval service 
at nineteen years of age. His studies 
began almost immediately upon this a^- 
pointment, and with scholarly tastes he 
1803-1873. pursued them all his life. 

Thomas Guthrie. He wrote much of great 
value in relation to the physical geogra- 
phy of the sea, also in relation to the 
Gulf Sti'eam and other currents in the 
ocean. From 1S39 to the outbreak of 
the Civil War he w^as connected with 
the land offices of the navy at Washing- 
ton, being in charge, for a time, of the 
charts' and instruments, and then superin- 
tendent of the National Observatory, in 
connection with which the former were 
afterward kej^t. Lieut. Maury entered 
the confederate service, and was made 
commodore. His writings rank very 
high in the scientific world, and his in- 
vestigations were acknowledged to be 
very faithful. 

1873. Feb. 14. The Mississippi 
steamer Henry A. Jones was burned, 
with a loss of twenty lives. 

PROGRESS OF VEXEZUELA. 

1873. Feb. 20. Gen. Guzman Blanco 
was elected president of Venezuela for 
four years, and at once began to make 
changes for the better in the administra- 
tion of all affairs. The rivers were 
opened to steam navigation, and railways 
provided for. The progress of the coun- 
try became quite rapid, and its political 
condition well settled. Manufactures are 
encouraged, and foreign trade is sought. 



1791- 1873. 
Charges A'/ii'o-///. 



1873. Feb. 25, A fire destroyed 

the Marshall House at Alexandria, Va., 
where Col. Ellsworth was shot. 

CREDIT MOBILIER EXPOSURE. 

1873. Feb. 27. A report was made 
by the committee of congress appointed 
to investigate the "Credit Mobilier" scan- 
dal, which had grown up in connection 
with the building of the Union Pacific 
railroad. The first revelation of the mat- 
ter was brought about by a lawsuit in 
Pennsylvania in 1872, in which it ap- 
peared that the stock of this road had' 
been distributed among prominent offi- 
cials of the United States 
government, in order to 
gain their iavor in congressional action. 
The country was amazed, and an investi- 
gation, prolonged and intense, was the re- 
sult. The chief witness was Oakes 
Ames, whose chief reliance in verifying 
his transactions in managing the stock, 
was a " little memorandum book." The 
exposure damaged the reputation of some 
men in public life. The report recom- 
mended the expulsion of one senator, but 
the action was never taken. Oakes 
Ames antl James Brooks of the house, 
wei"e censured. 

StIL^RY GRtIB. 

1873. March 3. A law, which be- 
came known to the people as the " salary 
grab," was passed by the forty-second 
congress, increasing the pay of the mem- 
bers of the legislative, executive, and ju- 
dicial, departments of the government. 
This law, which excited such imiversal 
condemnation from the j^vess and public, 
pi'ovided that the increased salaries of 
representatives and senators should begin 
with the first session of that iso3-i873 
congress, two years before ^arou Liebig. 



730 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



this date. Thus the representatives of 
both branches of congress became en- 
titled to two years' back pay. In this 
bill the salary of the president of the 
United States was increased from $25,- 
000 to $50,000 per annum ; the salary of 
the cabinet officers was increased from 
$8,000 to $10,000; chief-justice of the 
United States, from $S,ooo to $10,000; 
senators and representatives in congress 
from $5,000 to $7,500. Various courses 
were pursued by congressmen with ref- 
erence to their back pay. Some never 
drew it, and others drew and returned it 
to the treasury of the United States. The 
affair caused great indignation, and the 
portion relating to congressmen was after- 
ward repealed. 

1873. March 4. Ulysses S. Grant 
was inaugurated president of the United 
States, and Henry Wilson, vice-presi- 
dent. 

1873. March 4. The Alaska mail 
steamer, " George S. Wright," was 
wrecked at Portland, Oregon, with a 
loss of twenty-three lives. 

1873. March 19. An earthquake 
destroyed the city of San Salvador. 
Eight hundred lives and $13,000,000 
worth of property were destroyed. The 
Indian name for this region was Cuzcut- 
lan, which means, " The land that swings 
like a hammock." 

1873. April 1, The steamer Atlan- 
tic, of the White Star line, was wrecked 
near Halifax, and five hundred and forty- 
six lives were lost. 

MODOC MASMCBE. 

1873. April 11. The trouble which 
the United States government had been 
having with the Modoc Indians of Oregon 
over their removal to a reservation, cul- 



minated in the terrible tragedy of the 
Lava Beds, in which Gen. Canby and 
Dr. Thomas were killed, and Col. A. B. 
Mcacham, peace commissioner, almost 
killed. The Modocs had had trouble 
among themselves over their chieftam- 
ship, a large party under Captain Jack 
claiming it for their leader, as opposed to 
Schonchin, tlie hereditary chief. Captain 
Jack's band left, and settled on Lost 
River, and it was the attempt to remove 
them to the reservation which ended so 
disastrously. Fighting had occurred in 
the foil of 1S73, and at last the Modocs 
retreated to the Lava Beds, extensive 
tracts full of strongholds. The United 
States troops encamped within three 
miles of the Indians, and an attempt was 
made to open communication with them. 
This was done, and after repeated efforts 
it seemed to be apparent that success 
could be reached only with difficultv. 
At last the troops were taken nearer the 
camp of the Indians, which Captain Jack 
always affirmed was in violation of an 
express agreement, and which evidently 
precipitated the fearful calamity. A final 
peace council was ari'anged for in spite 
of the remonstrances of Col. Meacham, 
who knew that a massacre was in all 
probability impending. The United 
States leaders finally went forth to it, and 
never returned. It was a fearful scene. 
After considerable solicitation for the re- 
moval of the troops to a greater distance 
from the Indian camp, the end came, and 
the Modocs with their hitherto concealed 
weapons, attempted the life of each white 
man. Col. Meacham, who lived through 
it, received about a dozen shots in differ- 
ent parts of his person, and an Indian 
was removing his scalp when the cry of 
"Soldiers!" by an Indian woman who 
wished to save the life of Col. Meacham, 



1869-1876.] 

caused the Indian to flee at the top of his 
speed. The sad work was done, and the 
troops could not undo it. A close pur- 
suit followed, and within three months 
Capt. Jack and his band surrendered. 
The leaders in the massacre were put on 
trial and sentenced to be executed, which 
order was carried out Oct. 3, at Foi't 
Klamath. Capt. Jack insisted that the 
catastrophe was brought on against his 
own sturdy opposition by a few turbulent 
spirits in his party, and that it could have 
been avoided had the troops been kept 
at the distance agreed upon. He honestly 
deemed himself imposed upon by the 
United States commander. A melan- 
choly interest attaches to his death. He 
w^as an Indian of excellent native powers, 
and of considerable intelligence. The 
tragedy in which he had a part is one of 
the fearful occurrences of Indian warfare. 

PEjYIKESE ISIA.YD. 

1873. April. John Anderson of New 
York, ^vho owned Penikese Island, one 
of the Elizabeth Islands off the southern 
coast of Massachusetts, and occupied it 
as a summer residence, gave the island, 
with his buildings and furniture, to Prof. 
Agassiz of Cambridge, to be occupied as 
a summer school of natural history. A 
fund of $50,000 accompanied the gift. 
Prof. Agassiz conducted the school 
through its first summer with great de- 
light to himself and those who attended 
it. But since his death some difficulty 
occurred in reference to the endowment 
of the school, and the enterpi-ise has been 
abandoned. It was one which Prof. 
Agassiz hoped would become of great 
importance. 

1873. May 4. An iron bridge fell 
at Dixon, 111., while it was crowded with 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



731 



1793-1873. W. 
C. Macready. 



spectators who were witnessing a bap- 
tism. Nearly 200 persons fell into the 
river, and 100 lives were lost. 

S^L.W.y p. CH^SE. 

1873. May 7. Salmon Portland 
Chase, chief-justice of the supreme court 
of the United States, died in New York, 
aged sixty-five years. He was born in Cor- 
nish, N. H., Jan. 13, iSoS. In 1S17 his 
father died, and three years later Salmon 
was placed in charge of his uncle. Bishop 
Chase, at Worthington, Ohio. In 1826 
he graduated at Dartmouth College. 
He then taught a boy's school in Wash- 
ington, and having diligently studied law 
during his vocation as a teacher, he was 
admitted to the bar in the 
District of Columbia in 
1S29. In 1S30 he settled in Cincinnati, 
and began the practice of his profession. 
During the first three years of his resi- 
dence, while struggling to obtain a lucra- 
tive practice, he prepared in three vol- 
umes an edition of the statutes of Ohio 
with valuable notes, and a preliminary 
sketch of the history of the state. This 
work, which is regarded to this day as a 
standard authority in the courts, gave 
immediately what he desired, a reputa- 
tion and a practice. He became solicitor 
for the bank of the United States in Cin- 
cinnati in 1S34. In 1837 ^""^ became in- 
terested in a number of fugitive slave 
cases. For a number of years his inter- 
est in cases of this character continued. 
In 1846 he was associated witl> W. H. 
Seward as counsel in the famous Van 
Zandt case. Mr. Chase argued that 
slavery depended entirely upon state 
laws for its existence and maintenance, 
and claimed that congress had no author- 
ity to confer any powers or impose any 
duties on state magistrates in fugitive 



732 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



slave cases. He asserted that the 
moment a fugitive entered Ohio he v^^as 
free, and no master could reclaim him 
unless he came from one of the original 
states; that according to the constitution 
congress had no power or authority to 
legislate in this matter, which was in- 
tended to be left exclusively to the several 
states. In his state Mr. Chase had, up 
to 1 84 1, voted with the party that would 
declare in the strongest terms against the 
aggressions of the slave power, some- 
times with the democrats, and often the 
whigs. He took an active part in an 
anti-slavery convention which assembled 
in Columbus in December, 1841. Mr. 
Chase prepared an address for the con- 
vention, defining its plans and purposes, 
which was sent out to the people. He 
took an equally active part in the na- 
tional liberty convention which assembled 
at Buffalo in 1S43. Through the efforts 
of Mr. Chase a southern and western lib- 
erty convention assembled at Cincinnati 
in June, 1S45. -^^ chairman of the com- 
mittee he prepared the address and set 
forth the necessities of the organization 
of a new political party in order to effect 
the overthrow of the slave power. In 
1848 he issued a call, signed by three 
thousand voters of both parties, for a free 
territory state convention to be held at 
Columbus. In August he presided over 
a national convention which assembled 
at Buffalo, and which nominated Martin 
Van Buren for president, and Charles 
Francis .Adams for vice-president. On 
Feb. 22, 1849, he was elected United 
States senator from Ohio by the demo- 
cratic and free soil members of the legis- 
lature, the democratic party in that state 
having committed itself to anti-slavery. 
When the Baltimore convention of 1852 
nominated Franklin Pierce for president, 



and approved the compromise acts of 
1850, Mr. Chase withdrew from the 
democratic party, and advocated the for- 
mation of an indej^endent democratic 
party. This new political band held its 
first convention at Pittsburgh in 1852. 
Mr. Chase supported it until the new 
party, which based its organization on 
the principles so long maintained by him, 
arose. During his entire term Air. Chase 
ably discharged his senatorial duties. In 
1850 he delivered a speech in the senate 
against Mr. Clay's compromise bill. In 
1854 he issued an appeal to the people, 
opposing the repeal of the Missouri com- 
promise. His object was to separate the 
question of slavery entirely from the fed- 
eral government, and allow the states 
themselves to decide it. He strongly op- 
posed the passage of the Nebraska bill, 
and in 1855 he was elected governor ot 
Ohio by its opponents. He was re- 
elected in 1857 by the largest vote ever 
cast for any governor of that state. In 
the republican convention at Chicago, in 
May, i860, he was a prominent candi- 
date for president. In 1861 he became 
secretary of the treasury in Mr. Lincoln's 
cabinet. Here he proved his ability as a 
great financier. It was mainly his policy 
that carried the nation through the civil 
war. He resigned this position June 30, 
1864. On the death of Roger B. Taney 
in the latter part of this year, Mr. Chase 
was appointed chief-justice of the United 
states. He presided at the impeachment 
trial of Andrew Johnson in March, 1868. 
Having now become dissatisfied with the 
republican party he was prominently 
mentioned as the candidate of the democ* 
racy, but the movement in his favor sub- 
sided before the convention assembled. 
He opposed the reelection of Gen. Grant 
in 1872. No charges of dishonesty or 



1869-1876.] 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



738 



of want of integrity can be brought 
against Mr. Chase. He never gained a 
great fortune, but died comparatively 
poor. He was steadfast in the support 
of his principles, a true man to the end of 
his days. 

OAKES AMES. 

1873. May 8. Oakes Ames, the 
man who, more than any other, was in- 
strumental in building the Union Pacific 
railroad by means of his energy and 
money, died in Easton, Mass., where he 
had been for years a prominent manufact- 
urer. The Ames shovel manufactory is 
known over the world. Mr. Ames 
•owned a very large amount of the Credit 
1784-1873. Mobilier stock, and was the 

Manzom. Q^g whosc memorandum 
"book figured so prominently in the in- 
vestigation into the procedures of that 
•company. He and James Brooks, mem- 
bers of the house of representatives, were 
censured by vote for their connection 
with the Credit Mobilier operations. Yet 
Mr. Ames probably intended simply to 
insure in ways which did not appear to 
him illegitimate, the completion of the 
great task to which he had put his hand. 
At the time of his death his fortune is 
thought to have been over $5,000,000. 

1873. June 19. The burning of the 
woods around Michagamme, Mich., set 
fire to the village, which was completely 
destroyed. A number of lives were lost. 

1873. June. The cholera prevailed 
throughout the Southern cities of the 
United States to an alarming extent. 

HIRAM POWERS. 

1873. June 27. This well-known 
American sculptor died in Florence, 
Italy, aged sixty-seven years. He was a 
native of the Green Mountain state, hav- 



ing been born at Woodstock, Vt., July 
29, 1S05. His father owned a farm upon 
which Hiram remained till his father's 
death. Those early years were years 
of ordinary home work and training. 
When his father died he pushed out into 
the world for himself, and served for a 
time in the capacity of clerk at Cincin- 
nati. He afterward worked for a clock- 
maker. His attention was in some way 
drawn to modeling in clay, and his in- 
terest in it led him to learn the first steps 
from a German who understood the 
work. Very soon he exercised his own 
originality, and very worthily, too. For 
a time he was connected with the mu- 
seum at Cincinnati, in charge of the wax- 
works. In 1S35 a broader sphere was 
entered at Washington, D. C, where he 
began working upon busts. In two years 
he went to Florence, Itah', and contin- 
ued to live there. He produced several 
fine statues, among them being " Eve," 
the "Greek Slave," and the "Fisher 
Boy," together with a large number of 
busts of distinguished men. His work is 
of a hiofh character. 



1873, July 4. Destructive torna- 
does occurred in Indiana, Ohio, Wiscon- 
sin, and Missouri, causing a loss of many 
lives, and much property. 

1873. July 12. At a horse race in 
Saratoga, N. Y., True Blue ran two 
miles in 3 min. 33^ sec. 

1873. July 21. The mail train 
from California, carrying three tons of 
bullion and a considerable amount of 
cash, was thrown from the track, sixty 
miles west of Des Moines, by the re- 
moval of a rail. It was then surrounded 
by desperadoes, who, after killing the 
engineer, succeeding in escaping with all 
the bootv. 



734 



PRESENT DE VEL OPMENT. 



1873. July. A line of four steam- 
ers was put into operation between Phil- 
adelphia and Liverpool: The Pennsyl- 
vania, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois, of over 
3,000 tons each. These were built by 
Wm. Cramp & Sons, of Philadelphia, 
and this was the only full line of 
steamers carrying the American flag 
across the Atlantic. 

1873. Aug. 2. A great fire in Port- 
land, Oregon, consumed twenty-three 
blocks, two hundred and fifty dwellings, 
and $1,500,000 worth of pro^^erty. 

1873. Aug. 8. The steamer Wawas- 
set was burned on the Potomac, with a 
loss of seventy lives. The life-preservers 
were unattainable, the fire having burst 
forth suddenly, and one of the two small 
boats was lost in launching. 

1873. Aug. 16. A band of one 
hundred Mennonites, from the commun- 
ity in the Crimea, arrived in New York. 
These peculiar people are Baptists with 
the Quaker principle of non-resistance. 
They were given ten years by the Rus- 
„^ ., sian government to choose 
lion president of between giving up their re- 
^""^^- ligion or their homes. They 

surrendered the latter, and after the first 
hundred emigrants had settled, they came 
in large numbers to America, and settled 
in the Western states. They are indus- 
trious and sober, and all in good circum- 
stances; some of them were even quite 
wealthy. They are like the better class 
of Germans in appearance. 

1873. Aug. 21. An unusual pres- 
sure of water caused the banks of the 
Delaware and Chesapeake canal to break 
away, inundating the surrounding coun- 
try, and causing a loss of property to the 
extent of $1,800,000. 

1873. August. A terrible storm oc- 
curred in the eastern provinces along the 



Atlantic coast, causing immense damage 
to shipping. Fifty American vessels 
were lost. Of three hundred fishing ves- 
sels but twenty remained, 

1873. Sept. 10. A great sale of cer- 
tain breeds of Short-horn cattle was held 
at New York Mills, Oneida county, N. 
Y., $382,000 being paid for one hundred 
and nuie cattle. One cow was sold for 
$40,000, and others for over $20,000; 
$27,000 were paid for a five months' old 
calf. This is probably the most wonder- 
ful sale of cattle of which there is any 
account. 

1873. Sept. 17. The yellow fever 
raged in Louisiana. At this date in 
some places not a sufficient number of 
well persons remained to take care of the 
sick. 

THE P±MC OF 73. 

1873. Sept. 19. The failure of the 
banking firm of Jay Cooke & ComjDany, 
of Philadelphia, was the signal for the be- 
ginning of the great financial panic which 
occurred all over the country during this 
year. Firms in every part of the Union 
failed, and business became paralyzed. 
Confidence was destroyed. Labor was 
checked, and untold suffering among tlie 
poorer classes occurred. Money was 
withdrawn from the public, and locked 
up when most needed by the people. 
Mills were closed. Speculation disap- 
peared. Great railroad enterprises were 
suddenly abandoned. There were vari- 
ous causes for the crash : ,„^, „ ^, , 

1873. Si^ptember. 
the reckless speculations Last Germans 

d, leave France, 

grownig extravagance 

of the people ; the excessive impor- 
tations of foreign goods; the careless- 
ness with which debts were contract- 
ed ; the construction of railroads beyond 
the immediate needs of the country. 
It was four years before the country re- 



1869-1876.J 

covered from the results of the panic. 
Probably thousands of men who had 
been before the panic honest laborers, 
became tramps, and roamed the country 
in search of food and plunder. 

THE WAMIKGTOK COMMISSION 

1873. Sept. 25. The commission 
which was provided for by the Treaty of 
Washington to consider and arbitrate 
claims of United States and English citi- 
zens against one another for acts during 
the Civil War, adjourned with an an- 
nouncement of an award of $1,939,819 
for England. The commission met at 
Washington, D. C, Sept. 36, 1S71, and 
was composed of James S. Frazer, ap- 
pointed by the United States, Russell 
Gurney by England, and Count Corti, 
appointed by the above two men jointly. 

WILLMM WHEELWRIGHT. 

1873. Sept. 26. William Wheelwright, 
an American capitalist, died in London, 
aged seventy-five years. He was born 
in Newburyport, Mass., in 1 798, and at 
an early age began to go upon the sea. 
He got, in the course of his enterprises, 
upon the west coast of South America, 
and here the chief efforts of his life were 
made. He established lines of passenger 
vessels, and was instrumental in found- 
ing what is now the Pacific Steam Nav- 
igation Company. His attention was 
then turned to railroads, and he built the 
first ones known in South America. 
The first telegraph line, the first gas 
works, the first water works in South 
America, were built by him. His enter- 
prise was unbounded, and his success great. 

THE VIRGimUS ylFFTilR. 

1873. Oet. 30. An American steam- 
er named the Virginius was captured, 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DA T. 



735 



while bearing the United States flag, by 
a Spanish man-of-war named Tornado, 
on the alleged suspicion of being a fili- 
bustering expedition to aid the Cuban in- 
surgents. Fifty-four of her men were shot 
at a little later day, against the remon- 
strances of the United States and English 
consuls. In December, 

' IHIS. Amadeiis 

however, the steamer and of Spain audi- 
the survivors were given "'^'''''' 
up to the United .States authorities. The 
matter caused considerable negotiation 
between the United States and Spain, 
with the prospect of war, but Spain 
finally, in 1S75, paid $80,000 as an in- 
demnity fund, and the matter was 
dropped. 

JOH.Y P. HALE. 

1873. Nov. 19. John Parker Hale, 
a prominent American statesman, died at 
Dover, N. H., aged sixty-seven years. He 
was born in the same state, at Roches- 
ter, March 31, 1806. His mind was 
early turned towai'd seeking an education, 
and he graduated at Bowdoin College, in 
1837, after which he studied law. His 
practice began at Dover in 1830. His 
friends elected him to the state legisla- 
ture in 1833, and from this time on his 
political course was a prominent one. 
President Jackson made him United 
vStates district attorney for New Hamp- 
shire in 1834. His sympathies were 
with the democratic party, but opposed 
to slavery. He was sent to isos-isrs. 

congress in 1843. A con- sir E.Landseer. 

flict with his constituents occurred over 
the annexation of Texas, which he reso- 
lutely opposed, because he thought it 
was intended to firmly establish slavery. 
He declared that if his constituents wished 
Texas annexed, they must choose some 
one in his place in congress. Another 
person was nominated, and Mr. Hale ran 



736 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



as an independent candidate. A long re- 
niembered debate between Air. Hale and 
Franklin Pierce occurred in Concord, N. 
H., in 1S45, brought on by an endeavor 
on Mr. Hale's part, in a public address at 
that phice, to set himself right in the eyes 
of the people. The debate sprang up 
imintentionally, and continued from two 
o'clock in the afternoon till sunset. Mr. 
Hale won the victory in the judgment of 
the great mass. After that time Mr. 
Hale was sent to congress, first to the 
house, and then to the senate. He served as 
speaker of the former at one session. His 
course was very uniform and consistent 
on the slavery question, and had a con- 
nection with both the " libert}^" and " free- 
soil " parties. He was nominated by the 
former in 1S47 for president of the Unit- 
ed States, but declined to run. The 
*' free-soil" party nominated him in 1S52. 
At the outbreak of the war he was a firm 
union man, and served faithfully in the 
senate during the stormy period. For 
three years he served as minister to 
Spain. His last few 3^ears were spent in 
New Hampshire in the quiet of private 
life. Mr. Hale was regarded in New 
England as a very prominent and worthv 
political leader. 

TWEED SUITS. 

1873. Nov. 19. After a trial of 
some length William M. Tweed of New 
York, whom the citizens had been pros- 
ecuting for misuse of public money, was 
found guilty of fraud, and sentenced to 
twelve years in the penitentiary, and to 
pay a fine of $13,550. This sentence 
was made up of penalties on several dif- 
ferent counts. A previous trial had failed 
by the disagreement of the jurv. He was 
imprisoned for his offences upon Black- 
well's Island. 



1873. Nov. 23. The steamship Ville 
du Havre collided in mid-ocean with the 
British ship Loch Earn, and immediately 
sunk. Two hundred and twenty-seven 
lives were lost. 

HOOS^C TUKXEL. 

1873. Nov. 27. The Hoosac Tun- 
nel under Hoosac Mountain, which is a 
part of the Green Mountain range, in 
Western Massachusetts, was completed 
by the opening of the cavities from the 
west and east into each other. It is 
nearly five miles long, and opens com- 
munication between Boston and the 
West, by way of the Fitchburg, Ver- 
mont and Massachusetts, and Troy and 
Greenfield railroads. Work was begun 
in 1S52, but made little progress for 
a few years. In 1856 Herman Haupt 
& Co., engaged to construct it for $3,- 
800,000, $3,000,000 of which was to 
come from the state. This contract, 
however, failed, and Mr. Haupt began 
operations for himself, and by Septem- 
ber, 1857, had cut about 1,300 feet. In 
1863 the state took possession of the 
work, introducing new methods and 
machinery. In 1S67 about 5,000 feet of 
the distance had been tunneled. Opposi- 
tion now became very strong, and efforts 
were made to abandon the undertaking, 
but without success. The result was a 
contract with Walter and Francis Shan- 
ley, of Montreal, who completed the tun- 
nel by March, 1874, for $4,623,069. 

LOUIS :1G^SSIZ. 

1873. Dec. 14. Louis John Rudolf 
Agassiz, M. D., Ph. D., L.L. D., died at 
Cambridge, Mass. He was born of Hu- 
guenot parents, in Switzerland, May 28, 
1807. He studied at various schools, al- 
wavs giving much attention to the nat- 



1869-1876.] 

ural sciences, and soon made himself fa- 
mous by different papeis. He received 
the degree of doctor of medicine from 
the University of Munich, Until 1S46, 
vsdien his residence in the United States 
began, he explored the rivers and lakes 
of Europe, spending his summers among 
the Alps, that he might study the glac- 
iers. The greater part of his journeying 
was on foot. Several works were pub- 
lished during this time, one of five vol- 
umes upon fossil fishes; also his "Fresh 
Water Fishes." His coming to America 
was due to two reasons, the first of 
which was that the Prussian government 
had supplied him with means, that he 
might acquaint himself with the geology 
of this country ; and the second, an invi- 
tation to deliver a course of lectures at the 
Lowell Institute, Boston. Deciding to 
take up his residence here, he accepted 
the next year the professorship of zool- 
ogy and geology in the Lawrence sci- 
entific school at Cambridge, where he 
continued until his sudden death, caused 
by working in an overheated room at 
the museum. Some of his works com- 
prise the most important contributions to 
science which the country has produced. 
Many will remember him by his connec- 
tion with the Hassler expedition around 
Cape Horn. His school of natural phi- 
losophy at Penikese, and the museum of 
comparative zoology at Cambridge, he 
intended should surpass anything of that 
character in the world. The cause of 
science lost a valuable contributor by his 
death. 

1873. December. The automatic 
fire signal telegraph was first exhibited in 
New York at the store of H. B. Claflin 
and Company, and an alarm given by it 
to the station sevei^al blocks away. 



737 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DA T. 

POLARIS SURVIVORS. 
1873. Great sympathy was drawn 



forth by the finding in heljDless situations 
of two parties of survivors of Charles 
Francis Hall's ill-fated Polaris expedition. 
One party of nineteen had drifted away 
from the Polaris by the breaking up of the 
ice, while the whole company was trying 
to escape. They floated on the ice for 
195 days, over about 2,000 miles, and were 
picked up on April 30th by the Tigress, a 
Nova Scotia whaling steamer. The 
others who had been thus summarily left 
with the Polaris abandoned her in June, 
and floated south in two isis-ms. 

1 , 1 • 1 1 11 -1 Darid Livivg- 

boats which they had made si^ne. 
from the vessel. They were picked up 
June 23, by a whaler from Scotland, 
which carried them to Dundee. They 
then came back to the United States. 
Their Arctic experiences rank among 
the most thrilling of the whole list of 
explorations. 

1873. At a trial of steamboat speed 

the Mar}^ Powell ran on the Hudson 
River from New York to Poughkeepsie, 
y6 miles, in 3 h. 3 m. 

1873. At a trial of skating at Madi- 
son, Wis., William Clark skated one 
mile in i m. 56 sec. 

1873. At a trial of strength at New 
York, W. B. Curtis lifted 3,300 pounds 
in harness. On November 8 of this 
3'ear, R. A. Pennell lifted, in the same 
city, 12 10 pounds dead weight. 

1873. Four hundred and seventy- 
three thousand emigrants came to the 
United States during this year. 

1873. Joseph Arch, the great Eng- 
lish labor reformer, visited and studied 
Canada. 

1873. Prince Edward's Island united 
with the Dominion of Canada. 



738 



PRESENT DE \ 'EL OPMENT. 



1873. The "Reformed Episcopal 
Church" was organized under Bishop 
George D, Cummings. A revision of 
the prayer book, in some particulars, and 
a less degree of insistance upon the apos- 
tolic character of the church, as separate 
from all the sects, were prominent in the 
origin of this new denomination. 

1873. The " Graphic Company " of 
New York was formed, and began the 
issue of a daily paper called the 
" Graphic," which was illustrated by 
means of photo-lithography. The en- 
gravings can be reproduced upon stone 
in a half hour. 

CUBAN REVOLUTIOX. 

1873. During the year an inactive 
period occurred in the Cviban revolution. 
A vast amount of money had been ex- 
pended by the Spanish government in its 
attemjDt to subdue the insurgents. About 
70,000 Spanish soldiers had been killed, 
and near 60,000 of the insurgents had 
lost their lives, either in battle, or had 
,0 e, •/ been shot in captivity. Gen. 

1S13. Strikes i -J 

of colliers in Pieltain had command of 
"^ "" ' the government forces this 

year. In July he offered to make peace 
with the Cuban president, Cespedes, pro- 
vided that Cuba should remain a province 
of Spain, but President Cespedes declined 
the offer on the conditions imposed. Gen. 
Pieltain was superseded in November by 
Gen. Jovellar; and in December Cespedes 
was deposed, and Salvador Cisneros was 
made president of the Cuban rejDublic. 



1873. In Peru, under the adminis- 
tration of President Pardo, the republic 
was in its most prosperous and content- 
ed condition. Roads were constructed 
throughout the country. Peace reigned. 
Industrv of all kinds flourished. Rail- 



ways and telegraph lines were built. 
The finances were placed on a firmer 
basis. Education was placed within the 
reach of all. 

1873. A revolution which had broken 
out in Uruguay, in 1070, now resulted in 
the election of Jose EUauri as president. 

TffF TELEPHONE. 

1873. Elisha Gray of Chicago, in- 
vented the instrument which he called a 
" resonator," and which became the basis 
of the modern telephone. Previous to 
this date experiments had shown that 
sound could be transmitted, but his suc- 
cess was in transmitting sound with its 
original pitch and intensity. The adap- 
tation of it to the human voice in 1S76 
by Prof. Bell of Boston, drew further at- 
tention to it. Prof. Dolbear in 1S76, like- 
wise invented an instrument of the same 
kind. Thomas A. Edison also experi- 
mented with the idea. From all these 
attempts came the telephone, which is so 
extensively used at the present time, and 
which lawsuits have proved to rest upon 
the invention of Mr. Gray. 



1874. Jan. 15. The burning of the 
Hamilton building in Brooklyn, caused 
the loss of the valuable documents and 
relics of the Long Island Historical 
Society. 

SMMESE TWINS. 

1874. Jan. 17. The Siamese twins, 
long widely known because of the sin- 
gular gi'owth by which they were con- 
nected together, died in North Carolina, 
aged sixty-three years. They had been 
exhibited in many parts of the world, 
but during the last years had lived 
upon a farm. Each was married, and had 
children. Their deaths were sudden. 
ChansT died in the nigfht from an un- 



1869-1876.] 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



739 



known cause, and Eng died in a few 
hours from the shock he experienced 
upon finding his brother dead. The two 
were in many respects, quite unhke each 
other. 

1874. Jan. 20. A frightful explo- 
sion of gas in a knitting mill at Benning- 
ton, Vt., caused the loss of much prop- 
erty, and the death of nine women. 

WOMAN'S CRUSADE. 

1874. Feb. 10. A peculiar form of 
temperance labor broke out in a small 
town in Ohio, and spread rapidly through- 
out the North. It began in the efforts 
of a number of Christian women to break 
up the sale of intoxicating liquors in their 
community, by openly praying before 
and within the saloons. Companies of 
women gathered for the purpose, and 
held their meetings in the saloons "when 
it was possible to do so, but where denied 
this pi'ivilege, held them upon the side- 
walks or in the streets. Soon the excite- 
ment spread and Ohio was all alive with 
this new method. The long joent-up feel- 
ings of hundreds of women came out in 
this public labor, which many of them 
would have averred three months be- 
fore, they could never have undertaken. 
Larger places followed the example of 
the smaller. Church edifices became 
places of assembly, and were crowded 
with women beseeching the favor of 
God upon their work. They would then 
go forth to pray at the saloons, in many in- 
stances with very noticeable results. Some 
towns were almost, or entirely cleared 
of saloons by this movement, and saloon- 
keepers in some cases went into other 
business, and became changed men. The 
work caused great excitement, and much 
comment, favorable and otherwise. It 



accomplished much which would else not 
have been done. But like other tempo- 
rary expedients, it passed by. Since its 
day, however, the work of women along 
temperance lines has greatly increased, 
and is putting itself on a basis of steady 
effort which augurs much good for the 
success of their labors. 

ELDER KKAPP. 

1874. March 2. Jacob Knapp, a 
prominent American revivalist, died at 
Rockford, 111., aged seventy-four years. 
He was born in New York State Decem- 
ber 7, 1799. After his theological study 
was concluded he settled in Springfield, 
N. Y., and then at Watertown, in both 
which places, besides attending to his 
pastoral work, he conducted farms. His 
evangelistic work begun about 1S33, 
when he had what he was always ac- 
customed to speak of, as a second conver- 
sion. From this time his power grew, 
and his services were in demand far 
and near. In all the larger cities his 
preaching was attended by remarkable 
results, and many wonderful conversions 
took place. 

MILLARD FILLMORE. 

1874. March 8. Millard Fillmore, 
the thirteenth President of the United 
States, died at Buffalo, N. Y., aged 
seventy-four years. He was born in 
Cayuga county, N. Y., January 7, iSoo. 
His early education was limited. When 
fourteen years of age he was apprenticed 
to a clothier, with whom he remained 
until 1819, when he began the study of 
law. He was compelled to support him- 
self while pursuing his 1737-1874. 
studies, and was obliged Guizot. 

to endure many hardships. In 1823 
he began the practice of his profes- 



740 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



sion, in which he soon acqiurcd a reputa- 
tion. In 1S28 he was elected to the 
State legislature by the whigs. Four 
years later he was elected as a repre- 
sentative in the national congress by the 
same party. He remained first in the 
lower house, then in the senate until 
1S43. He took but little part in politics 
for the next four years. In 1S47 he was 
elected comptroller of New York; and 
the following year vice-president of the 
United States. As president of the sen- 
ate Mr. Fillmoi-e established the rule of 
allowing no abusive language, which 
was then so common in the fierce de- 
bates on the slavery question. This rule 
he executed with impartiality. On the 
death of President Taylor, on the 9th of 
July, 1S50, Mr. Fillmore became presi- 
dent, by virtue of his office as vice-presi- 
dent. He became unpopular on account 
of his attempted enforcement of the fugi- 
tive slave law. It is thought that this 
measure prevented his being chosen for a 
second term. In 1855-56 he made a 
tour of Europe, and while abroad he 
was nominated by the American party, 
or know-nothings, for the presidency. 
After his defeat he retired entirely from 
political life, and lived quietly at Buffalo 
until his death. 

CHARLES SirM.YER. 

1874. March 11. Charles Sumner, 
an American statesman and author, died 
in Washington, D. C. He was born in 
Boston, Mass., January 6, iSii. Unlike 
the majority of men who have come to the 
front in public life in America, he was of 
honored and cultured ancestors. His 
parents belonged to that class of people 
known as the " New^ England aristoc- 
racv." The name of Sumner appears on 
the Harvard catalogues as far back as 



1733. In the family there have appeared 
at various times, manv men ^„^, _, , , 

' - 187i. Gladstone 

who have taken prominent dosed Ms minis- 

. • Tv/r 1 ,. !• try. Disraeli 

parts ni Massachusetts poll- ■. . ., , 

i i prime minister of 

tics and society. Charles Eu/riand till 
Sumner's father was him- 
self a graduate of Harvard, and a prom- 
inent and able lawyer. The son pre- 
pared for college at the Boston Latin 
school, and graduated at Harvard in 
1830. He was appointed reporter of 
the United States Circuit court, and 
while filling this position compiled three 
volumes, known as "Sumner's Reports," 
containing the decisions of Judge Story. 
He was lecturer in the Cambridge Law 
School while Judge Story was absent in 
Washington, and was offered a profes- 
sorship, but declined; he also edited the 
American ynrist. In 1S37, with letters 
of introduction from Judge Story and 
others, he visited Europe, and was re- 
ceived with unusual distinction by the 
most eminent statesmen and jurists of the 
Old World nations. He returned to 
Boston in 1S40, and in 1S44-46 published 
in twenty volumes, an edition of 
" Vessy's Reports," with copious anno- 
tations. By training he was a whig. 
" A Sumner must by nature be a whig, 
and a Cambridge alumnus." The family 
was noted for the high moral and intel- 
lectual plane on which it existed. Charles 
Sumner inherited all these principles, and 
they became almost a part of his being. 
It would have been difficult for him to 
be anything else than a moral and Chris- 
tian man. On these principles he based 
his political views. On the 4th of July, 
1845, he pronounced in Boston the ora- 
tion on " The True Grandeur of Nations." 
This alone would have almost made him 
famous. It was circulated throughout 
Europe and America, and attracted uni- 



1869-1876.] 

versal attention and comment. He ar- 
gued that all difficulties between nations 
should be settled not by war, but peace. 
He also delivered other orations on simi- 
lar topics. He earnestly opposed slavery 
on the grounds of justice and humanity, 
and showed how abolition was not 
against the principles of the constitution 
of the United States. He opposed the 
Mexican war on the ground that it would 
increase the slave territory, and cause un- 
warranted bloodshed. He described it 
as an unpardonable injustice to a sister 
republic. In 1S46 he made an address 
on the " Anti-Slavery Duties of the Whig 
Party," and as that party did not coin- 
cide with his views, he connected himself 
with the free-soil party in 1S4S. He 
tried in vain to induce the great Web- 
ster to take up the cause of anti-slavery. 
In writing to him, he said: "Assume 
these unperformed duties. The age shall 
bear witness of you; the young shall 
kindle with rapture as they repeat the 
name of Webster; and the large com- 
pany of the ransomed shall teach their 
children and their children's children to 
the latest generation, to call you blessed; 
while all shall award you another title, 
not to be forgotten in earth or in heaven. 
Defender of Hutnanity^'' In 1851 he 
succeeded Daniel Webster as United 
States senator from Massachusetts. He 
continued in this position by succes- 
sive re-elections, initil the time of his 
death. Almost on his entrance into the 
senate he began the great struggle for 
emancipation. He never laid down the 
armor of debate until he saw freedom 
extended to every man, black or white, 
in the Union. He based his action on 
the principle that "• freedom is national, 
and slavery sectional." In May, 1S19-20 
he made his two days' speech on the 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



741 
As a result 



18H. Czar oj 
Russia visiled 
Eiisrlattd. 



" Crime Against Kansas." 
of this speech on May 22 
he was attacked by Pres- 
ton S. Brooks, of South 
Carolina, and received injuries which 
it is thought finally carried him to his 
grave. Acting on the advice of his phy- 
sicians he went to Europe and remained 
under severe medical treatment till the 
autumn of 1859. He then made an elab- 
orate speech in the senate on the " Bar- 
barism of Slavery." He supported Lin- 
coln, and favoi'ed emancipation; he 
would listen to no compromise with 
slavery. In March, 1S61, Mr. Sumner 
was made chairman of the committee on 
foreign relations. On January 9, 1S62, 
he argued that the United States were 
unjustifiable according to international 
law, in seizing Mason and Slidell on 
board the steamer Trent. He pro- 
nounced an eloquent eulogy on President 
Lincoln in 1865, and his position in 1869, 
in regard to our claims against England, 
caused great excitement in that country. 
His op^DOsition in that year to President 
Grant's administration and the annexa- 
tion of San Domingo, caused his removal 
from the chairmanship of the committee 
on foreign relations, and his final deser- 
tion of the republican party. He sup- 
ported Horace Greeley for president in 
1872. In 1873 he introduced the " Civil 
Rights " bill into the senate ; also a reso- 
lution providing that the names of the 
battles won in the Civil War be erased 
from the regimental colors and register 
of the army. He died after a short ill- 
ness. His works and addresses have 
been published in various forms. 

MMES BOGsiRDUS. 

1874. April 13. James Bogardus, 
an eminent American inventor, died, 



(42 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



aged seventy-four years. He was born 
in Catskill, N. Y., March 14, iSoOo He 
began his career at the age of fourteen, 
in working upon watches. Several in- 
ventions marked his efforts in this direc- 
tion, and obtained favorable notice at 
exhibitions. The " ring-spinner," in spin- 
ning cotton, was his first great invention, 
isn. Tdt'o-raph niadc in 1S28. A machine 
from Great uscd in making bank note 

Britain to Bra- i r- i 

zii, via United pk^tes, the hrst dry gas 
Stales. meter, the first rotary fluid 

meter, a celebrated medallion engraving 
machine, an engine turning machine, 
a glass pressing machine, besides other 
important changes in other machines, 
were the subject of his inventions. 
The manufacture of wrought iron beams 
was suggested by him, and the first 
complete iron building in the world 
was erected by him. He was skilled in 
scientific lines, and some of his sugges- 
tions have been of great value in those 
directions. His life was full of practical 
results. 

1874. April 20. The overflowing 
of the Mississippi River submerged hun- 
dreds of square miles of land, both below 
and above New Orleans. This was the 
most serious flood that had ever been 
known to occur in any part of the United 
States, and great destitution resulted from 
it. Contributions for the sufferers were 
sent in from many cities of the Union, 

1874. April 22. The bill for the 
inflation of the currcncv of the United 
States was vetoed by President Grant. 

1874. April 30. An encounter took 
place at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, between the 
followers of two opposing candidates for 
governor. The respective candidates 
were Baxter and Brooks. Each claimed 
to be entitled to the sfovernor's chair. 



At Pine Bluff the Baxter party, under 
the command of General Churchill, at- 
tacked the Brooks party. In the skir- 
mish eleven men were killed, and twenty- 
seven wounded. General Churchill was 
captured. Baxter was afterward recog- 
nized as governor by President Grant, 
and his opponents ordered to disperse. 
This ended outward trouble, 

1874. April. The great St. Louis 
bridge across the Mississippi River was 
completed at a cost of $13,000,000. 
There are three sjDans; two are each 502 
feet in length, and one 520 feet. It is 
adapted to all kinds of traveling, and is 
so constructed as to form in reality a 
double bridge. The work on the bridge 
was begun in August, 1S69. It was built 
of iron. The piers were built by cais- 
sons and lowered through the excavations 
made in the bed of the river, till they 
rested on the solid rock, in the case of 
one pier, a distance of I30 feet. It was 
a great triumph of engineering skill. 
The bridge has the longest existing spans 
of its class in the world. Its inventor 
and engineer was Captain James B. 
Eads. 

1874. May 8. The breaking up of 
the ice in the St. Lawrence River, did 
serious damage to shipping, and created 
an unparalleled scene of wreck. For 
thirty-eight years the ice had not held its 
place so long. Vessels were crushed, 
and piers swept away, causing almost 
incalculable losses. 

THE MILL RIVER DISASTER. 

1874. May 16. A terrible inunda- 
tion took place in Western Massachu- 
setts, caused by the breaking away of a 
reservoir situated in the upper part of the 
Alill River valley. This is a narrow 
gorge about ten miles in length, through 



1869-1876.] 

which the Mill River flows, emptying 
into the Connecticut at Northampton. 
The reservoir was formed by building a 
dam across the valley between the moun- 
tains, and its defective construction was 
the cause of the deluge by which the four 
manufacturing villages of Williamsburg, 
Haydensville, Skinnersville, and Leeds 
were wholly swept away, with a loss 
jDrobably of 150 lives and millions of dol- 
lars in property. The coroner's jury 
censured the law of the state, which re- 
lated to examination of such works, 
the engineer who had charge of it, the 
contractoi's, and county commissioners. 
The construction and continuance of the 
dam had been most blameworthy. 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO- DAT. 



743 



1874. June 3. The brewers of the 
United States held a " congress " in Bos- 
ton, at which they claimed to represent a 
business employing a capital of $89,9 10,- 
833; besides this a capital of $17,000,000 
invested in malt-houses. They had in 
their employ 56,000 jDcrsons, and their 
business required the cultivation of 1,154,- 
000 acres of land. They reported that 
9,000,000 barrels of beer had been made 
in 1873. 

1874. June 24. The floor of the 
new Central Baptist church, at Syra- 
cuse, N. Y., gave way during a festival, 
and the large company was precipitated 
into the basement. Fourteen persons 
were killed, and nearly one hundred 
wounded. 

1874. June 25. Telegraphic com- 
munication was opened between the 
United States and Brazil, by the exchang- 
ing of congratulatory messages between 
President Grant and the Emperor Dom 
Pedro. It had only been a few months 
since the Mayor of New York and the 
Mayor of Adelaide, Australia, had ex- 



changed telegraphic congi-atulations over 
a distance of 1 7000 miles. The world is 
almost netted with wire. 

HEXRY GRIXKELL. 

1874. June 30. Henry Grinnell, the 
eminent merchant and philanthropist, 
died. He became widely known through 
the interest he took in the search for Sir 
John Franklin, and through having fitted 
out an expedition to aid in that difficult 
undertaking. Lieutenant DeHaven was 
in command of it. Mr. Grinnell united 
with jMr. George Peabody in fitting out 
an expedition afterward, under Dr. 
Kane. The name of Mr. Grinnell was 
conferred upon land discovered far to the 
north. 

CHARLEY ROSS. 

1874. July 1. A case of abduction 
occurred in Germantown, Penn., and for 
a few years excited universal interest 
throughout the countr}-. Other cases 
have occurred in the United States, but 
the long and persistent search, the commu- 
nications received from the unknown child- 
stealers, the numerous children who were 
thought to look like the lost child, all gave 
this affair a painful prominence. Charley 
Ross was a son of Mr. Christian K. Ross, 
and was a little more than ^§7^ Alfonso 
four years old. With his ^^"'^ °f ^P"'"- 
older brother Walter, aged six years, he 
was playing on the street in Germantown, 
when two men driving by in a buggy ad- 
dressed the children, and after going a 
little distance in conversation, induced 
them to get in and ride. The men drove 
on, promising cand}^ and toys, until, hav- 
ing passed in a winding course through 
the streets of the place, they put Walter 
out of the carriage, gave him twenty-five 
cents, and told him to go into a store upon 
the corner to buy himself and little brother 



(44 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



some candy and torpedoes. The little 
fellow did so, and when he came out, the 
carnage had disappeared. He began to 
cry, and was finally taken home b}' a man 
who knew his father. For a few days it 
was thought by IVIr. Ross and his inti- 
mate friends that Charley had been taken 
oir by some drunken men, who, upon get- 
ting sober, would realize what they had 
done, and release the child. But time 
brought no clue to the transaction. In 
a week or two, however, a letter came to 
Mr. Ross demanding a ransom of $20,- 
000 for Charley, and declaring that all 
attempts to get him through the detec- 
tives would be fruitless. It was also stat- 
ed that unless the sum was paid, the boy 
would be killed. A long correspondence 
followed, Mr. Ross replying by means 
of short personals in the papers, accord- 
ing to the direction found in the letters 
he received. A vigorous search was in 
the meantime kept up, and journeys 
made in several directions to see little 
boys who were reported as resemblmg 
Charley. Mr. Ross persisted in refusing 
to pay the $20,000 unless the transfer of 
the child could be simultaneous with that 
of the money, which the robbers declined 
to agree upon. The knowledge of this 
case excited a great interest even in Eu- 
rope, and letters of sympathy were re- 
ceived from many quarters. More than 
$50,000 were spent by Mr, Ross in the 
attempt to search out his little boy. He 
was all the time kept in a fearful anxiety, 
now getting hope, now being plunged 
back into despair. During November, 
two gentlemen spent two days in Fifth 
Avenue Hotel, New York, with $20,000 
in a satchel to be delivered to the agent 
of the child-stealers, but no one came, al- 
though a definite arrangement had been 
made. The detectives had now however, 



made up their minds as to the persons 
who committed the deed, and were stead- 
ily searching for them, when, by an at- 
tempted crime, the men themselves were 
killed. On the morning of Dec. 14, 1S74, 
a burglary was attempted on the house of 
Judge Van Brunt, Bay Ridge, L. I. The 
house, which was closed for the winter, 
was connected by an alarm telegraph with 
another house near it in which Judge Van 
Brunt's brother lived. Being aroused by 
the alarm, the occupantsof the other house 
gathered, and shot two burglars in their 
effort to escape. One was killed instantly. 
The other lived two hours, confessed that 
they stole Charley Ross, but said he did 
not know where the boy was kept. 
Only the other man, named Mosher, 
knew that. So he died. The bodies 
were afterward clearly recognized by 
Walter Ross, and the evidence conclusive 
that these men were the guilty ones. 
But nothing has ever been found of the 
little boy. For a short time it was sup- 
posed that he would now be traced. 
But all effort has been in vain, and the 
mystery of his concealment has defied all 
search. The case remains as one of the 
saddest known cases of child abduction. 



1874. July 14. A great fire in Chi- 
cago burned fifteen squares, consuming 
346 buildings with a loss of $4,000,000. 
It was thought at one time by some that 
it would rival the great fire of 1S71. 

WHEELER SURVEYS. 
1874. July 15, The Wheeler scien- 
tific expedition concentrated at Pueblo, 
Colorado, on its way to make surveys of 
portions of the U. S. territory, hitherto 
unexplored, west of the looth meridian. 
The expedition was made up of nine par- 
ties, composed of some of the most emi- 



1869-1876.] 

nent scientists of the country. The work 
included all lines of investigation, and all 
necessary specimens were gathered. 
These surveys rank very high for their 
thoroughness and comprehensiveness. 
They take their name from Lieutenant 
Wheeler, the accomplished leader. 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



745 



1874. July 24. A terrible water 
spout burst in the mountains of Nevada, 
and swept through the town of Eureka, 
killing twenty persons, and destroying 
much property. 

PITTSBURG FLOOD. 

1874. July 26. A terrible disaster 
occurred at Pittsburg and Allegheny City, 
Penn., on Sunday night, in the sweeping 
away of large numbers of houses and fam- 
ilies by a flood which poured down the 
ravines which extend down from the 
mountains round about. Heavy rains had 
fallen, and Sunday evening the storm 
seemed to settle with great violence upon 
the summits of the hills. The water fell 
in torrents. The over-saturated soil could 
1314. Interna- hok] no morc. The accu- 

iional postal con- . •in 

g^ress at Berne. mulatlOUS Ul holloWS and 

excavations overflowed, and burst away 
to the work of destruction. The calamity 
came in the darkness, and first gave no- 
tice of its approach by the noise of its roar- 
ing. When the inhabitants began to no- 
tice the rising water and listen with fear 
to the rushing of it, they had no time to 
escape. The foundations of their dwell- 
ings were already being swept swiftly 
away, and their fomilies soon hurried on 
to a terrible death. Streets were washed 
away with the utmost rapidity, and the 
storm increased every instant in intensity. 
The morning sun revealed a scene not 
often visible. Over 200 lives were lost, 
and a great amount of property was de- 



stroyed. The largest buildings were 
overthrown and washed away. Alle- 
gheny City suffered more than the city of 
Pittsburg did. 

Koi^s^s vigil^jYCe committee. 

1874. July 30. The horse thieves of 
Kansas were getting so troublesome that 
a vigilance committee was formed, and 
on this date three men were hung. The 
excitement of the affair terrified the evil 
parties, and mitigated the difficulty. 



1874. Aug. 5. The Mississippi 
steamer Pat Rogers was binned near 
Aurora, Ind. The boat was from Cin- 
cinnati to New Orleans. Of the loopas- 
sengei"s on board about fifty perished. 

1874. Sept. 3. A severe earthquake 
visited Guatemala. Several towns were 
destroyed, and about 200 lives were lost. 

FIRST REY.YOLDS REFORM CLUB. 

1874. Sept. 10. The first temiDerance 
"reform club" upon the Reynolds basis, 
was organized at Bangor,Maine, by eleven 
men, all of whom had been inebriates. 
This club has been in working order, 
without intermission, and has held a meet- 
ing in the City Hall of Bangor, on every 
Sunday afternoon since its organization. 
Other clubs were immediately organized 
in other places, and before the first anni- 
versary came round, the whole state was 
full of them. The basis of this move- 
ment was found in the two great com- 
mandments. The Reynolds clubs have 
since then been organized in the larger 
part of the United States, and may be 
justly called the leading movement in this 
direction. Other reform clubs have done 
great good, but the above are the most 
distinctive, and the most widespread. 
Compare June, 1S75. 



746 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



LOriSM.m EMBROGLIO. 
1874. Sept. 14. An armed assault 
was made upon the statehouse in New 
Orleans by a body of men under D. B. 
Penn, and the Kellogg government was 
put to flight. Penn was an adherent of 
McEnery, the claimant for the office of 
governor against Kellogg. Both men, 
Kellogg and McEnery, had in January, 
1S73, been sworn in as governor, and two 
tsii. Interna- legislatures had met. But 

itonal cons^ress xy • 1 t. r^ j. 1 i 

, „ ;' President (jrant had recosf- 

at Brussels on <=> 

latvs of ivar. uizcd Kcllogg, and no seri- 

ous trouble had occurred till the present 
time. Penn had been the nominee for 
lieutenant-governor upon the JMcEnery 
ticket. Seventeen men were killed, and 
thirty-two wounded. 

1874. Sept. 15. A jDroclamation was 
issued by President Grant at the request 
of Kellogg, ordering the assailants to dis- 
perse within five days. Troops were also 
sent to New Orleans. 

1874. Sept. 19. The Penn forces 
having separated, Kellogg was again put 
in possession of the state government. 
Agitation over this double government 
was prominent in politics for a long time. 



1874. Nov. 3. Elections in twenty- 
three of the states gave democratic gains, 
showing a reaction against the adminis- 
tration of President Grant. 

1874. Nov. 22. A terrible tornado 
broke upon Tuscumbia, Alabama, 
shortly after sundown, and immediately 
destroyed more than one hundred build- 
ings. Whole families were buried be- 
neath the ruins; three hundred were made 
homeless, and twelve persons killed. 



1874. 



VICKSBURG FIGHT. 
Dee. 7. A fight occurred be- 



tween the negroes of the vicinity of Vicks- 



burg and the mass of Vicksburg taxpay- 
ers who had requested the resignation of 
one Peter Crosby, sheriff and taxpayer. 
This step he refused to take, and led his 
ignorant negro supporters to an attack up- 
on the whites. Considerable injury was 
done, and between fifty and one hundred 
negroes were killed. The ignorance of 
them and their leaders precipitated the 
affair. The attention of congress was 
called to it, and a committee investigated 
it. Two reports were made, one that 
the trouble was due to the j^i'esence of 
the White League, the other that there 
was no White League in Mississippi, but 
that it arose from an honest attempt of 
taxpayers to correct great abuses, and get 
ignorant men out of office. 



1874. Dec. 9. Ezra Cornell, the 

founder of Cornell Universitv, died at Ith- 
aca, New York. He was born in iSo6, 
and was the man who, in connection 
with Prof. Morse's early attempts with 
the telegraph, first conceived the idea of 
supporting the wires upon poles. 

1874. Dec. 12. King Kalakaua of 
the Sandwich Islands, arrived in Wash- 
ington and was received by the president 
and congress. He was the first reigning 
crowned head of the world to visit the 
United States. 

GERRITT SMITH. 

1874. Dec. 28. This eminent Amer- 
ican philanthropist died in New York, 
aged seventy-seven years. He was born 
in Utica, N. Y., March 6, 1797. He was 
the son of Peter Smith, a partner of John 
Jacob Astor in the fur trade, in which he 
acquired great property, and became prob- 
ably the largest land owner in America. 
His estates were found in every part of 
New York state, and in many other states. 



1869-1876.] 

The father put much of the care of these 
estates into the hands of Gerritt, who g-rad- 
uated at Hamilton College in iSiS. The 
attention of the son was early turned to 
the benevolent use of his extensive lands, 
and he began the efforts which ended 
only with his life, to aid colored people 
and othei's in acquiring homesteads. 
The amount of his gifts of land in 1S4S 
alone was 200,000 acres in lots of fifty 
acres each. He was a firm friend of John 
Brown, and was rendered temporarily in- 
sane by the sad attempt of Brown at Har- 
per's Ferry. He published several vol- 
umes of speeches and writings. In com- 
pany with Horace Greeley he signed the 
bond for the bail of Jefferson Davis. Mr. 
Smith was closely identified with the 
anti-slavery movement and attempts at 
party organization; and was also prom- 
inent in favor of peace, temperance, and 
woman's rights. 

RESUMPTION BILL. 

1874. December. A bill introduced 
by Senator Sherman of Ohio was passed 
by congress, and was signed by the presi- 
dent. It provided for the resumption of 
specie payment by the United States up- 
on Jan. I, 1S79, and the coinage of sil- 
ver in the meantime to aid in bringing 
about that result, with a few regulations 
relating to national banknotes and green- 
backs. 

COLLAPSE OF FREEDMAX'S BANK. 

1874. The bank which had been es- 
tablished after the war in the interest of 
the freedmen as a place of deposit for 
their savings, met with an utter collapse 
this year by a second investigation, one 
having already been made in 1873, which 
showed that the affairs of the bank had 
been managfed with a reckless disregfard 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



747 



of business principles, and with an almost 
complete defiance of safe investments. 
Money had been loaned out on furniture, 
and every other conceivable thing, and 
only about $400 on U. S. bonds. The 
poor creditors of the bank found them- 
selves almost penniless, and likely to get 
very little from their hoardings so pain- 
fully made. 

EMMA MINE SCANDAL. 

1874. During this year the excite- 
ment over the Emma Mine rose to its 
height, and was the cause of many at- 
tempts upon the part of English stock- 
holders to right themselves in some way. 
This swindle was put upon the English 
market largely through the efforts of one 
Albert Grant, and the representations of 
the Value of the stock were such as to lead 
holders of it to expect seventy or eighty 
per cent, profit in a verj^ short time. 
Gen. Robert C. Schenck, U. S. minister 
to England, was named in the list of di- 
rectors and trustees, and became by his 
connection with the affair, largely dis- 
trusted in America. It was found during 
this year that the returns would be very 
small, if any. Yet many stockholders 
were in favor of pushing on in order to 
see if something could not be struck. 
The affair aided the widespread disinte- 
Sfi'ation of the commercial world. 



1874. A centennial celebration of the 
discovery of oxygen gas was held at 
Northumberland, Penn., where Dr. Jo- 
sejDh Priestly, the discoverer, lived, after 
he came to America. 

1874. The Boston and Athletic base 
ball clubs of the United States visited 
England, and showed a marked degi'ee of 
skill in playing cricket with the English 
Elevens. 



748 



PRESENT DE \ ^EL OP ME NT. 



1874. The largest iron steamers in 

the world were launched at Chester, 
Penn., by John Roach and sons. They 
were the "City of Pekin " and the "City 
of Tokio," and were built for the Pacific 
mail steamship line. Each can carry 
5,000 tons and 1,650 passengers, and the 
length of each was 433 feet; the engines 
were of 5,000 horse power; they can go 
15^ knots an hour, and even faster when 
necessary. 

1874. Santiago Perez was elected 
president of the United States of Colom- 
bia for the term 1874-76. 

1874. Jovellano, President of Par- 
aguay, was succeeded by Juan Batista 
Gill. The rebellion which had broken 
out was suppressed by Brazilian troops, 
and the country remained virtually under 
the protection of the empire of Brazil. 

LOUISMK:! DIFFICULTIES. 

1875. Jan. 4. Affairs in Louisiana 
became complicated by the prospective 
meeting of the legislature. The conserv- 
atives under McEnei"y hoped to have a 
small majority, as also did the radicals. 
At the moment of organization, by the 
absence of one republican member who 
had been arrested for embezzlement, and 
the voluntary failure of two others to ap- 
pear, on the ground that they had not 
been elected, it became evident that the 
7875. Interna- couscrvativcs had a workiug 

tional convention • •, i-pi i r 

, _ . , maionty. 1 he repuhhcans 

at Parts to con- J J i 

sider metric sys- began to Icavc, and upon 

tem. T/,irieen ^ouday, Jan. 4, the U. S. 
7ia„tofts represen- j ^ ^1 t^' 

ted. troops entered the house 

and turned out forcibly eight or ten mem- 
bers who had not been returned by the 
Returning Board. A military attempt 
was then made to organize the house, 
but the conservatives deserted the scene. 
Gen. Sheridan took command of the Gulf 



Department during this day, and reported 
at Washington a lamentable state of 
affairs upon his own showing merely. 
The fetleral interference with the Louisi- 
ana legislature at this time, as well as 
once before, will stand as a curious and 
repulsive feature in our political history. 
The question as to ^vhat was the legal 
government of Louisiana was perplexing 
congress during all this period of investi- 
gation. 

BEECHER TRML. 

1875. Jan. 11. The trial of Henry 
Ward Beecher began before the Brook- 
lyn court upon the suit instituted against 
him by Theodore Tilton, on the charge of 
having broken up the latter's family by 
improper connection with Mrs. Tilton. 
The affair had caused great excitement 
through the country during a great part 
of the previous year. Now that the trial 
began, the agitation increased in intensity. 
For about six months the case was be- 
fore the jury. The prosecution and de- 
fense were both alily conducted. Cer- 
tain confessions and retractions made by 
Mrs. Tilton were introduced, until the 
public did not know which of her state- 
ments to believe. Like uncertainty at- 
tended much of the other testimony, that 
produced by one side being flatly contra- 
dicted by the other. Prominent persons 
were involved in the case, the reports 
of which produced the most ^•arious 
effects on different classes of people, 
and in different sections of the countrv. 
At the end of the trial the jurv were un- 
able to agree, and stood nine for acquit- 
tal, three for conviction. They were out 
seven days. The most various opinions 
existed in the minds of the people at large. 



1875. Feb. 11. The shipment of 
Araerican beef to Enirland be^an on a 



1869-1876.] 

small scale. The meat was kept fresh 
and cool by fan blowers, operated by 
hand, and was transported from New 
York to Liverpool. At a later day tan 
blowers were operated by steam, to send 
a current from immense beds of Ice 
through the refrigerators in which the 
meat was stored. Since then the ship- 
ment of American meats to Europe has 
become a branch of commerce, and large 
amounts are sent weekly. In certain 
English markets it is much sought for. 

"P:1CIFW MtLIL" LYVESTIGATIOK. 

1875. February. After a subsidy 
had been voted by congress, in 1S72, to 
the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, 
for a more extended Asiatic mail service, 
it came out that great sums of money had 
been used among members of congress in 
getting the passage of the bill. An in- 
vestigation was ordered and put into the 
hands of the senate judiciary committee, 
of which Senator Edmunds was chairman. 
After a long inquiry their report was 
made at this time to congress, which, by 
a heavy vote, in accordance with the 
recommendation of the committee, abro- 
gated the contract. A most shameless 
procedvn-e was exposed in this investiga- 
tion, involving men and officials of all 
grades, and showing a very corrupt use of 
money to secure legislation. Irwin, who 
had been prominent as the chief agent in 
distributing the money, and had had a 
hard time before the committee, at the 
conclusion of the investigation writes to a 
friend, "I am tired of having 38,500,000 
people sitting on my head, and I must 
have a few days' rest." With this he 
states that he proposes to go into the coun- 
try. The entire revelation shows how far 
many of our legislators had fallen in self- 
respect and integrity. 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



749 



1875. March 16. The breaking up 
of the ice in the Delaware valley inun- 
dated the region in and around Port Jer- 
^■is. Towns and bridges were swept 
away, but preparation having been made, 
the people escaped with their lives. 
Attempts were made to lessen the dam- 
age by blowing up ice dams and gorges. 
The losses in this, and other valleys, 
reached many hundreds of thousands of 
dollars. 

1875. March 20. A severe tornado 
in Georgia destroyed many lives, and 
much property. 

1875. March. Yellow fever broke 
out in Buenos Ayres, S. A., and destroyed 
13,000 lives during this and the follow- 
ing months. 

CAXtIL RLYG IjY KEW YORK. 

1875. March. A great exposure of 
canal frauds in New York state was made 
in the message of Gov. Tilden, and fol- 
lowed up by the newspapers. The cor- 
rupt practices of canal contractors, who 
banded together in making bids, and so 
secured for different parties the work in 
difTerent directions, and the practice of 
securing, at a later day, a change in the 
contract, making the work cost many 
limes the first estimate, all i8i5. Chii mar- 
came to light. Com mis- f-^' "'^"^''^ '" 

^ Crermany ana 

sioners were appointed by SrvUzeriand. 
the state, to investigate the matter, inas- 
much as the state owns the canals within 
its borders. The great number of miles 
of canals in New York requires a large 
annual expenditure of money. The New 
York Tribune sent skilled engineers at 
its own expense to look into the canal 
ring affairs. A sad story of fraud was 
uncovered, and the times shown to be 
more corrupt than had been suspected. 
The "canal war" inaugurated by Gov. 



750 



P RES EN T DE VEL OPMENT. 



Tiltlen was of great vise in breaking up 
one o;reat form of evil. 



1875. March. A meraorable muti- 
ny occurred in the mid-Atlantic \\\)0\\ the 
three masted American schooner, Jeffer- 
son Borden, from New Orleans to Liver- 
pool. There were ten persons on board, 
composed of Capt. Patterson and his wife, 
two mates, five sailors, and a boy. A 
plan was formed by three sailors to get 
possession of the vessel. They succeeded 
in killing the two mates by surprising 
them sejDarately, and were trying to get 
the captain from his room for the same 
purpose. His wife had had her attention 
attracted to some doubtful circumstances, 
and refused to let him go. The plot was 
discovered, and a contest entered upon 
which ended in getting the three sailors 
into confinement in the forecastle. The 
rest took the vessel to England, and the 
mutineers were brought to America and 
tried. Two were found guilty of mur- 
der, and the third of mutiny. 

LEXIXGTOX TlXD CONCORD. 

1875. April 19. The centennial cel- 
ebration of the battles of Lexington and 
Concord was the first of those inspiring 
celebrations which have had so frequent 
a place in recent years. On Sunday the 
iSth, the church services of the entire re- 
gion were turned into the channel of this 
observance, and discourses were preached 
upon Revolutionary times and character. 
Rev. William Adams, D. D., of New 
York, delivered an address of high char- 
acter in the evening before an assembly 
of the town's people of Lexington. Sim- 
ilar services of great interest were held in 
Boston. On Monday a great exodus 
took place from Boston to the two scenes 
of historic interest. At Concord, in the 



forenoon, an oration was pronounced by 
Geo. W. Curtis, and a poem by James 
Russell Lowell. President Grant was 
present at this place, and in the afternoon 
visited Lexington. At the latter place 
Richard H. Dana, Jr., pronounced an 
oration, and statues of Samuel Adams and 
John Hancock were unveiled. A statue 
of the "Minute Man" w^as unveiled at 
Concord. The interesting exercises were 
continued till evening, and were rounded 
off with "-reat satisfaction. 



1875. April 23. Three steamers 

were Ijurnctl at New Orleans, and fifty 
lives were lost. 

1875. April 28. An extensive fire 
occurred in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, burning 
up a large part of the business portion of 
the city. The loss was $3,000,000. The 
lumber trade was injured very greatly by 
the sweeping awa}' of mills and yards. 

WHEELER COMPROMISE. 
1875. April. The "Wheeler Com- 
promise," passed by the U. S. govern- 
ment, was adopted by the Louisiana pol- 
iticians of all parties, and thus closed up 
one of the severest political struggles of 
the reconstruction period. It provided 
that Kellogg should be recognized as 
governor till the end of his term, but that 
the house of representatives should be 
given to the conservatives by the reseat- 
ing of the members expelled in January 
by U. S. troops. The wisdom in securing 
the adoption of this measure on all hands 
was verv great, and Mr. Wheeler de- 
served and received great credit. The af- 
fairs of the state promised greater quiet 
than at any other time since the war. 

SPELLIXG M±yM. 
1875. April. The rage for trials of 
spelling which swept over the country. 



1869-1876.] 

was this month at its height. Every 
village had its S2:)elling schools. In the 
cities companies gathered in private par- 
lors for this all engrossing pursuit. Per- 
sons from all walks in life and of all ages, 
joined in the fun. Societies availed them- 
selves of the rage to gain some funds for 
their treasuries. After a long run the 
excitement sank away, doubtless leaving 
many persons better acquainted with the 
spelling of the English language than 
ever they were before. 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



1S75. May 7. The German steam- 
ship "Schiller," from New York, was 
lost at Scilly Islands, with a valuable car- 
go and 311 lives. Captain John G. 
Thomas was among the lost. The ship 
was new, and was built of iron. In ad- 
dition to the regular cargo it carried 
heavy mails. It struck on the Retarrere 
Ledge, near Bishop''s Rock, Scilly 
Islands. Among the lost 

1815. Jan. 15. , . . 

Gladstone retires WaS Dr. SusaU Dimmick, 
from public life. ^ ^^^^^^j^ phygi^;,,,,^ ^^.^XO 

was connected with an hospital for wo- 
men and children, in Boston. She ob- 
tained her medical education at Zurich, 
Switzerland, and at Vienna. Her studies 
abroad were completed with great suc- 
cess and honor. Harvard Medical 
School twice refused her admittance to 
its course of study. 

JOKY C. BRECKEKRIBGE. 

1875. May 17. John C. Brecken- 
ridge, prominently known as vice-presi- 
dent of the United States, when Buchan- 
an was president, died, aged fifty-four 
years. He was born near Lexington, Ky ., 
Jan. 2 1, 1821. After studying at Center 
College, Danville, he read law and en- 
tered upon the practice of his profession 
at Lexington. He pursued his course 



751 

steadily, and with success. He entered 
the army at the time of the Mexican war, 
but was not engaged in very much active 
service. Political life opened to him, and 
he served in both the state and national 
legislatures. President Pierce expressed 
a willingness to send him to Spain as U . 
S. minister, but the place was not accept- 
ed. After his term as vice-president he 
was nominated in 1S60, by the southern 
democratic delegates in their separate 
convention, for president. His ticket was 
generally successful in the South. When 
the war came on he was in the U. S. 
senate, but entered the confederacy, and 
was finally made major-general. He 
was in several important actions. Near 
the close of the strife he was made sec- 
retary of war of the confederacy. After 
spending a few years in Europe he re- 
turned and died in Kentucky in the prac- 
tice of his profession. 

WAR I'POX "WHISKEY RIKG." 

1875. May 17. A sudden and simul- 
taneous descent was made by a large 
force of treasury agents upon illicit dis- 
tilleries in St. Louis, Chicago, and Mil- 
waukee. This eflfbrt had been prepared 
for in secret by Secretary Bristow, for 
a long time, and the work, with subse- 
quent prosecutions, was carried on with 
such vigor that it broke up very largely 
the manufacture of "crooked whiskey.'* 
A terrible revelation of complicity in 
fraud, on the part of distillers, collectors, 
inspectors, and even higher officers, of 
the U. S. government, was laid before 
the people. The position ^„ 

, ^ 1875. Alfonso, 

attained by the "Ring" was son of Isabella, 
so extensive and powerful ^"'^ ofspain. 
that almost the first moves of Secretary 
Bristow, though conducted with great 
secresy, and even kept from all knowl- 



752 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



edge of the Interior Department, aroused 
suspicions in several quarters. Before 
the descent was made the agents of the 
Whiskey Ring tried to ferret out the 
intended efforts, hut could not do so com- 
pletely. Investigations were made in 
secret, and when all things were ready, 
the open attack was made. A large 
amount of property was contiscated, and 
evidences secured implicating some high 
officials of the government. The first 
intelligence of this vast fraud ujDon the 
government was conveyed to Secretary 
Bristow by the editor of the St. Louis 
Democrat. By the request of Secre- 
tary Bristow one of the journalists con- 
nected with that paper was given the 
task of making further investigations. 
It was a curious experience for a govern- 
ment in the detection of fraud to be 
obliged to avoid all of its own agents who 
had been appointed to make fraud im- 
possible. The greater portion of the 
whiskey in trade during recent months 
had been "crooked," or whiskey which 
had escaped the revenue tax. The ex- 
posures made brought forth a torrent of 
indignation from the press and public. 
This and other frauds now being revealed, 
tended to shake public confidence in 
government officials, while it also tended 
to greatly purify the business affairs of 
the government. Convictions were af- 
terward secured in the cases of the ar- 
rested distillers. During the remainder 
of this year Secretary Bristow pushed the 
suits, and in some cases recovered judg- 
ments for the United States for a large 
amount, together with imprisonment. 
Among the convictions were those of 
Joyce and Gen. McDonald, who were lead- 
ders in the "Ring." At later suits certain 
parties pleaded guilty. The number of 
government officials found to be impli- 



cated reached the number of fifty. With- 
in a year from this time every person 
connected with the St. Louis revenue 
department was convicted of complicity 
in the fraud. Eight U. S. officers at In- 
dianapolis were sentenced to a fine of 
$i,ooo each, and two years in the peni- 
tentiary. The proprietor of the St. Louis 
Globe was convicted. The "Ring" was 
thoroughly demoralized bv the unflinch- 
ing prosecution of it. 

TERRIBLE EtIRTHQUtIKE. 

1875. May 18. About twenty Ven- 
ezuelan and Columbian towns were de- 
stroyed, with a great loss of life and 
property, by an earthquake of wonderful 
severity. The most notable destruction 
was at Cicuta. Slight shocks had been 
felt for a day or two, but no fear of any- 
thing serious had been entertained. Tues- 
day the i8th was a beautiful day, v/ith a 
clear sky. A few moments past eleven 
o'clock in the forenoon, a shock came 
which in foiu' seconds destroyed every 
building, ruined every wall, buried 3,000 
people in the debris, and made the place 
one of complete desolation. Fire broke 
out, but showers also began and checked 
the former. The scene was one of hor- 
ror-. Property to the amount of $S,ooo,- 
000, was destroj-ed. 



1875. May 27. A terrible calamity 

occurred at Holyoke, Mass., in the burn- 
ing of the French Catholic church, with 
a great loss of life. During the celebra- 
tion of the feast of Corpus Christi the 
drapery about the shrine took fire from 
the burning censer, and the building 
being of wood, was in flames almost in 
an instant. The panic among the people, 
in the struggle to escape, heightened the 
loss of life, for many of the weaker ones 



1869-1876.] 

were trampled under foot. The list of 
deaths numbered seventy-nine, and many 
others were severely injured in various 
ways. 

CAPmiX BOYTOK'8 CHAKKEL TRIP. 

1875. May 28. A successful trip in 
floating across the English channel in 
an India rubber suit was made by Capt. 
Paul Boyton, who had tried it in April 
preceding, but had failed through lack 
of coo^^eration. He set out at three 
o'clock in the morning, and vigorously 
paddled himself away from the shore. 
He was attended by Dr. Howard of New 
York, who kept near him in a boat, and 
srave the swimmer his meals during 
the day. He ate beef 
sandwiches, and drank 
strong tea. Sleepiness almost overcame 
him at one time, but he was brought out 
of it by his breakfast. An English 
steamer came across the channel to note 
the trip, and Capt. Boyton was cheered 
on his way by sundry encouragements. 
His trip consumed most of the following 
night, but at two and one half o'clock, on 
Saturday morning, he touched the Eng- 
lish shore. The voyage had occupied 
twenty-three and one-half hours. The 
ill effects of the effort were only tempo- 
rary. Telegrams of congratulation came 
in upon the party from Queen Victoria, 
and other dignitaries. Capt. Boyton was 
afterward feted and feasted. 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



1819-1875. 
Charles Kings- 
ley. 



1875. May 30. The steamer Vicks- 
burg, from Montreal to Liverpool, was 
lost in a field of ice, and 83 lives were de- 
stroyed. 

1875. May--June. Extensive forest 
fires raged in Canada, Michigan, Penn- 
sylvania, and New York. Whole vil- 
lages were swept away, and lives were 



758 

lost at some points. The losses bore 
heavily upon classes not well able to bear 
them. 

1875. June 5. Certain strikes in 
Pennsylvania mines had attained such 
dimensions that the militia was called out 
to suppress the violence daily appearing. 
For several weeks evil attempts had been 
made by ill-disposed operatives to prevent 
all labor, and in some cases they had set 
fire to mines, and undertaken to wreck 
railroad trains. 

Bir.YKER HILL CEKTENKML. 

1875. June 17. A grand celebration 
of the one hundredth anniversary of the 
battle of Bunker Hill was carried out by 
the citizens of Boston, with an imposing 
civic and military parade. A vast multi- 
tude sought this Eastern city at that time, 
including many military organizations 
from different parts of the Union. The 
Washington Light Infantry of Charles- 
ton, S. C, which participated in the 
rebellion, was present, and conferred great 
interest upon the day. The streets 
through which the grand procession was 
to pass were decorated handsomely, and 
upon the morning of the 17th a crowd 
poured into them and filled sidewalks, 
windows, balconies, and even roofs of 
buildings, along the entire route. The 
procession was four hours and seventeen 
minutes in passing one point, and was 
a grand display. In the pavilion at 
Bunker Hill Hon. Charles Devens, Jr., 
delivered an oration suited to the occasion. 
In the evening general illuminations and 
fireworks occurred. It was estimated 
that 300,000 visitors were in the city. 
Very fraternal courtesies took place be- 
tween the visiting and the home military 
organizations. The occasion was a great 
success. 

48 



754 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



1875. June 17. The United States 
steamer Saranac struck a rock in Sey- 
mour Pass, Swanson's Straits, upon her 
way from San Francisco to Behring's 
Straits on a scientific expedition, and 
soon went down. Her officers and crew 
were all saved. 

1875. June 21. William M, Tweed 
was released from BlackwelTs Island 
Penitentiary, but upon his appearance in 
court in New York city, bail amounting 
to $3,000,000 was demanded of him 
upon the civil charges preferred against 
him. Being unable to furnish it, he was 
confined in Ludlow Street jail. 

1875. June 27. A terrific tornado 
at Detroit destroyed about thirty build- 
ings, and killed a large number of 
people. 

1875. June 29. An international 
rifle match at Dollymount, near Dublin, 
Ireland, was won by the American team 
over the Irish by a score of 96S to 939. 

HED RIBBO.Y TEMPER^YCE WORK. 

1875. June. The first single rIl)bon 
ever worn in the world as a sign of tem- 
perance principles was put on at Bangor, 
Maine, at a convention of delegates from 
the " Reynolds' Reform Clubs," of that 
state, the first one of which had been 
organized in the previous September. 
The origin of the badge was very simple. 
As the delegates began to gather at the 
City Hall, their appointed rallying place. 
Dr. Reynolds, the inaugurator of this 
is~5. Great wholc line of temperance 
floods in Fra7ice. work, declared that they 
must have some method of knowing each 
other as they met upon the streets, gave 
a friend some money, and sent him after 
some red ribbon,which, upon receiving, he 
cut up into short pieces, and affixing one 
to a buttonhole of his coat, tied the other 



pieces into the buttonholes of the dele- 
gates. Thus the little symbol which has 
since gone round the world on its mission, 
was started forth upon its good work. 
The importance of it at first was hardly 
realized. Dr. Reynolds was one ot 
that host who, in working for God and 
humanity, build better than they know. 
He has since then realized its efficiency, 
and makes it a strong helper of his use- 
fulness. What was at first a sign of 
recognition, soon became a pledge of 
loyalty to the cause, not simply on the 
part of reformed men, but of anybod\-. 
While it has kept many a tempted man 
true to his pledge, as his eyes caught 
sight of the color he had worn perhaps 
for months, it is not primarily a sign of 
reform, but of adhesion to the work. 
This little symbol has made the name of 
Dr. Henry A. Reynolds known far and 
wide. The "red ribbon" work may be 
put at the head of all organizations in 
point of power in temperance work. 
The states which have, like Michigan, 
felt its effects extensively, have been pro- 
foundlv changed in moral sentiment, and 
have had legislation largely altered for 
the better by the process. The South 
Sea Islands have known and felt the 
interest. For six years, since his own 
reform. Dr. Reynolds has been striking 
great blows at the evil of intemperance 
in different parts of the country. He is 
a graduate of Harvard Medical School, 
and was a physician of large practice in 
Bangor. No other man has ever had 
such indorsements in the temperance 
work. His efforts in Massachusetts were 
spoken of in the legislature of that state 
in terms of the highest praise. The leg- 
islature of Michigan unanimously passed 
a concurrent resolution commending the 
red ribbon work, and tendering thanks to 



1869-1876.] 

Dr. Reynolds. Strong resolutions of 
indorsement were presented by Rev. 
Joseph Cook at one of his Boston Mon- 
day Lectures, and adopted by a rising 
vote. In Wisconsin his efforts are bring- 
ing fresh commendations of the strongest 
sort. The straightforw^ardness, common 
sense, and fiiith in God of the man, cause 
his work to abide the test of time. 

The blue ribbon was adopted at a later 
time in Vermont by another worker, and 
its use has spread widely. The white 
ribbon was adopted in February, 1S76, by 
the " Woman's Christian Temperance 
Union," of Waltham, Mass., at the sug- 
gestion of Dr. Reynolds. It was after- 
ward adopted by the state body, and 
finally by the "National Convention." 
It is also used in other countries. Previ- 
ous to the use of the red ribbon rosettes 
and badges had been worn by the " Good 
Templars," etc., but no single ribbon had 
been known. The results already accrued 
justify the affection which thousands 
have for the little symbol. 

CEKTRAL ±¥ERIC±¥ RIOT. 

1875. June. A great riot occurred 
in the town of San Miguel, San Salvador, 
a place of about 40,000 inhabitants. The 
people had disliked some of the steps taken 
by the government, and had vented their 
discontent with considerable plainness. 
A Catholic priest named Palacois dwelt 
upon the measures in a Sabbath evening 
sermon during this month, and greatly 
excited the passions of his people. Dur- 
ing the same night a mob surrounded the 
garrison and killed a large number of 
the troops, including the officers, and set 
fire to the town. The whole place would 
have been destroyed had it not been for 
the aid given by the crew of the British 
ship Fantome. Property worth $1,000,- 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



755 



000 was destroyed. Successful resistance 
was soon made, and some of the mob 
were killed in sup^Dressing their attempt. 
Upon their bodies were found slips of 
paper reading as follows: "Peter, open 
to the bearer the gates of heaven, who 
died for religion." 

BALLOOK CATASTROPHE. 

1875. July 15. A balloon ascension 
took place from the Hippodrome, Chi- 
cago. Prof. Donaldson and Newton S. 
Grimwood started out on their aerial 
journey in the midst of a crowd of specta- 
tors. The wind took the frail vessel 
along toward the northeast, over the lake. 
When they were about twelve miles 
north of Chicago they were seen by the 
men on board of a schooner. In a short 
time the balloon darted up into the air, 
and was soon lost to sight. The schoon- 
er had undertaken to follow the balloon, 
which was at the time very near the sur- 
face of the lake, not far distant. The vio- 
lence of the wind increased, and nothing 
more was ever seen of Prof. Donaldson 
or his balloon, which was an old and ap- 
parently unsafe one when he started in 
it. The body of Mr. Grimwood was 
afterward found on the beach between 
Stony Creek and Montague, on the 
Michigan shore of the lake. A minute 
search of the region revealed nothing fur- 
ther of the balloon or its proprietor, nor 
has any light been thrown upon it since. 



1875. July 30. Violent storms 

raged in the interior of the United States. 
In some places the wheat and oat crops 
were entirely destroyed. The extent of 
the damage reached very large amoiuits. 
The inches of rainfall during the first half 
of July were greater than during the 
whole of the corresponding month in any 



756 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



previous year. Floods abounded, and 
were marked by great destruction. 

TlXDREW JOHXSOX. 

1875. Aug. 1. Andrew Johnson, 

the seventeenth president of the United 
States, died at his home in Tennessee. 
He was born at Raleigh, N. C, Dec. 29, 
1S08. He was born and reared in ex- 
treme poverty. At the age of ten he 
was apprenticed to a tailor, and during 
his apprenticeship learned to read. He 
came to Tennessee in September, 1826, 
and after some reconnoitering, settled in 
Greenville. He married a wife possess- 
ing some education, and under her instruc- 
tion learned to write and to cipher. He 
became prominent in the village debating 
society, and a favorite with the students 
of Greenville College. In Greenville, 
1838, he organized a working man's 
party, which elected him alderman in 
1828, and in 1S30 chose him for mayor, 
which position he held for three years. 
He was elected a member of the lower 
house of the state legislature in 1835 by 
the democrats, and again in 1839, In 
the contest of 1840 he worked for Mr, 
Van Buren, and was democratic candi- 
date for elector at lai'ge. In 1841 he was 
elected to the state senate. He was elect- 
ed to congress from the first Tennessee 
district in 1S43, '"^""^ continued in this po- 
sition by successive reelections until 1853. 
He favored the Mexican war and sup- 
ported President Polk. In 1853 he was 
elected governor of Tennessee; again in 
1855. The latter campaign was one of 
the most exciting and violent that hatl 
ever been known. An incident of the 
contest gives a true insight into his char- 
acter. Various threats had been made 
to assassinate Johnson. At one meet- 
ing he came before the audience with a 



pistol in hand, and placing it on the desk, 
said : "Fellow citizens, I have been in- 
formed that part of the business to be 
transacted on the present occasion is the 
assassination of the individual who now 
has the honor of addressing you. I beg 
respectfully to propose that this be the 
first business in order. Therefore, if any 
man has come here to-night for the pur- 
pose indicated, I do not say to him, let 
him speak, but let him shoot." After a 
slight jDause, his hand on his pistol, he 
said: " Gentlemen, it appears that I have 
been misinformed ; I will now proceed to 
address you on the subject that has called 
us together." In 1857 he was elected to 
the United States senate. In the Charles- 
ton-Baltimore convention of i860 he was 
the choice of the Tennessee democrats 
for the presidency. In 1861, when the 
purpose of the southern democracy be- 
came apparent he took a decided stand in 
favor of the Union, and held that " slavery 
must be held subordinate to the Union at 
whatever cost." He returned to Ten- 
nessee and repeatedly imperiled his own 
life to protect the unionists of Tennessee. 
Tennessee having seceded from the 
Union, President Lincoln, on March 4, 
1862, appointed him military governor of 
the state, and he established the most 
stringent military rule. His numerous 
proclamations attracted wide attention. 
In 1864 he was elected vice-president of 
the United States, and on the death of 
Mr. Lincoln became president, April 15, 
1865. In a speech two days later, he 
said: "The American jDCople must be 
taught, if they do not already feel, that 
treason is a crime, and must be punished ; 
that the government will not always 
bear with its enemies; that it is strong, 
not only to protect, but to punish. * * 
The people must understand that it 



1869-1876.] 

(treason) is the blackest of crimes, and 
will surely be punished." Yet his whole 
administration, the history of which is 
so well-known, was in utter inconsistency 
and the most violent opposition to, the 
principle laid down in that speech. In 
his loose policy of reconstruction and gen- 
eral amnesty he was opposed by con- 
1797-1875. Sir g^css ; and he characterized 
Charles Lyeii. congrcss as a ncw rebellion, 
and lawlessly defied it, in everything pos- 
sible, to the utmost. In the beginning of 
iS68, on account of "high crimes and 
misdemeanoi-s," the principal of which 
was the removal of Secretary Stanton 
in violation of the Tenure of Office Bill, 
articles of impeachment were preferred 
against him by congress. The trial be- 
gan March 23. The necessary two- 
thirds vote for conviction was lacking, 
and he was formally acquitted. In the 
democratic national convention at New 
York, July 4, 1S6S, he was a prominent 
candidate for the presidential nomination, 
and on the first ballot received sixty-five 
votes. After the expiration of his term, 
March 4, 1S69, he retired to his home at 
Greenville, Tenn. In 1870 he was a can- 
didate for the United States senate from 
Tennessee, but was defeated. He was 
defeated for congress in 1S72. A short 
time before his death he was elected to 
the United States senate. 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



757 



1875. Aug. 6. A general holiday- 
was proclaimed in Montreal and Ottawa, 
Canada, in honor of the one hundredth 
anniversary of the birthday of Daniel 
O'Connell, which was being celebrated 
in Dublin by a great anniversary. 

CHARLES G. FIKKEY. 

1875. Aug. 16. President Finney of 
Oberlin College, widely known through 



the country, and in England, as an evan- 
gelist of great power, died by a brief illness, 
lacking only two weeks of being eighty- 
three years old. He was born in Warren, 
Litchfield county, Conn., Aug. 29, 1792, 
but from the age of two years he lived 
in Oneida county, N. Y., whither his 
parents removed. He was brought up 
with a common school education, and in 
due time began to teach. At one time 
he intended to enter Yale College, but 
was dissuaded by the principal of a high 
school which he was attending in Con- 
necticut. He soon began the study of 
law in Adams, Jefferson county, N. Y. 
In 182 1 his conversion occurred through 
the stress of his own convictions, and not 
by any public religious movement. But 
immediately some of those powerful 
characteristics which followed him 
through all his revival work, began to 
appear. His manner with men was 
peculiarly impressive. He left the law 
and entered upon that course of preaching 
in the little churches and schoolhouses 
of Central New York, which revolution- 
ized many of those frontier districts during 
the next ten years. Place after place 
felt his strange power. In time the 
great revivalists of the East, especially 
Dr. Beecher and Mr. Nettleton, raised 
up an opposition on the ground of 
unwise methods, but the opposition was 
groundless, and in late years Mr. Finney 
labored in New York city, 1817-1875. sir 
Providence, Boston, and Arthur Heij>s. 
other cities repeatedly, and with great 
results. When Oberlin College was 
founded at the division in Lane Semi- 
nary, Cincinnati, New York men ear- 
nestly besought Mr. Finney to go there to 
labor. He finally agreed to do this while 
still expecting to preach at New York, 
a part of each year. This led to his long 



758 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



connection with Oberlin, and great in- 
fluence there. He went to England 
twice, and labored in various cities, very 
effectively. In later years his physical 
power deci'eased, and he was unable to 
bear the strain of a long succession of 
meetings. But he came to be regarded 
everywhere as a man of unexcelled faith 
in God. His theological views have 
moulded large numbers. He believed 
intensely in the individual responsibility 
of every man, every step of the way in 
life, and forced it home upon thousands of 
consciences. He was a man of unique 
power. 

B^IXK OF CHLIFORm± 

1875. Aug. 26. A sudden shock 
was given the commercial world of the 
Pacific coast, when it was announced that 
the Bank of California, at San Francisco, 
had closed its doors. A run had been 
made upon it through some suspicion that 
illegitimate speculation had involved it 
in great financial risk. Its liabilities 
were variously estimated from $2,500,000 
to $14,000,000. The effect on business 
was very great. William C. Ralston 
was president, and on the following day 
the board of directors demanded his res- 
ignation. He I'esponded at once to the 
request, and went off to his daily bath at 
the North Beach, at the foot of Larkin 
street, where he was drowned. The sus- 
pension of other banks followed at once, 
and the stock exchange and mining 
boards were closed. Business was gen- 
erally prostrated through the city. But 
the Bank of California opened again, 
Oct. 2, and the others followed. Public 
confidence was very fully restored. 

WILLMM a RALSTOK. 

1875. Aug. 27. Mr. Ralston, whose 
resignation of the presidency of the Bank 



of California was given the directors at 
their request, died by drowning. The 
common opinion was that he had com- 
mitted suicide, but this is doubtful. He 
made greater exertion than usual in 
reaching the beach, where he daily took a 
bath, and when he arrived, was sweating 
profusely. He went into the water, and 
after some tumblings, started off for a 
long swim. Upon this he was drowned, 
either by intention, or by some attack 
caused by being overheated. His body 
was soon seen floating on the water, and 
great efforts made to restore him, but 
life was extinct. Mr. Ralston had grown 
up from a poor boy. His fii'st work 
was as a shoemaker at St. Louis. At a 
later time he served as clerk on board 
a Mississippi steamer. For ten years, 
from 1S45 ^° ^^55' ^^^ ^^''^^ employed in 
this way. When he left the river he 
went to California, and was apparently 
at once sucked into the whirl of specula- 
tion. Success seemed to wait ujDon 
every word or venture he spoke or made. 
He grew very wealthy, and used money 
lavishly. A magnificent residence was 
erected by him near San Jose, and was 
finished beyond anything in America. 
Three hundred guests could be seated in 
his dining room. He kept a fine team, 
and himself drove four horses to the city. 
He afterward built a railway for the use 
of himself and his guests. He was hos- 
pitable and free with all his possessions. 
But when the crisis, came it was found 
that speculation had cursed him. His 
whole property was turned over to the 
bank to cover what he was reported to 
have used for that purpose, and nothing 
remained to his family but $65,000 from 
the insurance on his life. His course and 
end were unenviable ones, and are les- 
sons upon the dangers of speculation. 



1869-1876.] 

BL:iCK HILLS EXCITEMEXT. 
1875. August. Through the spring 
of this year hundreds of men poured into 
the region of the Black Hills, because of 
the glowing reports which had been 
made, of their richness in mineral re- 
sources. During 1874 General George 
A. Custer, with a military expedition, 
had visited the Hills, and made extensive 
explorations. In spite of the fact that 
the Indian tribes held sacred titles to this 
land, the cry of gold was taken up, and 
before summer of this year a crowd of 
gold hunters, inexperienced and unwise, 
were swarming through the section in 
violation of the rights of the red man. It 
was soon found that gold could not be 
picked up, but that scientific mining 
would be necessary to get any sure re- 
turns. Not being able to undei'take this 
at once, and United States troops at last 
appearing on the scene to protect Indian 
rights, an exodus of disappointed, but 
wiser men, began and continued through 
the summer. A geological survey of the 
Hills was made by Prof. Janney, who 
affirmed great richness in minerals. The 
excitement indicates that men now are 
very much like the men who discovered 
America, ready to forget all caution or 
justice at the thought of a little gold dust. 
Extensive mining has since been de- 
veloped in the Black Hills, which were 
finally obtained by cession from the In- 
dians. 

THE TRAMP KUI8AKCE. 

1875. August. The abundance of 
" tramps " who were roving the country, 
and living upon what they could beg or 
steal, attracted the attention of officials 
throughout the United States. This 
plague had been growing up little by 
little since the Civil War, but had been 
very much enlarged since the hard times 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



759 

began, in 1S73. It was estimated that 
during this month there were 30,000 
in Massachusetts alone. They herded 
together and established a system of 
chalk marks, by which they detailed 
their success to those coming after them. 
Instances occurred in which ^^75 Prince of 
large numbers were found ^ai^^ i" India. 
to have had a common retreat in some 
out-of-the-way place whither they would 
retire at night, and in times of danger. 
The nuisance was found through almost 
the entire North, and caused great fear 
and perplexity. Some states passed 
severe laws against them. The trouble 
has, however, gradually decreased in im- 
portance as the demand for labor has in- 
creased by the return of business pros- 
perity. 

FAST MAIL. 

1875. Sept. 16. The first fast mail 
train from New York to Chicago, left the 
Grand Central depot in the former city, 
at a quarter past four o'clock in the 
morning, and was composed of four mail 
coaches and one palace car. The former 
were painted white, and were named 
Tilden, Dix, Tod, and Morgan, respec- 
tively. They contained thirty-three tons 
of mail matter when they left New 
York. At Albany they took aboard 
seventeen bags of letters, and one hun- 
dred and fifty bags of papers from New 
England. Mall bags were taken aboard 
at almost every station from the catch 
posts without stopping, and others were 
dropped at the same points. The train 
reached Chicago at 6:27 on the morning 
of September 17, It had been not quite 
twenty-six hours on the way, and came 
into Chicago eight minutes ahead of 
time. It ran at an average rate of forty- 
one and a quarter miles an hour. Time 
was lost at one or two points by the heat- 



760 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



ing of car boxes, and was mostly made 
up on the run from Elkhart to Chicago. 
The strain was so great on the engineer 
that when the train ran into the Chicago 
depot, he fainted before he could leave 
the engine. The train effected a great 
saving of time in the Western bound 
mails. 

1875. Sept. 9. The propeller " Equi- 
nox " was wrecked near Point au Sable, 
Lake Michigan, and twenty-six lives 
were lost. 

1875. Sept. 20. A terrible storm 
raged along the gulf coast of the United 
States. The city of Galveston, Texas, 
suffered particularly. Its streets were 
submerged, and at one time the whole 
island was in imminent danger of being 
submerged. At some points the country 
along the coast was three feet under 
water. Indianola, a small town on Mat- 
agorda Bay, was wholly destroyed, only 
five out of three hundred houses being 
left standing. A great loss of life at- 
tended the storm at this place, amounting 
probablv to four hundred persons, and 
other unprotected towns upon the coast 
suffered severely. 

RED CLOUD REPORT. 

1875. Oct. 18. The commission ap- 
pointed to investigate the Indian Bureau 
of the Interior Department of the United 
States government, made public their re- 
port, upon the charges entered against 
the Bureau by Professor Marsh. The 
report sustained some of the charges re- 
lating to the doings of contractors and in- 
spectors, and in the case of other charges 
reported badly kept accounts, and gen- 
eral incompetency, but no dishonesty. 
The report led to some general reforms 
in the department. 



MOODY AXD SAXKEY. 
1875. Oct. 24. These great Ameri- 
can evangelists, who had occasioned such 
religious interest in Great Britain, began 
their first labors upon their return to 
America, in the Brooklyn Rink on Cler- 
mont Avenue, which was fitted up for 
their purpose. The building seated five 
thousand persons. Throngs attended the 
meetings steadily, and were deeply af- 
fected by Mr. Moody's straightforward 
preaching, together with Mr. Sankey's 
singing of gospel hymns. A large num- 
ber of churches united in the effort, and 
a great movement was experienced. On 
November 3 i the evangelists began labor 
in Philadelphia, holding their services in 
the old freight depot, at Thirteenth and 
Market streets. The opening day was 
one of great inclemency, but it is esti- 
mated that ten thousand people ^vere in 
and around the building at the opening ses- 
sion. The services continued with great 
power. These labors were the begin- 
ning of that remarkable career which, for 
the last five years, these men have pur- 
sued from city to city. 



1875. Oct. 26. A destructive fire 

at Virginia City, Nevada, consumed al- 
most the entire city, causing a loss of 
$4,000,000. 

1875. Nov. 4. The steamship 
" Pacific " was wrecked on the Cali- 
fornia coast, between San Francisco and 
Portland, and nearly two hundred lives 
were lost. 

1875. The steamship "City of 
Waco " was burned off Galveston Bar, 
and nearly seventy lives lost. The con- 
flagration was instantaneous, and origi- 
nated in some petroleum, which was sup- 
posed to have been struck by lightning 
and isrnited. 



1869-1876.] 

GUIBORD'S FUXER:iL. 
1875, Nov. 16. After six years of 
effort, legal and ecclesiastical, the remains 
of Joseph Guibord, who died Nov. 19, 
1S69, were placed in the Catholic ceme- 
tery, just out from Montreal. Burial in 
the consecrated portion of the yard had 
been refused the remains because the de- 
ceased was a member of the Institut 
Cafiadieti., which was formed for literary 
and scientific purposes, and had come 
1805-1815. Hatis miJer the condemnation of 

Clirisliati An- _, , ,. . . ,. ,^-,, 

dersen. Catholic authorities, ihe 

remains were at first laid after an effort 
had been made to lead the ecclesiastics 
to consent to his burial, in a Protestant 
vault, near by. There they lay until 
September, 1875. In the meantime the 
matter was pushed through the courts 
and at last carried to the Privy Council 
of England, which at last passed a de- 
cree, demanding burial in the consecrated 
ground for the remains. This decree was 
received in Montreal in August, 1S75, 
and preparations were made for the 
burial, on Sept. 3. The body was taken 
from the Protestant cemetery, but when 
the procession reached the gates of the 
Catholic cemetery, a large crowd of citi- 
zens and roughs had completely filled 
the entrance, and now began to threaten 
violence. After an effort to accomplish 
the object of the occasion, the procession 
was turned about, and departed. An out- 
break of violence was imminent every in- 
stant. In the subsequent arrangements 
for the present date, the police and mili- 
tarv were called out, and the burial accom- 
plished. The priests had prudently advised 
their followers to make no trouble by even 
being present. The grave was dug very 
wide, and the casket was laid In a large 
mass of Portland cement, filled with 
scraps of iron and tin, which would 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



761 

harden to extreme solidity. The ground 
was guarded for several nights. The 
Bishop of Montreal found his only satis- 
fi^ction in this conflict with the civil au- 
thorities, by finally declaring the portion 
of the cemetery which was occupied by 
the remains to the length and breadth of 
the grave, to be cursed and separate from 
the rest. 

HEXRY WILSON. 

1875. Nov. 22. Hon. Henry Wil- 
son, vice-president of the United States, 
died in the capitol at Washington, aged 
sixty-three years. His life record is that 
of one who nobly worked his way up- 
ward through the grinding toils and 
deprivations of poverty, until by his own 
exertions and innate worth, he became 
greatly honored. He was born in Farni- 
ington, N. H., February 16, 18 12, and 
when ten years old was apprenticed to a 
fiirmer for eleven years, during which 
time he was able to secure about one 
month's schooling a year. His real 
name was Jeremiah Jones Colbath, but 
when seventeen years old die petitioned 
the legislature for a change of name to 
the one which he afterward bore. Upon 
the expiration of his minority he walked 
to Natick, Mass,, and worked there two 
years as a shoemaker. He then returned 
to New Hampshire, intending to study 
in the schools of the state, but the man 
who held his savings failed, and he was 
obliged to take himself once more to the 
shoemaker's bench. He now began to 
come into public notice. He took an 
active part in the anti-slavery debates in 
Massachusetts, and participated in the 
Harrison campaign of 1840, after which 
during the next five years he was three 
times elected to the house of representa- 
tives, and twice to the senate. In 1855 
he succeeded Edward Everett in the 



762 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



U. S. senate, where he aided in firmly 
estabhshing- the repubHcan party on an 
anti-slavery basis. When Mr. Sumner 
was beaten, Mr. Wilson bitterly de- 
nounced the act as a " brutal, murderous, 
and cowardly assault." He was chal- 
lenged, but declined. From this time 
his influence increased. He was the 
champion of what he conceived to be 
the right, without regard to color or prej- 
udice. In 1S72 he was elected vice- 
president. The next year he was en- 
feebled by partial paralysis, and was at 
last prostrated by a second shock No- 
vember 10, from the effects of which he 
died in twelve days. He was the author 
of several books, the last of which, an ex- 
tensive work, " The Rise and Fall of the 
Slave Power in America," was not quite 
finished at his death. Mr. Wilson had a 
child-like heart, and died in the Christian 
faith. He is to be remembered for the 
consistency of his life. 

BOSS TWEED'S ESCAPE. 

1875. Deo. 4. William M. Tweed, 
rhe great New York peculator, who had 
been confined in Ludlow street jail in de- 
foult of bail upon the civil charges against 
him, escaped from his keepers while on a 
call at the house of his son. A drive had 
been taken to Harlem in company with a 
warden and a keeper, and the son Wil- 
liam. A call was made in returning to 
the jail at the house of the son, and the 
great criminal requested a few minutes 
private interview with his wife, who was 
making her home there. The request 
was granted, when Tweed stepped into 
the hall and was not seen again. In ten 
minutes the hunt was begun but in vain, 
and the news at once ran over the city 
that the victim had escaped. Search was 
made everywhere, but the matter re- 



mained for a long time one of the great 
mysteries of the day. The civil suits 
were still prosecuted. 



1875. Dec. 5. Prof. Swing who had 

been alienated from the Presbyterian de- 
nomination by a repeated trial of his so- 
called heretical views, and had left the pas- 
torate of the Fourth Presbyterian churchy 
Chicago, began preaching in McVicker's 
Theater in that city to crowded audiences, 
and in process of time organized an in- 
dej^endent body known as Central church, 
for which Central Music Hall has since 
been built. 

1875. Dec. 17. A large crowd of 
unemployed men, mostly French Cana- 
dians, surrounded the City Hall at Mon- 
treal, and with cries of" Work or bread," 
cleared the bread wagons, and over- 
powered for a time the police force. The 
city authorities, after discussion, decided 
to give work to as many as j^ossible at 
sixty cents per day. 

1875. Dec. 22. An earthquake seri- 
ously alarmed the people of Richmond, 
Va., and caused a panic among the state 
legislators who were assembled in ses- 
sion there. 

1875. The Keeley motor was pa- 
raded before the pul)lic attention this year 
with claims that it would supersede steam 
because of its greater power and less dan- 
ger in case of explosion. It was stated 
that by the process of condensing air, a 
power of 50,000 pounds to the square 
inch could be obtained. Small space 
would be occupied by the motor, thus 
rendering it very desirable. But al- 
though some scientific men examined it 
and declared it a success, yet all attempts 
to put it into practical operation have 
failed, and the motor has faded out of 
siofht. 



1869-1876.] 

S±¥L-EL G. HOWE. 
1876. Jan. 8. Dr. Samuel Gridley 
Howe died at his home in South Boston, 
aged seventy-four years. He was born 
in Boston, November lo, iSoi, studied 
in the Boston grammar school, graduated 
from Brown University in 1S31, and 
after that studied medicine for a time in 
Boston. In 1S34 he joined the Greek 
army as a surgeon, and was in that 
country till 1 831, after which he returned 
to the United States, where he became 
interested in the idea of establishing an 
institution in Boston for the blind. He 
at once set out for France and England, 
to obtain the necessary information. 
While in Paris he attemjDted to carry 
relief to a part of the Polish army which 
was in Prussia, but was arrested and im- 
prisoned for six weeks by the Prussian 
government. He was finally liberated, 
and escorted by night across the French 
frontier. In 1S33 he was once more in 
Boston, and opened the Perkins' Institute 
for the Blind. In 1S48 he opened an 
experimental school for the training of 
idiots. In 1851 he was appointed prin- 
cipal of the one established by the state. 
He took an active part in the anti- 
slavery movement, and was deeply inter- 
ested in the sanitary condition of the 
army during the Civil War. In 1867 
he again went to Greece, carrying sup- 
plies to the Cretans in their struggle for 
independence from the Turks. In 1871 
he was one of the commissioners ap- 
pointed to visit San Domingo, and report 
upon the question of its annexation to 
the United States. Dr. Howe will 
always be remembered as the inventor 
of the system of printing with raised 
letters for the blind. His work was 
philanthropic in many respects. His 
wonderful success in training Laura 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



763 



Bridgman assured his fame in connisction 
with the blind. 

In 1843 Dr. Howe married Julia Ward 
of New York, noted for her prominent 
position in favor of " Woman's Rights." 
His published works are "Historical 
Sketch of the Greek Revolution," and a 
reader in raised letters for the blind. 

AMKESTY DEBATE. 

1876. January. A great debate took 
place in the United States house of rep- 
resentatives upon the proposition to re- 
move all political disabilities from the 
citizens of the South. Opposition was 
made to this by most republicans, and 
Mr. Blaine moved the amendment ex- 
cepting Jefferson Davis from the list. 
The debate was long and heated. Many 
Southerners who were themselves mem- 
bers of the house through the kindness 
shown them at the close of the war by a 
previous congress in removing their dis- 
abilities, spoke bitterly of the harshness 
of the North. Votes were taken in one 
or two forms, but the affair ended mostly 
in discussion. 

1876. Jan. 25. An atrocious bank 
robbery occurred at Northampton, Mass., 
in which $750,000 in cash, bonds, etc., 
were stolen. The robbery was commit- 
ted between three and four o'clock in the 
morning by a gang of masked men, who 
entered the house of the cashier, bound 
and gagged seven members of the family, 
and forced Mr. Whittlesey to give up the 
key of the bank vault, and disclose the 
combination. The money and bonds 
belonged mostly to private individuals. 

WIXSLOW, THE FORGER. 

1876. Jan. 28. A sudden revelation 
that a minister named Rev. E. D. Wins- 



i'64 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



low, formerly considered an eloquent 
preacher, had been forging in business 
transactions to the amount of several 
hundred thousands of dollars, created a 
great excitement in New England. The 
criminal fled to New York, and thence 
made his way secretly to Rotterdam, be- 
cause no extradition treaty existed between 
the United States and the Netherlands. 
He was afterward found in London, and 
was arrested on behalf of the United 
States. Upon being brought before the 
court under the extradition treaty, some 
technicalities were enforced, and Wins- 
low was released instead of being de- 
livered up to the United States officers. 
Hence he continued to walk the earth 
with safety, in spite of his ill deeds. But 
the United States at once notified the 
English government that the extradition 
hitherto existing between them was at 
an end. 

1876. Feb. 5. A false alarm of fire 
given in the Robinson Opera House, 
Cincinnati, created a panic resulting in 
the death of twelve persons, and the injury 
of many more. The alarm arose from 
the flashing of a calcium light across the 
stage. The house was full, and the panic 
was complete. Persons were literally 
trampled to death under feet. 

BROOKLYK COl'XCIL. 

1876. Feb. 15. The famous Brook- 
lyn council called by Plymouth church to 
consider the situation of that church in 
relation to the recent affairs affecting its 
pastor, Mr. Beecher, and several of its 
members, met and continued in session 
for a week, closing with a public meeting 
1S16. French ^t which Plymouth chuicn 

revenue for 1875 



length bearing with favor upon Mr. 
Beecher's position, and recommending the 
creation of a commission of five to be se- 
lected from twenty persons named who 
should hear and try all charges against 
Mr. Beecher. The matter passed along 
after the appointment of the commission, 
till it dropped into obscurity, and no regu- 
lar hearingf was ever held. 



$Soo>ooo,cxx>. 



edifice was crowded to hear 



the " result," a paper of considerable 



1876. Feb. 16. The centennial ap- 
propriation bill was signed by the presi- 
dent with the quill of an eagle found near 
Mount Hope, Oregon. 

HORACE BimHKELL. 

1876. Feb. 17. Horace Bushnell, an 
American divine of unique mental and 
spiritual powers, died at Hartford, Conn., 
aged seventy-four years. He was born in 
Litchfield, Conn., April 14, 1803, and 
grew up in the region. His parents moved 
to New Preston when he was about four 
years old. He was one of six children 
for all of whom the home training was 
very fruitful. Physical activity marked 
the young Horace, who loved Nature and 
the sports which took him abroad in 
communion with her. He was always a 
very keen observer. Religious convic- 
tions early manifested a hold upon him, 
and the foundation for that experience of 
remarkable Christian attainment was laid 
in the simplicity of his childhood. His 
college course of four years was spent at 
New Haven, where he graduated in 1827 
with high standing. After some teach- 
ing and then some editorial work on 
the New York Journal of Commerce, he 
decided to go to Ohio for the study of 
law. In the meantime he was offered a 
tutorship at Yale, and at the solicitation 
of his mother he accepted it. His whole 
life was probably changed by this deci- 



1869-1876.] 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



765 



sion. At Yale a season of religious in- 
terest affected him so deeply that he gave 
up the law and turned toward the minis- 
try instead. This decision he never re- 
gretted in spite of the fact that at times 
his way was made socially dark b}^ the 
alienation of professed friends from him. 
He had great resources within himself. 

After the study of divinity at New 
Haven he was ordained at Hartford, 
Conn., May 23, 1833. Now began that 
work of preaching which was Dr. Bush- 
nell's peculiar sphere. His first efforts 
shadowed forth the power to come. 
Great earnestness of thought character- 
ized him from the first. It was felt that a 
new force had been developed in the 
preaching world. Hence his services be- 
gan to be in demand for addresses upon 
public occasions. Hard work for twelve 
years sent him abroad in 1S45 for a year's 
recuperation. This was a period of in- 
gathering and of growth. Soon after his 
return he issued a volume upon '' Chris- 
tian Nurture," which caused considerable 
agitation by its novel jDresentation of 
truths which all ought to receive. But 
now drew on the period out from which 
the works which more decidedly still set 
in array against him a large part of his 
brethren in the ministry. An enlarged 
experience, as he always thought it, led 
him to dwell much on his relations to 
Christ, and resulted first in his work 
"God in Christ," and in 1S66 in the pro- 
duction of the " Vicarious Sacrifice," un- 
folding what has since been known as the 
moral theory of the atonement, or more 
commonly as Bushnellism. His ardent 
friends claim for this all the glory of a 
freshly discovered sphere of truth displac- 
ing old thought, while others claim that 
he has only led to the emphasizing of a 
hemisphere of truth well known before, 



but beyond which there is another hemi- 
sphere unseen by Dr. Bushnell's eyes. 
His followers aver that he had the whole 
truth; his opponents that, to say this, is 
to be as narrow as the adherents of the 
old theology are charged with being. 
However this may be, he has had a wide 
and powerful influence over a certain 
class of minds. Dr. Bushnell's other 
works, " Nature and the Supernatural," 
etc., have had their meed of praise on all 
hands. His life passed on through its 
stormy period, and it became true that by 
his Christian virtues he wrought out for 
himself a place in the affections of many 
at first opposed to him. His entire min- 
istry was passed in Hartford, and the city 
will ever be associated with his name. 
From 1855 to 1S59 his health was again 
broken by his unceasing labors, and in the 
latter year he resigned his pastorate. 
He however, retained his home in Hart- 
ford, and devoted himself as he was able 
to literary labor. For fifteen years he 
contrived to work at times with a vigor 
most men would deem impossible for 
him. During this period he issued his 
final work, " Forgiveness and Law," in 
addition to other miscellaneous writings. 
Through a gradual decline his life wore 
away, and his strength departed. He 
grew more spiritual through it all, and 
dwelt more and more tenderly upon the 
great themes of life on which his mind 
had so unceasingly exerted itself. The 
end came in peace. 

CHtIRLOTTE CrSHM^X. 

1876. Feb. 18. Charlotte Cushman, 
a noted American actress, died at New- 
port, R. I., aged fifty-nine years. She 
was born in Boston, July 33, 1816. 
Having a fine voice she used it to help 
in supporting the family until 1835, when 



(60 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



it failed her in New Orleans, where she 
had an engagement iu English opera. 
It was then that she first thought of 
being an actress, and her first connection 
with the theater was as a stock actress. 
She had been given but a few hours' 
notice before she was to appear as Lady 
Macbeth, but she took the part success- 
fully. She afterward worked up in her 
studies, and visited England several 
times, where she was enthusiastically re- 
ceived, and was always shown the respect 
which her upright character merited. 
She resided several years in Rome, but 
the last years of her life were spent near 
her native city. Failing gradually of an 
incurable disease, she several times took 
leave of the stage, only to reappear when 
her strength increased. An ovation ten- 
dered her in New York a short time 
before she died, testified to the high 
esteem and admiration with which she 
was viewed. Her niost striking imper- 
sonation was Meg Merrilies, her wonder- 
ful interpretation of that character mak- 
ing it particularly her own. 

BIBCOCK'S TRIAL. 

1876. February. In the prosecution 
of the Whiskey Ring indications were 
found implicating Gen. O. E. Babcock, 
private secretary of Gen. Grant. He 
was finally indicted by the grand jury at 
St. Louis, and tried during this month. 
There seemed to have been several unac- 
countable communications between him 
and members of the Ring, but the evi- 
dence was not of such a clear character 
as to result in his conviction. He was 
therefore given a verdict of not guilty. 

Tf'ASmXGTOX RI.YG. 

1876. February. A long discussion 
in cong'ress over the condition of the ex- 



penditures in improving the District of 
Columbia closed after legislation had 
been had which prevented Shephei'd 
with his " Ring " from making more 
contracts or issuing more bonds which 
would suit the greediness of officials, but 
be hard upon the taxpayers. So another 
evil ring had its condemnation. 



1876. March 4. The Home for the 
Aged at Williamsburg, X. Y., was de- 
stroyed by fire, and twenty-eight old per- 
sons lost their lives, owing to the excite- 
ment, and the insufficiency of egress. 
The institution was conducted by the Sis- 
ters of Charitv. 

1876. March 10. A violent tornado, 
in which many lives were lost, and many 
persons seriously injured, visited Quincy, 
111., and extended through a part of Mis- 
souri to the northern part of Iowa. A 
large number of buildings were over- 
turned, several being taken up and car- 
ried a hundred feet from their foundations. 

1876. March 19-25. Extensive 
storms of unprecedented severity pre- 
vailed throughout the United States, and 
destroved much property. From Louis- 
iana to Massachusetts these storms pre- 
vailed, and in certain sections, rose almost 
to hurricanes. Freshets occurred in manv 
streams, and many vessels were wrecked 
or injured on the coast. The period was 
a memorable one. During the same 
time similar weather was experienced on 
the continent, and in England. It was 
estimated that property \vorth $io,ooo,- 
oco was destroyed in Hungary. Great 
snowstorms occurred in Scotland. Rail- 
road travel and telegraphic communica- 
tion were seriously interrupted in both 
countries. 

1876. March 29. The breaking of 
the dam at Lvnde Brook reservoir, about 



1869-1876.] 

five miles from Worcester, Mass., caused 
a general deluge, in which the Boston 
and Albany railroad company suffered 
great losses. For several days fears of 
the catastrophe had existed, and the jdco- 
ple had removed with their goods to the 
hills; consequently, the loss of life was 
small. The break occurred while efforts 
wei"e being made to strengthen the dam, 
and stojD a very small leak. Everything 
in the way of the flood was swept be- 
fore it. 

1876. March. A terrible explosion 
of about four hundred pounds of powder, 
caused by the hot ashes knocked out of a 
smoker's pipe, destroyed the Brooks 
Company's manufactory in New York 
city, killing four men and injuring seven. 

EXPOSURE OF BELKXAP. 

1876. March. The people of the 
United States were startled by a sudden 
revelation made through a committee of 
the house of representatives, whose busi- 
ness it is to investigate expenditures in 
the war department. When the report 
was laid before the house it came out 
that Gen. W. W. Belknap, secretary 
of war, had been guilty of gross corrup- 
tion in respect to the post-traderships 
imder his control, on the Western frontier. 
The matter was first disclosed by a 
Mr. Arms, who had been dismissed from 
the army, and who gave facts and names 
to the committee. Mr. Caleb P. Marsh, 
w^ho was mentioned by Mr. Arms, was 
summoned, and narrated a pitiful story 
of Belknap's wrong. The essential 
point was that the post-tradership at 
Fort Sill had been conveyed to him at 
the solicitation of Mrs. Belknap, but was 
served by a Mr. Evans, who paid Mr. 
Marsh a bonus of $i3,ooo a year for a 
time, and afterward $6,ooo, half of 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



767 



which the latter forwarded to Mrs. Bel- 
knap, and after her death to Secretary 
Belknap. When this was fully de- 
tailed the committee were unanimous on 
the question of guilt, and prepared their 
report. Secretary Belknap, knowino- 
the result, visited President Grant upon 
March 2, and handed the latter his resio-- 
nation as secretary of war, at the same 
time explaining his action in brief. The 
President was much shocked, and ac- 
cepted the resignation. The report of 
the committee was received by the house, 
and on March 3 Gen. Belknap was 
impeached before the senate. After 
considerable delay his trial came on in 
the spring, and was first delayed by the 
question of jurisdiction. General Bel- 
knap having resigned before his impeach- 
ment was secured. A vote in favor of 
jurisdiction was, however, secured, and 
the trial proceeded till the end of July. 
A vote was then taken, which, though a 
majority vote, was yet not sufficient for 
condemnation under impeachment law. 
The final vote was affected very largely 
by the question of jurisdiction, no sen- 
ators having any doubt of the guilt of the 
accused upon the charges pi-eferred. 
Secretary Belknap had a fine war rec- 
ord, and an unblemished character. His 
fall was a great addition to the long list 
of political disasters of the last few years. 

7l. T. STEW'^RT. 

1876. April 10. Alexander T. Stew- 
art, a successful American merchant, died 
in New York. He was born in Ireland, 
October 27, 1S03. He studied at Trinity 
College, Dublin, but took no degree. 
He emigrated to New York in 1833, 
After teaching school for one year he en- 
tered the dry goods business, which he 
finally increased to such large propor- 



768 



P RES EXT DE \ 'EL OP ME NT. 



tions, and in which he continued until 
the time of his death. In the famine of 
1S46 he remembered Ireland by sending 
across a ship loaded with provisions. He 
did the same for the sufferers in the 
Franco-German war. When Chicago 
burned he sent $50,000 to the relief of 
the sufferers. In 1S69 he was appointed 
secretary of the treasury, but was pre- 
vented from accepting by a law exclud- 
ing any one from that position who is in- 
terested in the importation of goods. At 
the time of his death he was proprietor 
of the largest retail dry goods house in 
the world. His wealth is estimated at 
$50,000,000. He planned several great 
charitable schemes, some of which were 
carried out after his death. 



1876. April 14. A statue of Abra- 
ham Lincoln was unveiled at Washing- 
ton on this day, the eleventh anniversary 
of his death. The statue was by 
Thomas Ball, and was erected by means 
of contributions from the colored people 
of the Union. It represents Lincoln as 
standing, holding in his hand the proc- 
lamation of emancipation; while at his 
feet is a slave, from whose arms the 
shackles are falling. 

1876. April 15. Dom Pedro, the 
Emperor of Brazil, arrived in New York, 
and began an extended visit to the United 
States, including the Centennial Exposi- 
tion. He closely studied everything he 
saw. 

1876. April. The anti-Chinese ex- 
citement in California reached a great 
height this month, because of a decision 
of the United States supreme court, re- 
lating to state control over emigration. 
The people of San Francisco had for 
some time been growing angry over the 
coming among them of Chinese laborers, 



who worked for very low wages; hence 
the difficulty. Outcry was made con- 
cerning the quarter in which the Chinese 
lived, claiming that it was filthy, and 
breeding disease; also that the immoral- 
ity of the section was extreme. The 
California legislature took up the matter, 
but rendered a decision after investiga- 
tion, that the evils, aside from the wages 
question, were all properly within the 
control of municipal authorities, and that 
the character of the city government pre- 
vented the reform of the abuses. The 
Chinese problem has since then been a 
prominent element in our politics. At- 
tention has been given by congress to the 
question, and every election has been 
more or less affected by it. Kearneyism 
was one of the most notable outgrowths 
of the situation. 

1876. May 6. A terrific explosion 
of nitro-glycerine occurred at Bergen 
Tunnel, N. J. It was charged to angry 
workmen who had struck for higher 
wages, and had been dismissed. The 
shock was felt for twenty miles around, 
and windows in the west side of New 
York city were generally shattered. 

OPEMKG OF CEKTEKmAL EXHIBITION. 

1876. May 10. The celebration of 
the one hundredth anniversary of Ameri- 
can independence, began in Philadelphia. 
For ten years this project had been dis- 
cussed, and its success labored for to a 
greater or less extent. Although at first 
it met with general disapproval, when 
the Americans were made to realize the 
full importance of the occasion, and the 
unlimited resources they possessed to 
make it a success, with true Yankee zeal 
they grasped the situation, isie. May 1. 
and bv their unparalleled f" ^f";'' 

•^ proclaimed Km- 

energy, made an interna- press of India.. 



1869-1876.] 

tional exhibition which astonished the 
world by its grandeur. On March 3, 
187 1, according to act of congress, a 
commission was appointed, consisting 
of two persons from each state and terri- 
tory in the Union, and Hon. Joseph R. 
Hawley, of Connecticut, was chosen 
president. The board of finance issued 
stock in shares of ten dollars each, to the 
amount often million dollars. President 
Grant, in the name of the United States, 
had invited foreign nations to participate 
in the celebration; forty of them had re- 
sponded, and sent commissioners. Money 
had been appropriated by congress, and 
by the various states of the Union. City 
authorities and private persons added to 
the funds. Fairmount Park, on which 
the Centennial buildings had been erected, 
was one of the most beautiful locations in 
the world. After the architect and the 
engineer had transformed the appearance 
of the park, its natural beauty was still 
wonderful. " Nature seemed to serve 
the purposes, and adorn the creations of 
art." The five principal edifices were 
the main exhibition building, the art 
gallery, and the machinery, agricultural 
and horticultural halls; the buildings in- 
closed an area of twenty acres. The 
main building, constructed of iron and 
glass, is eighteen hundred and eighty feet 
long, and four hundred and sixty-four 
feet wide. Buildings were also erected 
by foreign nations, and by the various 
states of the Union. Everything was 
ready, and the day of opening came, with 
a rainy morning, but with a hot, sunshiny 
day. But there was no chance for gloom 
in the City of Brotherly Love that day. 
Everything in the region was decorated 
with flags and bunting. The president 
and his cabinet, and the most eminent 
men of the nation, both civil and military, 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



769 



were there. Dom Pedro, the enlight- 
ened emperor of Brazil and his queen, 
accompanied the "silent" president, who 
was escorted to the grounds by a military 
guard, four thousand strong. " Noble- 
men with titles, and greater men without 
them," from every clime and nation, 
came to witness the American anniver- 
sary. To turn backward an hundred 
years, what a contrast between this impos- 
ing display of 1876, which has made the 
world to stop, and " view the grand 
creative power of men," and the quiet 
and prayerful colonial heroes, who as- 
sembled in this same city in 1776, and 
with their hearts going out toward their 
divine Creator and protector, drafted the 
declaration, which the peoj^le of 1876 so 
grandly celebrated. More than 20,000 
people were crowded into a dense mass. 
After all had been arranged, Theodore 
Thomas' orchestra played eighteen airs, 
closing with Hail Columbia. This was 
followed by a cantata, a prayer by Bishop 
Simpson, and the singing of a hymn 
which had been written by Whittier. 
Gen. Hawley then presented the buildings 
and their contents in an eloquent address 
to President Grant, who in a few words 
declared the international exhibition open. 
The announcement was at once answered 
by the unfurling of the flags of the 
various nations, the salute of the guns, 
and the cheei-s of the people. Next the 
president and the emperor made their 
way to the machinery hall, followed by 
the vast concourse of people. Here the 
president and emperor started the two 
ponderous engines which instantly set to 
going the countless wheels and rods of 
the many machines contained within that 
building. Such was the beginning of the 
exhibition — an auspicious omen of its 
close. 



770 



PliESEN T DE VEL OPMEN 7 '. 



WIIITTIER'S CENTENNIAL HYMN. 

Our fathers' God ! from out whose hand 
The centuries fall like jjrains of sand, 
We meet to-day, united, free, 
And loyal to our land and Thee, 
To thank Thee for the era done, 
And trust Thee for the opening' one. 

Here, where of old, by Thy desig^n, 
The fathers spake that word of Thine 
Whose echo is the glad refrain 
Of rended bolt and fallen chain; 
To grace our festal time, from all 
The zones of earth our guests we call. 

Be with us while the New World greets 
The Old World thronging all its streets, 
Unveiling all the triumphs won 
By art or toil beneath the sun; 
And unto common good ordain 
This rivalship of hand and brain. 

Thou who hast here in concord furled 
The war flags of a gathered world. 
Beneath our Western skies fulfill 
The Orient's mission of good-will, 
And, freighted with love's Golden Fleece, 
Send back its Argonauts of peace. 

For art and labor met in truce, 
For beauty made the bride of use. 
We thark Thee; but, withal, we crave 
The austere virtues strong to save. 
The honor proof to place or gold, 
The manhood never bought or sold! 

O make Thou us, through centuries long. 
In peace secure, in justice strong; 
Around our gift of freedom draw 
The safeguards of Thy righteous law; 
And, cast in some diviner mold, 
Let the new cycle shame the old! 



1876. May 17. A " Prohibition Re- 
form Party " convention was held at 
Cleveland, Ohio, and nominated Green 
Clay Smith of Kentucky, and R. T. 
Stewart of Ohio, for president and vice- 
president respectively. 

1876. May 17. A National "Green- 
back" convention was held on this date 
at Indianapolis, Ind., and nominated 
Peter Cooper of New York, for presi- 
dent, and Samuel F. Carey of Ohio, for 
vice-president. Its platform "desired na- 
tional paper money instead of national 
banknotes, and opposed resumption of 
specie payments." 

1876. May 30. A great fire in Que- 
bec destroyed property to the extent of 
$1,000,000, and caused much sufTering, 
and many fatal accidents. Seventeen 
streets were desolated, and about 500 
buildings burned. 



ACROSS THE COXTIKENT. 
1876. June 4. A lightning express 
train arrived in San Francisco, having 
been S3 hours and 34 minutes on the 
wa}' from New York. The time for 
this train was accurately laid down, and 
the right of way was given it on its rapid 
journey across the continent. No jour- 
ney had been made in the world equal 
to this. 

1876. June 14. The republican 
national convention was held at Cin- 
cinnati, and nominated, after consider- 
able balloting for prominent politicians, 
Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio, for presi- 
dent, and William A. Wheeler of New 
York, for vice-president. The platform 
declared in favor of national powers in 
the reconstruction of the South. 

1876. June 18. A destructive fire 
at St. Johns, Province of Quebec, burned 
nearly the entire place, causing a loss of 
$17,000,000. Several persons were badly 
burned. The loss was as great relatively 
as in the great Chicago fire of 1871. 

SAKTA AKKA. 

1876. June 20. Antonio Lopez de 
Santa Anna, the famous Mexican revo- 
lutionist, died in Mexico. He was born in 
Jalapa, Feb. 21, 1798. In 1822 he was 
in command of Vera Cruz in the cam- 
paign against the roj^alists, but was dis- 
missed on account of insubordination. 
He aided in the downfall of the Emperor 
Iturbide, and became the leader of the 
federal party, but he was soon defeated. 
In 1828 he secured, by heading a revolu- 
tion, the overthrow of the Pedraza gov- 
ernment, and the establishment of Guer- 
rero in its stead. Under this administra- 
tion he became minister of war, and 
commander-in-chief of the army. Sub- 



1869-1876.] 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAl'. 



771 



sequently, as leader of the insurgents, 
he caused the overthrow of Guerrero; 
then the lattei*'s successor in favor of 
Pedraza again. In March, 1S33, he be- 
came president of the repubHc, and he 
soon crushed out, by armed force, all op- 
position. In the Texan revolution of 
1836 he commanded the army in person, 
and ordered the horrible massacres of 
Alamo and Goliad. He was routed by 
Gen. Houston on April 2 1 , and on the 
following day was captured. The Mex- 
ican government immediately declared 
his connection with it at an end. He re- 
turned to Mexico in 1837, and took part 
in the defence of Vera Cruz against the 
French, in which he lost a leg. He 
was provisional president from Oct. 10, 
1 84 1, to June 4, 1844; and constitutional 
president from June 4 to Sept. 20, when 
he was deposed by a revolution, and in 
1845 banished from Mexico for ten years. 
He went to Cuba, but was recalled in 
1846, and appointed generalissimo of the 
army. In September he became provi- 
sional president, and soon after started 
northward to meet the American forces 
with a force of 20,000 men. At Buena 
Vista Gen. Taylor defeated the entire 
Mexican force with 5,000 soldiers. He 
collected a new army, and was again de- 
feated by Gen. Scott, at Cerro Gordo. 
He retreated with the fragment of his 
army to Mexico, and collected an army 
of 30,000 men for its defence; but the 
American stars and stripes soon floated 
over the adventurous Santa Anna's 
capitol. He was defeated in his at- 
tempted siege of Puebla, and, having a 
permit from Gen. Scott, he again left his 
country, which he had kept in such con- 
stant turmoil, for Jamaica, April 5, 1848. 
He returned to Mexico in 1853, amid the 
reckless enthusiasm of the people, and 



soon became president. By a revolution 
he caused himself to be appointed presi- 
dent for life, with power to appoint his suc- 
cessor. In the revolution of Ayutla, 
headed by Gen. Alvarez, his tyrannical 
power was overthrown. On Aug. i6, 
1855, he abdicated, and sailed for Havana. 
After a few years of wandering he again 
appeared in Mexico during the French in- 
vasion. After having pledged himself to 
strict neutrality, he became grand mar- 
shal of the empire under Emperor Maxi- 
milian; but in 1865 he attempted to have 
the emperor deposed, and then fled to 
St. Thomas. His last attempt to gain 
possession of the Mexican government, 
in 1867, resulted in his capture, and his 
being condemned to death. But Juarez, 
to whom Santa Anna had been a most 
treacherous foe, pardoned his implacable 
enemy on condition that he should quit 
Mexican soil forever. After the death of 
Juarez he was permitted to return and 
live quietly at Mexico. 

CUSTER ±YD HIS THREE HUNDRED. 

1876. June 25. The people of the 
United States were horrified by the 
massacre, at the hands of the Sioux In- 
dians, of Gen. Custer, and about 300 
soldiers. The slaughter occurred on the 
left bank of the Little Big Horn River, 
Montana territory, near a large Indian 
village. The Sioux had been commit- 
ting numerous depredations, which they 
claimed to have done with just provoca- 
tion, on the white settlers; and the 
United States forces had been sent to 
punish them. Gen. Custer, with his en- 
tire command, consisting of five com- 
panies of cavalry and their ofiicers, at- 
tempted to capture the village. The 
troops were overjDOwered by a vastly su- 
perior force of savages, the victims of 



772 



PRESEA-T DEVELOPMENT. 



whose barbarous warfare and torture, 
they became. Several brave and vaki- 
able officers were lost in the struggle. 
Major Reno, with another body of sol- 
diers, barely escaped a fate similar to that 
of Gen. Custer. In some respects this 
desperate conflict has never been equaled 
in the annals of American Indian wars. 
The United States forces virtually failed 
to punish these savage murderers, al- 
though they drove them from the coun- 
try. The efforts to capture Sitting Bull 
and his warriors wei"e all futile. To- 
ward the close of the year the Indian 
chieftain withdrew with his followers to 
Canada, where he was on British soil, 
and was unmolested. 



1876. June 27. The democratic 
national convention was held at St. 
Louis, and nominated Samuel J. Tilden 
of New York, for president, and Thomas 
A. Hendricks of Indiana, for vice-presi- 
dent. Its platform conceded that the 
recent amendments to the constitution 
had become national law, but claimed 
that state governments of the South ought 
not to be propped up by a military force. 

0^fE HUKDREBTH "FOURTH OF JULY." 

1876. July 4. This day was one of 
peculiar interest in the United States, on 
account of its being the one hundredth 
anniversary of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. In all parts of the Union the 
day was celebrated with the most patri- 
otic spirit. At Philadelphia, the seat of 
the Centennial Exhibition, the most 
elaborate preparations were made. About 
two hundred and seventy-five thousand 
visitors were present. The scene of the 
celebration was Independence Hall, where 
liberty was proclaimed a century before. 
The city was alive with multitudes, ban- 



ners, and the thunders of the batteries. 
The day came, and the spirit and enthu- 
siasm of freedom seemed 'to have entered 
into every living thing. The flags that 
waved, and the guns that roared, ap- 
peared to be inspired with the feeling of 
patriotism. After the hymns were sung, 
and the national airs played, the Declara- 
tion was read from the original nianu- 
script, by Richard Henry Lee, the grand- 
son of him who offered the Resolution of 
Independence. A national ode., written 
by Bayard Taylor, was read, and the 
Centennial oration was delivered by 
William M. Evarts. The display was 
continued through the night by fire- 
works. 

1876. July 9. Castle Garden, New 
York, was destroyed by fire. The 
building was erected in 1807 as a fortifi- 
cation; but in 1S23 was converted into a 
place of amusement. It was here that 
Jenny Lind won her first triumphs in 
America. Of late years, however, the 
" Garden " has been used as a landing 
place and office for emigrants. 

1876. July 10. The propeller " St. 
Clair " was burned on Lake Superior, 
and nearly thirty lives lost. 

1876. Aug. 1. Colorado was re- 
ceived into the Union as the thirty-eighth 
state. It has 104,000 square miles, and 
130,000 inhabitants in 1876. Its motto 
is " Nil sine numine." " Nothing with- 
out divine aid." 

1876. Aug. 11. In the race for the 
Queen's cup, at New York, the Ameri- 
can yacht, " Madeline," beat the Cana- 
dian yacht, " Countess of Dufferin." 

1876. Aug. 19. The first wire of 
the suspension bridge, over East River, 
between New York and Brooklyn, was 
successfully stretched. 



1869-1876.] 

1876. Aug. 20. The Pacific mail 
steamer, " Colon," burst a cylinder several 
hundred miles from New York, and ten 
men were killed. 

1876. Sept. 4. An extensive fire at 
St. Hyacinth's, Ontario, destroyed prop- 
erty to the amount of $3,000,000, and 
made 4,000 people homeless. 

1876. Sept. 7. Eight highwaymen 
made a bold attempt to rob the bank at 
Northfield, Minn., at midday. Three of 
the robbers entered, while five remained 
outside the bank to defend themselves 
from the citizens who came upon them. 
The cashier refused to open the safe, and 
was shot. The citizens had now begun 
to fire upon them, and in the affray two 
of the highwaymen were killed ; the rest 
escaped, but vigorous pursuit was made 
without success till the last of the month, 
when four of the criminals stopped at a 
house to secure food, when the citizens of 
a neighboring place named Medalia were 
aroused, and followed the robbers to a 
marsh, where they were taken after a con- 
flict in which one of them was killed, and 
the other three wounded. They proved 
to be members of the notorious " Yonger 
Brothers." 

1876. Sept, 8. Arrest of Tweed. 
William M. Tweed, the fugitive boss, 
who escaped from his keepers during a 
call at the house of his son in New York 
city, was arrested at Vigo, Spain. News 
of his journey had gone before him, and 
he was arrested by the Spanish authori- 
ties upon his arrival. He was extradited, 
and afterward brought to America. 

1876. Sept. 14. In the international 
rifle match at Creedmoor the American 
team gained the victory by twenty-three 
points. This was the greatest contest 
yet won by American riflemen. 

1876. Sept. 15. The Yellow Fever 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



773 

raged extensively at Savannah. The 
condition of many of the sick was most 
helpless and pitiful. The death rate 
varied from twenty-two to twenty-seven 
deaths per day. Every effort was made 
by the people North and South to check 
the progress of the plague, and relieve 
the sufferers. 

1876. Sept. 19. The trial of Gen. 
Babcock for complicity in the safe burg- 
lary conspiracy at Washington, D. C, 
was begun. Gen. Babcock claimed 
that certain professional burglars which 
it was known he had employed, were 
obtained by him for the purpose of 
gaining certain papers and facts, and not 
for robbery. 

1876. Sept. 20. Cession of Black 
Hills. The United States commissioners 
eflfected a treaty with the Indians, by 
which the Black Hills were given over 
to the whites. 

1876. Sept. 24. At Savannah, 
Georgia, 3,000 persons lay sick with the 
yellow fever. One hundred and eighty 
new cases appeared in a single day. 
Business of all kinds was at a standstill, 
and the suffering increased. 

HELL GATE. 

1876. Sept. 25. Hell Gate reef, 
at the entrance of New York harbor, 
from Long Island Sound through East 
River, was exploded. For seven years 
the work had been progressing, until now 
the entire reef of nearly three acres v/as 
honey-combed. The excavations had 
been packed with dynamite and other 
explosives, and connected by wires with 
an electric battery, after which the gal- 
leries were flooded with water. The 
nature of the explosives rendered this pos- 
sible, and it was expected to prevent any 
danger to the surrounding country. At 






PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



3 150 P. M,, electricity was applied by 
Gen. Newton's little daughter, and in an 
instant the reef was torn into numberless 
fragments — everything happening in ac- 
cordance with the expectations of Gen. 
Newton, the chief engineer of the work. 

1876. Oct. 3. A terrible tornado in 

Central America destroyed many lives, 
and property to the extent of $5,000,000. 

1876. Oct. 14. A great seizure of 
smuggled diamonds and jewelry was 
made at New York by the custom house 
officers in searching the person of a wom- 
an arriving by steamer. The total 
value was $30,000. 

1876. Oct. 21. The barque " Flor- 
ence " arrived at San Francisco, bringing 
news of the loss of an Arctic whaling 
expedition, which had been working its 
way northward through the summer, and 
had been caught in the ice in August. 
Twelve ships were abandoned by parts of 
their crews. The deserters struck out 
over the ice, and made their escape by 
means of a vessel which they found to 
the southward. The fifty or sixty re- 
maining behind probably perished. The 
fleet was inade up of vessels collected 
from New Bedford, Boston, I^ondon, 
San Francisco, and the Hawaiian Islands. 

1876. Oct. 26. The result of the 
Sullivan trial in Chicago caused great 
indignation, especially with the presiding 
judge, to whose rulings and charge the 
disagreement of the jury was largely due. 
Alexander Sullivan had attempted to 
secure some retraction from Francis 
Hanford which the latter refused to give, 
and in the subsequent assault Hanford 
was shot. Judge McAllister presided at 
the trial, and when it was announced 
that the jury had disagreed, and thus 
failed to convict, a petition was instantly 



started in the Board of Trade, requesting 
the resignation of the judge. Six hundred 
pei"sons signed it within an hour. At a 
second trial, in 1877, Sullivan was grant- 
ed a verdict of not guilty. 

1876. Oct. 31. A false alarm of fire 
created a panic in a Chinese theater in 
San Francisco, and nearly twenty per- 
sons were trampled to death. 

twejYty- third PRESIDEKTML 

CAMPyllGN. 

1876. Nov. 7. The campaign which 
closed with the election of the present day, 
will always be memorable for the close- 
ness of the result, and the expedients 
which congress was forced to employ in 
order to reach a final decision. Each 
party during the campaign had cried 
in favor of reform. The country had be- 
come disgusted with the sudden and almost 
appalling revelations of wickedness in 
official stations, and the administration of 
Grant had raised up for itself many ene- 
mies. After the first confusion, in which 
it was generally conceded that Tilden 
and Hendricks had been elected by the 
democratic party, had swept away, it 
was seen that the above had carried 
seventeen states, with a js~g insurrec- 

popular vote of 4,384,885, ''""* ''' Turkey. 

and an electoral vote of 184. Hayes 
and Wheeler, the nominees of the repub- 
lican party, were found to have in all 
certainty 166 electoral votes, while the 
votes of Louisiana, Florida and South 
Carolina, remained in doubt. If the 
electoral votes of even one of these states 
had been given to the democratic candi- 
dates, the latter would be elected, while, 
if they were all given to Hayes and 
Wheeler, the latter would have 185 electo- 
ral votes, or one more than their opponents, 
and therefore be elected. The vote of 



1869-1870 .J 



THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAT. 



775 



Oregon was also affirmed to be in doubt. 
Intense excitement now began to rise in 
all parts of the country. Each party in 
the doubtful states began to take measures 
to secure the electoral vote for its candi- 
dates, and the tide of feeling ran high. 
It resulted in sending up double, and in 
the case of Louisiana, triple returns, which 
led to irreconcilable discussion in congress, 
and a final agreement upon the electoral 
coinmission bill, approved Jan. 29, 1877. 
Peter Cooper, " Greenback," received 
in this election 81,740, and Green Clay 
Smith, " Prohibition," received 9,522 
popular votes. 

1876. Nov. 7. An outrageous at- 
tempt was made to obtain the remains of 
Abraham Lincoln from the vault in which 
they were lying at Springfield, 111. 
In some way suspicions had been aroused 
beforehand in regard to the intended raid, 
and a guard was instituted. The villainy, 
however, was well nigh successful, for 
the external marble sarcophagus had 
been opened, and some injury done to the 
internal leaden casket before a knowledge 
of the deed came to the watch. At this 
point the work was frustrated, and the 
parties escaped. It was supposed that it 
was part of an attempt to secure a pardon 
for a great criminal then in prison for 
counterfeiting. 

CLOSE OF THE CEXTEKNML. 

1876. Nov. 10. According to the 
designs of the coinmissioners the interna- 
tional exhibition was formally closed. 
The daily attendance at the exhibition 
during the summer had varied from five 
thousand to two hundred and seventy- 
five thousand; the daily average attend- 
ance had been sixty-one thousand, nine 
hundred and thirty-eight; and the whole 
number of visitors was nine million, seven 



hundred and eighty-six thousand, one 
hinidred and fifty-one. The total re- 
ceipts for admission were three million, 
seven hundred and sixty-one thousand, 
five hundred and ninety-eight dollars. 
After addresses were delivered by Gen. 
Hawley and others, and "America" 
sung by the audience. President Grant 
declared the International Exhibition 
closed. On the whole, the exhibition 
had been of infinite value. It had 
strengthened the admiration and respect 
of foreign powers for the republic, and 
had created greater commercial and 
social intercourse. It had caused the 
people of the United States to be amazed 
at the vastness of their own resources, 
and made an impress that may endure 
until the next centennial. The following 
comparison with other great exhibitions 
of the world, shows its success: 



Number of 

Tear. Place. visitors. 

1S51 — London 6,039,195 

1 855— Paris S, 162,330 

1862 — London 6,211,103 

1867 — Paris 10,000,000 

1S73— Vienna 7,254,687 

1876— Philadelphia 9,786,151 



Days 

Receipts, opetl. 

§2,530,000 141 

640,500 200 

2,300,000 171 

2,822,932 210 

2,000,000 186 

3,761,59s 158 



1876. Dec. 5. The burning of the 
Brooklyn Theater, which caught fire 
from the lights among the scenery, 
caused a loss of 300 lives. It was the 
greatest horror of the kind since the 
burning of the Richmond Theater in 
181 1. The flames spread with great 
rapidity, and cut off the escape of the 
crowd in the upper gallery. The per- 
sons upon the floor maintained quite 
good order, and reached the open air in 
safety. The crowd above, unable to get 
through the wall of flame, was thrown 
into a terrible pit of fire in the center, 
and perished by a fearful death. Two 
actors perished in trying to get articles 
from their dressing rooms. The city 



(G 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



was terror stricken. The calamity was 
the theme of conversation, of the press, 
and of the pulpit. 

FIRST CREMATION. 

1876. Dec. 6. The first furnace for 
the cremation of the bodies of the dead, 
had been erected at Washington, Penn., 
by Dr. F. J. LeMoine, at a cost of 
$i,6oo. The first cremation was that 
of the body of Baron de Palm, at this 
date. The process occupied from 8:30 
to 10:40 in the forenoon, and was con- 
ducted successfully in the manner de- 
signed. The ashes were gathered into 
an urn. The circumstance caused wide- 
spread interest, and the process seemed 
to a great many to be specially objec- 
tionable. The crowding of many of the 
cemeteries of the great cities of the 
world, gave considerable practical force 
to the discussion. Several other bodies 
have been cremated since then, and little 
notice is now taken of an announcement 
to that effect. 

ASHTABULA HORROR. 

1876. Dec. 29. A terrible disaster oc- 
curred on the Lake vShore railroad, near 
Ashtabula, Ohio, by the giving way of 
the bridge under the western bound 
express train, at about eight o'clock in 
the evening. The train consisted of 
eleven cars with two engines, all of 
which, with their 160 passengers, were 
j^recipitated into the creek, 70 feet below. 
The wreck immediately took fire, and 
thus increased the fearfulness of the 
situation, for help was not near. One 
hundred persons were killed or burned 
to death, and of the sixty who were 
rescued, several afterward died. All the 
circumstances, the driving storm, and the 
cold, helped to make it the most terrible 



accident on record in this country. It 
raised many questions about bridge 
building. 

P. P. BLISS. 

1876. Dec. 29. P. P. Bliss, the re- 
vival singer, perished in the Ashtabula 
disaster, at the age of thirty-eight years. 
He was born at Clearfield, Penn., and 
after some years of local Christian labor 
in his younger years, he became asso- 
ciated with Major Whittle in more 
public evangelistic efforts through the 
country at large. He was widely known 
by the hymns he had composed in words 
and tunes, and which are sung by all de- 
nominations. " Hold the Fort," " More 
to Follow," and kindred melodies, will 
make his life a great blessing by the 
insjDiration they give Christian faith and 
work. His wife was lost with him upon 
the ill-fated train. 

1876. The game of "Polo" was in- 
troduced into America by James Gordon 
Bennett. It has now attained consider- 
able popularity It is played upon horse- 
back with a ball, and mallets with a 
crook at the end. 

1876. The Boston « Red Stocking" 
Base Ball Club won the championship 
of the country for five j^ears in succession, 
from 1 87 1. 

1876. The " Great Republic," the 
largest river steamboat in the world, was 
launched at St. Louis. Its length is 340 
feet; beam 57 feet; width on deck 103 
feet. It carries 280 passengers, and a 
cargo of 4,000 tons cargo. The wheels 
are 37 feet in diameter. The entire cost 
was $200,000. 

1876. Owing to civil conflicts in 
LTruguay, the administration of Pedro 
Varela was overturned by his resigna- 
tion, and vSeignor Latorre became dictator 
of Uruguay. 



SECTION XXII. 
TB'I^ riGO:n 01" ZII"!/. /8 7 7-/88/. 



*\/y^'HE slow agony of financial dis- 
*J I ^ tress which had been endured 
I since 1873, now began to bring 
\^ to light a great many of the 
corrupt practices which caused the 
whole difficulty. Defalcations began to 
be revealed with startling rapidity. The 
fraudulent use of money which had crept 
into many a man's practice for purposes 
of speculation during the flush times suc- 
ceeding the war, could no longer with- 
stand the pressure. Men universally re- 
spected, were found to be transgressors 
of long standing. A reputation for ster- 
ling integrity was no longer worth any- 
thing. The greed for gain, and the im- 
patience to do a large business, had also 
taken hold of a great many corporations 
and firms to such an extent as to put 
them in the very worst condition for 
bearing any long-continued strain. 
Young men undisciplined in business, had 
entered precipitately upon large business 
enterprises. The result was, that they 
were quickly overthrown. Failures rose 
to the thousands. The " hard times " 
emphasized very severely the lessons to be 
learned concerning shiftlessness, haste to 
be rich, lack of full training, the evil of 
speculation, looseness concerning trusts, 

[777] 



and many kindred defects. But grad- 
ually the sky cleared. Political scandals 
ceased. Commercial depression lessened. 
A change set in, and a period of unex- 
ampled vigor and prosperity has begun. 
The Southern states are rapidly increas- 
ing their number of manufactories, their 
agricultural facilities, and their good 
hopes generally. Energy is taking the 
place of lassitude, and kindred com- 
plaints. Brazil, Chili, and other South 
American states, are in the midst of suc- 
cessful improvements. Already there 
are signs that enterpiise will, in the near 
future, bind the portions of this continent 
together with new bonds. If education, 
reform, religion, can have well-directed 
enei-gy spent in their service, it will go 
far toward thwarting the possible disas- 
ters of the future. 

CORKELIUS VAJfDERBILT. 

\^11. Jan. 4. Cornelius Vanderbilt, 
the man who at his death could count a 
million dollars of property for every year 
of his life, died in New York, aged 
eighty-three years. He was born on 
Staten Island, May 37, 1794. He was 
no student, but his business ability de- 
veloped early. When he was sixteen he 



778 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



bought a boat, and run it between Staten 
Island and New York city. To this he 
made additions in a small way frequently, 
till at twenty-three years of age he was 
worth $9,000, and at thirty had full 
command of the Gibbon line of steamers, 
which were paying $40,000 per year. 
His next enterprise was in building and 
putting steamers on the Hudson, on Long 
Island Sound, and other routes. He 
followed this for nineteen years, until a 
new speculation presented itself in the 
shape of competition with the " United 
States" and " Pacific Mail " companies. 
In 1S64 he abandoned steamboat specu- 
lation, having at the time a fleet of sixty- 
six steamers, one of which he gave to 
the United States government. He now 
turned his attention to railroads, and so 
successfully, that in a few years he was 
manager of 2,128 miles of railroad. The 
name of " Railroad King " was now 
applied to him. The distribution of his 
vast property was unsatisfactory, and the 
will was contested. Vanderbilt Univer- 
sity, Nashville, Tenn., received $700,000 
from him, and the Church of the Stran- 
gers in New York, $50,000. 



1877. Jan. 14. The breaking up of 
the ice in the Ohio River, swept away a 
large number of river crafts of all de- 
scriptions, and did damage to the amount 
of $2,000,000. 

1877. Jan. 14. The Packard gov- 
ernment in Louisiana, was recognized 
by President Grant. The rival govern- 
ors, Packard and Nicholls, had each been 
inaugurated on Jan, 8. Both legislatures 
had attempted to elect a United States 
senator. The United States troops had 
been ordered to do nothing save to keep 
the peace. A riot almost broke out on 
Jan, 9, but after a few shots it was quieted. 



ELECTORAL COMMISSIO.V. 
1877. Jan. 29. After much excite- 
ment throughout the country, congress 
passed a bill to prevent controversy in 
settling the disputed presidential election, 
and it was approved by the President. 
It provided that, whereas congress could 
not, in case of the double returns from 
several states, arrive at any peaceable 
method of counting them, an electoral 
commission should be created, composed 
of five senators, five representatives, and 
five justices of the supreme court, to 
whom the whole matter should be re- 
ferred for final decision. The commis- 
sion was created, and their work was 
carried on till two days before inaugura- 
tion day, in March, when a decision was 
reached by a vote of eight to seven that 
the votes of the doubtful states should be 
given to President Hayes, thus electing 
him by 185 votes to 1S4 for Tilden and 
Hendricks, But the crisis called attention 
to the process of electing a president, and 
makes it necessary to provide some way 
to obviate collision over the matter. The 
constitution is not decisive, hence the dif- 
ficulty. The result of the commission 
quieted the country, although some poli- 
ticians have constantly afiirmed that 
Hayes has held his seat by fraud. 



1877. January. The "blue-glass" 

excitement arose, and caused widespread 
talk, because of the apparent results of 
the experiments instituted by General 
Pleasonton, which went to show that 
sunlight passing through blue glass would 
heal many diseases. Many persons had 
blue glass set into a window^ of their 
dwellings in order to test its efficacy. 
Some very singular cures were reported, 
but the excitement over the matter has 
died away, and left little trace behind. 



1877-1881.] 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



MRS. DOREMVS. 
1877. Feb. 5. Mrs. Sarah Pratt 
Doremus of New York, an eminent ex- 
ample of female efficiency in benevolent 
and philanthropic labors died, aged seven- 
ty-five. She was one of the founders of 
the Greek Relief society, in 1828, was 
connected, either as founder or as an 
officer, with the Home for Women from 
Prison, the House and School of Indus- 
try, the City Bible society, the City Mis- 
sion and Tract society, the Nursery and 
Child's hospital, the Woman's Hospital 
Association, and the Presbyterian Home 
for Aged Women. She labored for the 
sufferers by f;\mine in Ireland in 1869, 
was a zealous friend of foreign missions, 
and was untiring in her efforts for the 
soldiers in the Civil War. She was un- 
excelled in good works. 



1877. Feb. 26. The government of 
Nova Scotia was pronounced illegal by 
the chief-justice of Canada, because since 
1869 a wrong seal had been employed 
upon government documents. All acts 
requiring the royal seal since 1869 were 
declared void. 

1877. March 5. The inauguration 
of President Hayes and Vice-President 
Wheeler was one of peculiar interest on 
account of its being the settlement of a 
doubtful election, the first in the history 
of the United States. The successful 
candidates were peaceably sworn into 
office, and thus the first crisis of this 
character was settled without bloodshed. 
The inaugural ceremony took place on 
the fifth of the month, the fourth having 
fallen on Sunday. The oath of office was 
administered on the third. The cabinet 
was afterward constituted as follows, viz.: 

Secretary of State — William M. 
EvARTS, New Yoi-k. 



779 

John 



Secretary of the Treasury 
Sherman of Ohio. 

Secretary of War — George W. 
McCrary of Iowa. 

Secretary of the Navy^ — Richard M. 
Thompson of Indiana. 

Secretary of the Interior — Carl 
Schurz of Missouri. 

Postmaster-General — David M. Key 
of Tennessee. 



Attorney-General- 
of Massachusetts. 
1877. March 6. 



■Charles Devens 

A fire on Bond 
Street, New York, consumed property 
to the extent of $1,000,000. 

1877. March 8. A false alarm of 
fire in St Francis Catholic church. New 
York, created a panic in which seven 
persons were trampled to death. 

1877. March 17. Frederick Doug- 
lass, having been appointed marshal of 
the District of Columbia by President 
Hayes, was confirmed by the senate. 

EXECUTION OF JOHX D. LEE. — THE 
MOUXTAIK MEADOWS MASSACRE. 

1877. March 23. The execution of 
John D. Lee, by shooting, took place at 
the scene of the Mountain Meadows 
massacre, in Utah. This peculiarly 
atrocious scoundrel was formerly a bishop 
in the Mormon church; and his execution 
was the result of a long trial, and persist- 
ent and difficult examination of wit- 
nesses, which finally brought to light the 
details of one of the most terrible mas- 
sacres that has ever occurred on the 
American continent. In the summer of 
1857 one of the finest emigrant trains that 
ever crossed the western prairies stopped a 
short distance beyond Salt Lake City, at 
Mountain Meadows, on its way to Los 
Angelos, California. For years nothing 
more was heard of it, and it was reported 



780 



/ 'RESENT DE I' EL OP ME NT. 



'• lost." But the stains of blood could not 
be washed from the Mormon hands ; nor 
could the consciences of all of them rest 
in peace. So the story of the massacre 
gradually became known to the world. 
The " Saints," declaring themselves to be 
"nispired by Almighty God," with their 
Indian allies, had by means of the most 
inhuman treachery, captured and mur- 
dered in cold blood every man and 
woman of the emigrant train. Seven- 
teen children, supposed to be too young 
to remember the scenes of blood, w^ere 
taken to Salt Lake; but these were after- 
ward taken to their Eastern homes, 
having been recognized and reclaimed by 
their relatives, and some of them lived to 
testify concerning the massacre. The 
story was long in being told. John D. 
Lee was known to be one of the leaders 
in the work ; but the Mormons were for- * 
bidden to speak of the affair. The 
federal authorities sought to bring the 
guilty to justice, but the Mormon grand 
jurors refused to act. Bishop Klingen 
Smith fled to Nevada, and made a public 
confession. It is said that two of the mur- 
derers became raving maniacs from their 
tortured consciences. The bones of the 
slain were found and buried, and the evi- 
dence was slowly but surely collected. 
In 1 87 1 John D. Lee, with others, was 
excommunicated from the Mormon church 
by Brigham Young, and he fled into 
exile in the Indian country. He was 
reported to be dead ; but he was found on 
the Colorado River, at the mouth of Pah- 
reat canyon, " keeping a ferry for the 
Saints " on their trail into Arizona. He 
was convicted as leader of the massacre ; 
but it was believed generally, from 
the testimony adduced, that the final 
responsibility rested on Brigham Young 
himself. 



1877. March 27. A flood was 

caused in the Willimantic Valley by the 
bursting of a dam at Staf- ^^-j April 2. 
fordsville, Conn. Ten per- BUmarck re- 

siffns, but vjas 

sons perished, and property ^,j„,,j ^y the 

to the amount of $ 1 ,000,000 Emperor. 

was destroyed. The agitation of the 
construction of dams was increased by 
this disaster. 

1877. March. Gen. Porflrio Diaz 
was elected President of Mexico, and held 
control of the government firmly. His 
opponents were obliged to go beyond 
Mexican limits. 

1877. April 10. The withdrawal 
of the United States troops from the 
statehouse of South Caro- ^^-y^ ,^p^ii j^. 
lina, at Columbia, took Annexation of 
place according to the order sol'tTTfrL, to 
of President Hayes. This British Empire. 
left Hampton in possession of the ground 
for which he had been contending, and 
Chamberlain at once issued an address, 
resigning all claims to the governorship 
of the state. The anticipated trouble 
was thus avoided. 

1877. April 11. The burning of 
the Southern Hotel at St. Louis was 
attended with a considerable loss of life. 
The fire broke out in the basement at 
midnight, and ascended the elevator; the 
whole building was soon in flames. In 
the confusion and panic the fire escapes 
were insufficient. The question of fire 
escajDes was made prominent by this 
disaster. The hotel was six stories high, 
and seven pei"sons jumped from the 
upper windows. Two persons who es- 
caped, afterward went insane. A coro- 
ner's jury afterward censured the hotel 
proprietors for having neglected provi- 
sions for the use of fire appliances. 

1877. April 24. The withdrawal of 
United States troops from Southern 



1877. April 24. 
Jiusstan troops 
crossed the 
Priith. Openinff 
of the Rtisso- 
Turkish -war. 



1877-1881.] 

states having been begun by President 
Hayes, it took place in Louisiana on the 
24th, at noon. Tiiis left the Nicholls 
party in possession of the 
state government, and in a 
day or two Packard and his 
adherents abandoned the 
contest. Thus the dual 
governments of South Cai'olina and Lou- 
isiana were ended because the republi- 
can factions could not maintain them- 
selves upon the departure of the federal 
forces. This was the end of military 
government in the South, and the begin- 
ning of President Hayes' peace policy. 

CHISROLM TRAGEDY. 

1877. April 29. A great thrill of 
horror ran through the country at the re- 
port of the mob attack upon Judge Chis- 
holm and his family in the jail at DeKalb, 
Miss. A man named John W. Gully 
had been assassinated on the Thursday be- 
fore, and word was circulated that Judge 
Chisholm, with his son and other repub- 
lican friends, brought it to pass. The 
judge was arrested, and his family in- 
sisted upon being confined with him. 
The household consisted of 
the judge, his son Clay, 
Mrs. Chisholm, a daughter 
named Cornelia, aged eighteen, and a 
little boy named Johnnie. On Sunday 
morning the 29th, a mob gathered and 
first shot down Gilmer, a friend of Judge 
Chisholm. They then made an attack 
on the jail. A guard stationed in the 
jail were relieved, and left the premises. 
The little boy was shot v/hen throwing 
himself between a gun and his father. 
The daughter Cornelia made a heroic 
defence, and clung to her father through 
the whole terrible scene, receiving many 
wounds. At last Judge Chisholm was 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



781 



iS77. April 28. 
Great fire in 
Constantinople. 



killed, after having attempted to fight 
his way out. The remnant of the family 
made their way home after the mob had 
fled. Cornelia died in a few days. No 
attempt has ever been made to bring any 
one to justice. 

PAMOK BROWKLOW. 

1877. April 29. William G. Brown- 
low, who gained a wide reputation in the 
United States during the war period for his 
stern adherence to the Union cause in the 
midst of opposition, died at his home in 
Knoxville, Tenn., aged seventy -two years. 
He was born in Virginia in 1S05, and 
entered the Methodist ministry. His 
political spirit was first greatly roused in 
opposition to the "nullification" theories 
of John C. Calhoun, and in 1839 he 
founded the Knoxville Whig^ which he 
continued to edit till 1S61, when the con- 
federates forcibly stopped it. Parson 
Brownlow sympathized with the South 
in many things, among them being the 
question of slavery, but he was unflinch- 
ing in his devotion to the Union. The 
confederates imprisoned him at the be- 
ginning of the war for a year, but he 
was released in 1S62, and afterward 
lectured widely at the North. In 1S65 
he was elected governor of Tennessee, 
and in 1869 U. S. senator. He was 
rough, but honest, and always true to 
his convictions. 

1877. April 29. During the burn- 
ing of the Novelty Oil Cabinet works 
at Montreal, nine persons were killed, 
and ten injured, by the falling of the 
walls during the attempts to extinguish 
the conflagration. 

1877. May 3. Ten persons were 
buried alive in a land-slide at St. Gene- 
vieve, Canada. 



782 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



1877. May 8. The expiration of all 

the important sewing machine patents 
occurred, immediately resulting- in a 
great reduction of prices in all machines; 
numerous manufactories sprung up; " mo- 
nopolies" were crushed; and the result 
was, these machines were placed in the 
hands of many of the extreme poorer 
classes, who could not before purchase 
them. 

1877. May 9. A terrible earth- 
quake ])roduced disastrous efTects along 
the coast of Peru in South America. 
The following account is taken from 
Harper's Weekly of June 30, 1877. 
" The earthquake seemed to result from 
the eruption of the volcano Ilaga, situated 
on the southern frontier of Peru and 
Bolivia. The first shock lasted from four 
to five minutes, and was succeeded by 
several others of less intensity. Then 
the sea, receding from the shore, seemed 
to concentrate its force for repeated 
attacks upon the land. At Arica the 
people were busily engaged in preparing 
temporary fortifications to repel a threat- 
ened assault of the rebel ram Huascar at 
the very moment when the roar of 
the earthquake was heard. The sea 
suddenly receded from the beach, and a 
wave from ten to fifteen feet in height 
rolled in upon the shore, carrying every- 
thing before it. Eight times this assault 
of the ocean was repeated. Strange as 
it may seem, only a few lives were lost 
at this place. At Iquique the wooden 
houses came tumbling down at the 
first shock, and a fire immediately 
spread among the ruins. The firemen, 
to procure water, had just stationed two 
engines on the beach, when a fearful cry 
arose — 'The sea! the sea!' and the 
angry waves rushed in, and the engines 
were carried away. The inhabitants 



left the city to its fate, and fled to neigh- 
boring eminences. The earthquake, the 
fire, and the water, all combined, destroyed 
nearly the whole town, and also about 
400,000 quintals of nitre stored in the 
vicinity. It is supposed that at least two 
hundred persons were killed at Chana- 
vaya, where the shock was especially 
severe. Mexillones (or Mejillones) was 
visited by a tidal wave sixty-five feet 
high, and two-thirds of the town entirely 
obliterated. A mine about four miles 
from Tocopila sank in, killing about two 
hundred workmen. A wave thirty-five 
feet high swept along the principal 
business street of Cobija, an important 
town on the Bolivian coast, and left it as 
level as a desert. Eleven large vessels 
were totally lost with many persons 
on board, and much other shipping 
seriously damaged. The propertv lost 
is estimated at twenty millions of dol- 
lars, and the loss of life on shore is sup- 
posed to be not less than six hundred. 
The government immediately made ar- 
rangements to send relief to the suflferei's ; 
and it is hoped that the ruined towns, 
many of which have suffered in a similar 
way before, will be rebuilt on sites which 
may offer greater security." 

1877. May 10. The permanent ex- 
hibition on the Centennial grounds at 
Philadelphia, was opened by President 
Hayes. It is estimated that 30,000 
people were present in the main building 
at the opening. A great effort had been 
made to retain as far as possible, the 
principal features of the Centennial. 
The buildings had been left with few 
changes, and the displays were still very 
fine. The authorities of Great Britain, 
Germany, and France, had presented 
their respective government buildings to 
the city of Philadelphia. 



1877-1881.] 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



783 



1877. May 11. The dome of the 
new court house, in Rockford, 111., fell, 
before the building was completed. Ten 
persons were killed, and many injured. 
The coroner's jury threw a great deal of 
blame upon the architect, together with 
some reflections upon the supervising con- 
tractor. The calamity called attention 
through the whole region to the careless 
construction of large buildings. 

1877. May 14. Arsenic was put 
into the food of the miners at the coal 
mines at Streator, 111., causing the death 
of sixty. It was suj^posed to be the work 
of strikers. 

1877. May 17. The Russian fleet 
which had been visiting the United 
States, under the command of the Grand 
Duke Alexander, departed from New 
York for home. 

1877. May 24. The last half of 
Table Rock, at Niagara Falls, broke 
away from its place, and fell into the 
river below, with a shock which was 
felt for several miles around. A portion 
of this i"ock had fallen years before. 
The mass which fell at this time weighed 
sixty tons. Several thousand names of 
tourists had been cut upon it. 

1877. May 29. A severe naval 
battle occurred on the coast of Peru, 
near Iquique, between the English squad- 
ron and the Peruvian iron-clad, named 
Huascar, which had been seized bv the 
followers of the revolutionist Pierola, and 
had stopped several British ships to make 
isrn. May 16. scizurcs of coal and other 

Crisis in France. i • \ cl. I 

„ . ,. , supplies. Alter a close con- 

Rcstgnation of ^ i 

entire ministry, tcst, in whicli the ram at- 
tempted to run down the English vessels, 
the affair was closed by the with- 
drawal of the former. The next day 
the Huascar surrendered to the Peru- 
vian squadron, and thus terminated the 



difficulty. Pierola had made two pre- 
vious attempts to obtain possession of 
the Peruvian government. 

JOH.X LOTHROP MOTLEY. 

\^11. May 29. John Lothrop Mot- 
ley, an American historian, died near 
Dorchester, England. He was born at 
Dorchester, Massachusetts, April 15, 
1 8 14. He studied for a time under 
George Bancroft, the great historian, and 
was fitted for Harvard College at the age 
of thirteen. He graduated in 1831, and 
spent two years at the universities of 
Gottingen and Berlin. At the latter 
place he became the intimate friend of 
Bismarck. He spent considerable time 
in traveling through Southern Europe, 
returned to America, studied law, and in 
1836 was admitted to the bar, but never 
practiced. His life, according to his own 
statement, had heretofore been filled with 
vague day-dreams of future glory. He 
desired to do something great, he knew 
not what. He would till literary soil, 
but he knew not what field to take. In 
1839 he published a novel entitled "Mor- 
ton's Hope, or the Memoirs of a Young 
Provincial." The public received the 
work with ridicule. In 1849 he was ap- 
pointed secretary of the legation to the 
American embassy to Russia. In 1849 he 
published his second novel, more success- 
ful than the first, " Merry Mount, a Ro- 
mance of the Massachusetts Colony." 
Meanwhile he contributed a number of 
attractive and notable historical papers to 
the "North American Review." Some- 
time before this he had begun a collec- 
tion of materials for a history of Holland. 
After working for two years he sailed for 
Europe in search of new materials. Be- 
coming dissatisfied with his work he cast 
aside his former manuscripts, and began 



784 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



anew. He spent several years in patient 
search among the dust-covered and al- 
most illegible archives and records of the 
heroes of the sixteenth and seventeenth 
centuries. "The Rise of the Dutch Repub- 
lic," in three volumes, was published both 
in Europe and America, in 1856. Mr. 
Motley had found the true sphere in which 
to exercise his wonderful genius. This 
brilliant v^ork was so universally and justly 
applauded that he at once took his rank 
among the great historians of the world. 
His works were translated by eminent 
authorities, into French, Dutch, German, 
and Russian. Mr. Motley won the ap- 
plause of intelligent people on both con- 
tinents. In 1S60-67 he published in four 
volumes, " The History of the United 
Netherlands, from the Death of William 
the Silent, to the Twelve Years' Truce, 
1609." He also ably served as minister 
to Austria from 1 86 1-67. During the 
Civil War he ardently favored the cause 
of the Union, and of emancipation, and 
did a great work in supporting the cause 
abroad. In 1869 he was appointed min- 
ister to England. His ability as a man 
and a diplomatist, made him a great fa- 
vorite with the British people. But Mr. 
Motley was a friend of Charles Sumner, 
and Mr. Sumner and President Grant 
became enemies. On an unjust and ridic- 
ulous pretext, Mr. Motley was recalled. 
His recall was regarded by those who 
understood the matter, as an uncalled for 
insult to Mr. Motley, from the govern- 
ment which he loved and served as a 
patriot. After this time he resided in 
England. In 1874 he published, in two 
volumes, " The Life and Death of John 
of Barneveld, Advocate of Holland; 
with a View of the Primary Causes of the 
Thirty Years' War." He had begun 
work on the " Thirty Years' War " be- 



fore his death. His funeral address was 
given by Dean Stanley. He received 
degrees from the leading colleges of 
England and America. 

1877. May 30. A great fire occurred 
in Montreal, and burned sixty houses, 
with a loss of more than half a million 
dollars. 

1877. May. Destructive forest fires 
raged in many parts of the country. 
The Eastern United States suffered se- 
verely. Portions of Massachusetts, and 
other New England states met with great 
losses. Pennsylvania and New York 
also experienced similar calamities. In 
some cases whole villages were swept 
away. In Michigan and Wisconsin mil- 
lions of feet of pine timber were burned. 
In one or two Canadian districts the 
country was entirely swept over, and a 
great many people made were rendered 
homeless. Lives were lost in different 
sections. 

1877. June 4. A destructive tor- 
nado visited Mt. Carmel, 111., killing 
twenty-two persons, and destroying prop- 
ei"ty to the extent of $500,000. One 
hundred and twenty buildings were de- 
stroyed. The tornado did great injury 
in many other places through Southern 
Illinois. 

1877. June 6. The $7,000,000 suit 
brought by the city of New York against 
Peter B. Sweeney, one of the allies of 
Boss Tweed, was at last compromised by 
the payment of $400,000 into the city 
treasmy. 

1877. June 13. The social prej- 
udice against Jews was inanifested very 
clearly in the refusal of Judge Hilton of 
New York, to admit Mr. Seligman, a 
wealthy New York banker, a Jew, to 
the Grand Union Hotel, at Saratoga, for 



1877-1881.] 

the Summer. The action was based 

1877. June 3. "P°''' ^^""^ alleged OppOsitioil 

^ueen of Hoi- of Other guests and patrons 
land died. ^^ ^^^ j^^^^j ^^ ^j^^ prcsence 

of Jews. A great deal of talk was ex- 
pended upon the affair, but gradually 
died away before long. Judge Hilton 
affirmed that the question was not a re- 
ligious one, but simply one relating to 
the class of guests which it was desirable 
to have at the hotel. The matter proved 
a great mistake, and caused a very exten- 
sive discussion of the question of race 
prejudice. 

JOHK S. C. ABBOTT. 

\^11. June 17. John S. C. Abbott, 
widely known as a writer of popular his- 
tory, died at Fair Haven, Conn., aged 
seventy-two years. He was born in 
Brunswick, Maine, in 1805, and with his 
brothers Jacob and Gorham D., became 
known at first as greatly interested in plans 
of education for girls and 
boys. John S. C. graduated 
at Bowdoin, in the famous 
class of 1825, and then stud- 
He preached very much 
during his long life, even while engaged 
the most closely in historical writing. 
He drifted into literature very naturally, 
and had certain qualities which made his 
productions entertaining. They will 
never rank high as histories, however. 
Mr. Abbott's life was a busy and chang- 
ing one. He retained an active mind 
till the close of his days. 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



785 



iS77. Jirne 12. 
House of Com- 
mons refused to 
abolish capital 
punishment. 

ied theology. 



1877. June 20. St. John, New 
Brunswick, was almost entirely de- 
stroyed by fire. Four hundred acres were 
burned over. Fifteen churches and all 
the public buildings were destroyed, and 
fifteen thousand people were made home- 



less. The loss was about $12,000,000, 
but the calamity was a worse one for the 
region than the great Chicago fire for its 
region. 

.MOLLIS MAGUIRES. 

1877. June 21. Ten men of the 
" Mollie Maguire " organization were 
hung in Pennsylvania, for murder. 
The executions took place at Pottsville 
and Mauch Chunk. Great terror had 
been caused by the power attained by the 
Mollie Maguires, who had gained control 
of the " Ancient Order of Hibernians," 
and carried on their work in great 
secrecy. Their plans and deeds were 
ferreted out by a detective named James 
McParlan, who, in the employ of Allan 
Pinkerton, joined the order, and remained 
a member for a time sufficient to enable 
him to gain all the needed evidence. By 
the exposure and subsequent executions, 
the evil power was broken up. 



1877. June. An Indian outbreak 
occurred in Idaho, and a large number of 
whites were killed. The atrocities were 
chiefly committed along the Salmon 
River. The United States troops were 
sent upon the savages at once, and the 
latter fled at first, but afterward a battle 
was fought, with the defeat of the former, 
and a loss of thirty men. 

ROBERT DALE OWEX. 

\%11. June 24. Robert Dale Owen, 
an author and thinker, died at Lake 
George, N. Y. He was born in Glas- 
gow, Scotland, and came to America 
with his father, Robert Owen, in 1823. 
A portion of his student life had been 
spent in Switzerland. During his life in 
America he was several times a member 
of the Indiana legislature, and later of 
the United States congress. The bill 

50 



786 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



incorporating the Smithsonian Institution 
was introduced by him, and he became 
one of the regents. Mr. Owen became a 
valued friend of President Lincohi, and 
was very clear in all his defense of the 
Union. He wrote extensively, and is 
widely known for having been an advo- 
cate of Spiritualism. He was advanced 
in many of his views, but in some re- 
spects was not a well balanced guide in 
thought. His spirit was very excellent. 

1877. July 1. Two men in a row 
iDoat above Niagara Falls found them- 
selves drifting into the current, and 
jumping overboard, attempted to swim 
ashore, but it was too late, and they were 
swept down the falls. 

1877. July 12. A riot occurred in 
Montreal, in the attempt of the Roman 
Catholics to suppress all signs of the 
presence or sentiments of Orangemen on 
this, the anniversary day of the latter. 
A contemplated parade had been given 
up because of threatened violence, but 
during the day the crowd attacked a 
young Orangeman, and killed a man 
named Thomas Lee Hackett, who at- 
tempted to defend him. It was a scene 
of great violence, and sheds a sad light 
upon religious antagonism. 

1877. July 12. A great victory was 
obtained over the Indians of the North- 
west, by Gen. O. O. Howard, at the 
mouth of the Cottonwood, after a forced 
march of considerable difficulty. The 
battle was severe, but finally decisive. 
The American loss was eleven killed, and 
twenty-four wounded. The Indians 
under Joseph afterward opened negotia- 
tions, but only with the desire to gain 
time. In a few days thirty Chinamen 
were massacred by them on the Clear- 
water River. 



GRE?1T R:iILROAD STRIKES. 

1877. July 17-30. A great convul- 
sion occurred among the railroad hands 
on the central roads of the United 
States, and threatened, for a time, to 
sweep everything before it. The begin- 
ning was on July 17, when the brake- 
men and firemen on the Baltimore 
and Ohio railroad refused to work, and 
prevented others from working, because 
their wages had been reduced ten per 
cent. Special violence was shown at 
Martinsburg, West Va., where the 
freight trains were stopped, and by night 
about 1,200 cars were detained there. 
The militia were ordered out, but did 
very little. All the authorities seemed 
lacking in energy and decision. By 
Wednesday, July iS, the entire road was 
in the strikers' possession. A call for aid 
was made upon the government, to 
which President Hayes responded with 
a body of federal troops, and a proclama- 
tion to the rioters to disperse. On Thurs- 
day three trains went out of Martinsburg 
under protection of troops, but the spirit 
of the strikers was gaining in intensity, 
and spreading over other divisions. Some 
of the influences had reached Chicago. 
By the middle of the afternoon eighteen 
trains had been stopped at Pittsburgh, 
Penn. A meeting of the " Tradesmen's 
Union " was held, and resolutions were 
passed, demanding concessions from the 
companies. The excitement increased 
steadily, and Friday saw Pittsburgh com- 
pletely within the power of the rioters, 
who defied the sheriff, and boasted that 
they could not be intimidated by any 
body of troops which could be mustered. 
By night 1,500 cars had been stopped. 

At Baltimore the Maryland regiments 
were ordered out, and as they were leav- 
ing their armory were met by a crowd of 



1877-1881.] 

several thousands. Stones and brickbats 
began to be thrown, and fell thickly 
upon them, until in self-defence they were 
obliged to fire. Several were killed. 
On Saturday afternoon the State militia of 
Pennsylvania arrived at Pittsburgh, and 
then followed a scene of riot and violence 
never before known in any American 
city. The militia finding the foe so for- 
midable, stationed themselves in the rail- 
road " round house." The mob had in 
the meantime sacked the gun-stores, and 
were therefore well armed. Fire was 
opened by them upon the militia, and re- 
turned in earnest. Several upon each 
side were killed. An attempt was now 
made to burn out the troops, and it was 
finally accomplished by burning cars of 
petroleum. The militia, however, with 
some difficulty, made their escape. The 
conflagration spread rapidly, and the 
railroad property was soon in ruins. 
Plunder was dragged from the bursted 
cars and storehouses, in every direction. 
The violence was I'estricted carefully to 
railroad property. Thi-oughout Penn- 
sylvania, on this day and on Sunday, 
railroad property to the amount of mil- 
lions of dollars was destroyed. Monday 
brought very little change. Serious riots 
broke out in Philadelphia, and the 
prompt action of the authorities alone 
prevented further disturbance. 

The strike was now spreading over 
the country. Wednesday saw Chicago 
badly infected, and on Thursday morn- 
ing a reckless mob began depredations. 
Several times during the day there were 
collisions between the police, assisted by 
the militia, and the mob. At one time a 
charge was made upon a violent crowd 
by a force of cavalry, by which several 
were killed or injured. After a second 
encounter in the evening, the crowd dis- 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



787 



persed. At the same time similar scenes 
were being enacted in St. Louis and 
San Francisco. In each city the riotous 
attempts were overthrown. Near Scran 
ton, Penn., the pumps of the mines were 
stopped, which caused the flooding of the 
mines. Friday and Saturday saw traffic 
resumed on the railroads. Some of the 
companies compromised with the strik- 
ers. The Baltimore and Ohio run its 
trains with new hands, under the protec- 
tion of the militia. The most noticeable 
feature of the whole was that the violence 
once begun was largely helped on by 
roughs, and tramps, and plunderers, who 
had never been employed on any rail- 
road. The lawless classes were at once 
enlisted in the eflfort, for purposes of 
personal gratification. 



1877. July 21. A small whaleboat, 

containing Captain Crapo and his wife, 
arrived at Liverpool on a trip across the 
Atlantic, from New Bedford, Mass. 
They had encountered three gales, and 
had made one of the most venturesome 
expeditions on record. Their voyage 
caused much comment in England, and 
their boat was exhibited to many inter- 
ested spectators. 

1877. July 22. Gen. Escobedo, the 
Mexican revolutionist, being found with 
his staff upon the Texas side of the Rio 
Grande River, was arrested by Col. 
Price of the United States army. Gen. 
Escobedo was intending to enter Mexico 
the next day, with military supplies for 
another attempt upon the government of 
that country. 

1877. A terrible eruption of Coto- 
paxi, S. A., occurred during the summer 
of this year. It is estimated that between 
one and two thousand cattle were 
drowned by an upheaval of the streams. 



788 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



1877. Aug. 5. Seventeen persons 

were burned to death in a poorhouse in 
Norfolk county, Canada. 

1877. Aug. 9. A severe engage- 
ment took pLace between Gen. Gibbon 
and the Nez Perces Indians. Gen. Gib- 
bon's force was inferior to that of the sav- 
ages, and the result of the comparatively 
bloody fight was indecisive. Each side 
withdrew, after losing heavily. 

1877. Aug. 12. A raid was made 
across the Rio Grande from Mexico, by 
about twenty armed men, who released 
criminals from the jail in Rio Grande 
city, Texas, and in the conflict wounded 
several parties. The raiders escaped, 
although they were pursued by U. S. 
troops. 

1877. Aug. 16. A leading astro- 
nomical discovery of this century took 
place, when Prof. Asaph Hall of the 
Observatory at Washington, discovered 
the first of two satellites of the planet 
Mars, and a day or two later, the second 
one. Prof. Henry telegraphed the news 
to Europe on the 19th. It was received 
with great rejoicing everywhere. Search 
had long been made for these little 
bodies. They were discovered with a 
twenty-six inch reflector made in 1S73 
by Alvan Clark of Cambridge, which is 
called the best in the world. 

1877. Aug. 18. An extensive fire 
destroyed nearly all of the town of 
Gayville, Dakota. Three hundred 
buildings were consumed. 

BRIGHtIM YOClYG. 

1877. Aug. 29. Brigham Young, 
the Mormon ruler in Utah, died at Salt 
Lake city. He was born at Witting- 
ham, Vermont, June i, iSoi. His 
father was a farmer's son, who was un- 
able to educate him. He learned the 



painter's trade, in connection with which 
he occasionally preached as a member of 
the Baptist church. He joined the 
Mormons at KIrtland, Ohio, and was 
ordained an elder in the ls^7. Atig. so. 
church. He became one of _." / """^ 

Japan sup- 

the twelve apostles, and in pressed. 
1835 he was sent to the Eastern states as 
a missionary ; in making converts he was 
very successful. He was soon after sent to 
England, and was there equally success- 
ful. He claimed to be able to speak in 
the tongue of Adam and Eve, and by 
various services rose to great power and 
influence in the Mormon church. It was 
Young that introduced the infamous prac- 
tice of polygamy into the Mormon re- 
ligion. He asserted that " the Lord 
revealed it unto him " while he was in 
England. After the murder of Smith, 
Young easily managed to assume the 
power. His principal rival was Sidney 
Rigdon, whom he doomed to be " buf- 
feted in the flesh for a thousand years." 
But the " prophet " and his followers be- 
came aware that they could not live in 
peace with the " Gentiles ; " accordmgly 
they set out for the "promised land " of 
Utah, which pioneers had explored for 
Smith several yeai's before. Smith's un- 
perfected plans were taken up by the cun- 
ning Brigham, who displayed a great deal 
of generalship in leading his band through 
the Western wilds. The first band of 
" Saints " arrived at Salt Lake, Jul}^ 34, 
1S47. Here the prophet planned the 
city, and set the men to work; then he 
left for another band of " Saints," and 
the next year conducted another pilgrim- 
age across the mountains. Meanwhile 
emigration poured in from every nation 
in Europe. The next year the State of 
Deseret was organized-, with Young as 
pfovernor; but congress refused it admis- 



1877-1881.] 

sion into the Union. A territorial gov- 
ernment was organized, and President 
Fillmore appointed the " prophet " gov- 
ernor. In 1854 a " Gentile " governor was 
appointed, but he could obtain no foothold ; 
the Mormons defied the federal authority. 
In 1857 Alfred Gumming, a new gov- 
ernor, arrived with a military force of 
2,500 men. The Mormons submitted; 
but Brigham Young remained virtual 
dictator of the territory. The " celestial 
law of marriage " was proclaimed by 
Young on Aug. 39, 1S52. One of the 
chief sources of his absolute power w\is 
the order of the Danites, a seci'et organi- 
zation within the church, of which he 
was " grand archee." In 1862 congress 
passed a law against polygamy; but the 
Mormons have successfully defied this. 
Brigham Young himself, at the time of 
his death, had twenty wives and sixty- 
four children. His nineteenth wife, Ann 
Eliza, created an uproar in the harem, 
and also abroad, by suing for a divorce 
which she could not obtain, on the 
ground that her marriage was not a legal 
one. Brigham's death was perhaps 
hastened by the anxieties caused by the 
developments in regard to the horrible 
Mountain Meadows massacre, which he 
is supposed to have instigated. He pos- 
sessed considerable executive ability, and 
before his death had amassed a large foi"- 
tune. He was essentially selfish and 
arbitrary. 

1877. August. A great enterprise 

was brought to a successful conclusion, in 
the St. Lawrence River, where it forms 
the harbor of Quebec, in raising from the 
bed of it masses of tangled anchors and 
cables which had begun to give great 
annoyance to ship-mastei's. It is thought 
that Wolfe's fleet, when they silently 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



789 



floated with the tide, to an attack on the 
city, in 1 759, dropped the first of these 
obstructions. In course of time, other 
anchors had to be abandoned, because 
they could not be disentangled, and thus 
the nests grew larger and larger. For 
several years the " harbor commission " 
had been at work on the problem. 
During the last tv^^o years a barge was 
kept in operation, and raised several 
masses from a depth of one hundred and 
thirty, or more, feet below low water. 
One mass contained seventy anchors, and 
two thousand fathoms of chain, and 
weighed two hundred and forty tons. 
Six or eight nests in all were discovered. 

1877. Sept. 4. The ex-union and 
confederate soldiers met together at 
Cincinnati, and made pre- ^^.77 sett.s 
liminary arrangements for Di^'tth of Thiers. 
a re-union of members of both armies, 
to take place in 1878. 

1877. Sept. 14. The international 
rifle match, between the American and 
British teams, at Creedmoor Range, L. I., 
was concluded by a brilliant victory for 
the Americans. The victors were armed 
with Remington rifles. The score made 
beat the world. 

1877. Sept. 18. Masked robbers 
plundered the Pacific express train of 
$75,000 at Big Springs, Nebraska. 

1877. Sept. 22. Fraud Detected. 
John S. Morton, president of the West 
Philadelphia passenger railway, acknowl- 
edged the over issue of ten 

, , , , , ISn. Sept. 23. 

thousand shares, valued at ^^^1/1 of Le 

$1,000,000. He confessed Verrier. 

that the fraud had been in existence since 
1870. Other ofiicials were also impli- 
cated. 

1877. Sept. 24. A great fire de- 
stroyed a part of the Patent office at 
Washington, causing a loss to the govern- 



790 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



iTlent of $1,000,000, besides the loss of 
models and papers which cannot be 
reckoned by dollars and cents. It was 
the most extensive fire that had occurred 
in the capital for twenty-five years. The 
appliances for protection against such a 
calamity were very imperfect. The cause 
of the fire was not learned. 

1877. Sept. 26. A delegation of 
Sioux and Arapahoe Indians arrived in 
Washington, and were formally received 
by President Hayes at the White House, 
in full savage dress of paint and feathers. 
They expressed a desire to live like 
white people. The president promised 
them aid in the way of agricultural 
implements, schools, and churches. 

1877. September. The yellow fever 
raged in Florida, and a large number of 
cases occurred at Fernandina and other 
places. To a large extent it was con- 
fined to the colored people. 

1877. September. President Hayes, 
with friends, made a presidential tour 
through the South, and was everywhere 
received with great favor. 

1877. Oct. 2. Forgeries by W. Gil- 
man, Wall street, New York, to the 
amount of $247,000, were discovered. 
Mr. Oilman had been carrying on these 
forgeries for two years — generally select- 
ing insurance scrip of small value for his 
purposes. His detection was through 
Talmadge & Co., bankers, who applied 
to the Third National Bank for a loan, 
giving as collateral two certificates of 
scrip of the Atlantic Mutual Insurance 
Company for $10,000 each. Upon com- 
parisons for identification, it was found 
that these had been raised from $100 
each, for which amount they had been 
issued in 1S76 to Oilman. This was the 
largest defalcation of several which ap- 
peared at just this time. ?vlr. Oilman 



afterward gave himself up, pleaded 
guilty, and was sent to Sing Sing jDrison 
for five yeai's. It was all done within 
twelve days, and was a rare instance of 
prompt justice. 

1877. Oct. 4. A destructive storm 
rasred on Long Island Sound and eastern 
parts of the Atlantic coast. In Delaware 
Bay ten vessels foundered at their moor- 
ings. 

1877. Oct. 5. Chief Joseph and his 
band of Nez Perces Indians surrendered 
to Oen. Miles on Snake Creek in the 
northwestern part of the United States. 
This is said to have been one of the inost 
brilliant victories in the history of Indian 
warfare; and the Nez Perces obtained 
the reputation of being the only " gener- 
ous foes" among western savages. 

1877. Oct. 8, A United States com- 
mission, under the leadership of Oen. 
Terry, met Sitting Bull and his Sioux 
warriors at Fort Walsh, on the Canadian 
frontier, for the purpose of 1977. Oct. 14. 

c • • 1 i 1 • Republican vic- 

confernng m regard to his , . r- , 

o o tory in trencit 

return to the reservation, election. 
Full pardon was oflfered to the savages 
for the past, on condition of their return 
and future good behavior. But Sitting 
Bull scornfully rejected the proposal, and 
the treaty was broken off. The Sioux 
remained the subjects of Queen Victoria. 
The British government promised to 
locate them on the Red Deer River in a 
fine region of country for game. 

1877. Oct. 10. A long confession 
was published by Boss Tweed, occupying 
eighteen columns in the New York 
Herald. It implicated a great many 
legislators and others, told how he had 
carried his corrupt plans out at Albany, 
and offered to become a government wit- 
ness, on condition of being set at liberty. 
This offer was never accepted. 



1877-1881.] 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



/91 



1877. Oct. 20. Another destructive 
fire consumed a large part of one of the 
suburbs of St. John, N. B., rendering 
two thousand peoj^le homeless, and caus- 
ing a loss of $300,000. 

1877. Oct. 23. An incendiary at- 
isii. Oct. 22. tempt was made to burn 

rea coa mine ^j^^ ^j. ^^ FredeHcton, N. 
explosion near J ' 

Glasgow. B., but failed to be success- 

ful. In a week another attempt was 
made, and a loss of $30,000 inflicted. 

OLIVER P. MORTOK. 

1877. Nov. 1. Oliver P. Morton, an 
American statesman, died at Indian- 
apolis, Ind. He was born in the village 
of Saulsbury, Wayne county, Indiana, 
August 14, 1S33. He was of English 
descent, and of humble origin. His 
father was a shoemaker, who came to 
Indiana from his native state. New Jer- 
sey, when quite young. While Oliver 
was in his childhood, his mother died. 
When grown up he devoted four years 
to learning the hatter's trade, which he 
i877. October. abandoned to enter Miami 

Karx besieged by , , /^ r /--\ 

Russians. ' U uivcrsity , at Oxford, Ohio. 

He remained in college two years, and 
then in 1S45 began the study of law at 
Centerville, Ind. At the very com- 
mencement of his practice he came in 
contact with some of the ablest lawyers 
of the state, and proved himself a suc- 
cessful rising lawyer. Five years after 
his admission to the bar he was ap- 
pointed by the governor as circuit judge, 
to fill a vacancy on the bench ; he was 
now twenty-nine years of age. This 
position he held one year, and then re- 
turned to the practice of law, which he 
continued with some intermissions until 
1S60. His entrance into jDolitics was in 
1856. Up to this time he had been a 
democrat. On the repeal of the Mis- 



souri Compromise, and the passage of 
the Kansas- Nebraska bill in 1S54, he de- 
serted the democratic party, and connected 
himself with the people's party, (after- 
ward republican.) He was among the 
first to rebel against the dangerous ten- 
dencies of the aggressive slave power. 
On May i, 1856, a state convention com- 
posed of all those opposed to the prin- 
ciples of the democratic party, assembled 
at Indianapolis, and nominated Mr. Mor- 
ton for governor. He made a thorough 
canvass of the state, but was defeated. 
From this time forward he was the leader 
and favorite of his party in the West. In 
1S60 the republican party presented a 
complete organization, ready to combat 
the democracy, which then controlled the 
various branches of the government. In 
this year the republicans of Indiana 
nominated Henry S. Lane for governor, 
and Mr. Morton for lieutenant-governor; 
and it was during this canvass that he 
developed his wonderful power as a po- 
litical speaker. In January, 1861, Mr. 
Lane was elected United States senator, 
and Mr. Morton became governor. The 
events of the war developed his execu- 
tive ability, and made him a recognized 
power in national affairs. His untiring 
energy, his keen insight into public 
movements, and their results, and his 
power to trample under foot all opposi- 
tion, placed him in the front rank of 
American politicians. He believed heart 
and soul in the Union. He was a strong 
partisan, and was to a certain degree un- 
scrupulous as to means employed to ob- 
tain results; yet in all his public life he 
was never known to do a dishonest act. 
By his activity, every call of President 
Lincoln during the Civil War, was 
answered by an excess of the number of 
troops required from his state. The num- 



792 



PRESENT DE VELOPMENT. 



ber of troops furnished by Indiana was 
208,367 ; all but 17,000 of these were vol- 
unteers. The state legislature was opposed 
to the progress of the war, and refused 
to vote the money to defray the expenses 
of the soldiers. The state finances were 
in a bad condition, and Gov. Morton was 
forced to solicit money from w^ealthy 
loyal citizens, in order to defray the cost 
of providing for the troops. During this 
time he was the trusted friend and coun- 
selor of President Lincoln. It is written 
that Mr. Lincoln, after reading one of Mi'. 
Morton's speeches, in 1 860, said : " It cov- 
ers the whole ground, and declares the 
whole policy of the government. It is the 
policy I shall pursue from the first." Mr. 
Morton crushed conspiracy at home, and 
aided largely in destroying the " neutral- 
ity " of Kentucky. In 1S64 he was re- 
elected governor of Indiana by 20,000 
majority. The next year he was stricken 
down with paralysis, and sj^ent some 
time traveling in Europe, but received 
little benefit. On his return he was 
elected to the United States senate. In 
this position he continued, by reelection, 
until the time of his death. In the sen- 
ate he became the recognized leader of 
his party. He served prominently on 
sevei'al committees; filling the position 
of chairman on the committee on privi- 
leges and elections, with marked ability. 
He labored extensively for the abolition of 
the electoral system, and the election of 
the president by the direct vote of the 
people. He was also instrumental in ex- 
posing many election frauds. In the 
spring of 1877 Senator Morton, with 
others, was ordered to Oregon to inves- 
tigate alleged election frauds. While re- 
turning home he received a second para- 
lytic stroke, which finally resulted in 
death. His last words were: " I'm dy- 



ing, I'm worn out." More fitting words 
for the close of his life could not have 
been uttered. 

1877. Nov. 11. A serious revolt of 

the garrison at Sandy Point, Straits of 
Magellan, took place, and i-esulted in the 
murder of the captain, and about fifty 
citizens of the town. The soldiers re- 
leased the convicts, destroyed much valu- 
able property, and committed acts of vio- 
lence of every kind. They at last fled 
the place with what plunder they could 
secure. 

1877. Nov. 23. The international 
fish commission at Halifax awarded 
$5,500,000 to Great Britain for fishing 
privileges given to the United States. 
The American commissioner dissented. 
This was the last of the four commis- 
sions provided for by the treaty of Wash- 
ington, and related very greatly to the 
mackerel fishery which had been discov- 
ered around the Gulf of St. Lawrence 
since the treaty of 18 18. The award 
caused great dissatisfaction in the United 
States. 

1877. Nov. 24. Heavy gales did a 
great amount of damage along the At- 
lantic coast. In Richmond the streets 
were submerged, and the gas lights ex- 
tinguished. The man-of-war " Huron " 
was wrecked off the coast of North 
Carolina, and one hundred lives were 
lost. 

1877. Dec. 4. The loss of the 
steamer Atacoma, of the Pacific Steam 
Navigation Company, from Valparaiso 
to Callao, occurred on the coast of Chili, 
with the destruction of about one hun- 
dred lives. Twenty-nine persons of all 
on board, only were saved. The vessel 
struck a rock, and was in a short time 
broken in pieces. 



1877-1881.] 

FIGHT IK TEXAS. 
1877. Dec. 14. A local war broke 
out in El Paso county, Texas, between 
the American and Mexican residents, 
over the possession of the salt springs 
and lagoons of the region. The former 
attempted to collect toll, and were re- 
sisted. The state troops interfered, but 
after three days' fighting they were 
obliged to surrender to the mob, who 
afterward shot three Americans, one of 
them being Judge Howard, agent of the 
salt mines. United States troops were 
afterward sent to the section, but the mob 
had departed. It is said that many of 
the mob were real citizens of Mexico who 
had come into Texas for this purpose. 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



793 



1877. Dec. 17. The seventieth 
birthday anniversary of the poet, John 
G. Whittier, was celebrated by the, pub- 
lishers of the Atlantic Monthly, who 
gave a dinner to the contributors of that 
magazine. 

1877. Dec. 20. An unaccountable 
explosion occurred on Barclay street, 
New York, by which a candy manufac- 
i877. Great tory was blowu into pieces, 

faminein Tndia. ^iXi'A ten yOUUg pcrsOUS 

killed. About thirty more were injured. 
The boilers beneath the pavement were 
entire after the calamity. 

1877. Dec. 24. Robert P. Parrott, 
the inventor of the Parrott gun, died at 
Cold Spring, New York. He was born 
at Lee, New Hampshire, in 1804, 
and graduated at West Point in 1834. 
While superintending the West Point 
foundry, at Cold Spring, he invented the 
Parrott gun, which rendered such valua- 
ble service during the civil war. It was 
lighter than other rifled cannon, and 
differed from them in the mode of rifling 
and projecting. 



1877. The finest silver set ever 
made in the United States was ordered 
by Mr. Mackay, one of the owners of the 
Bonanza silver mines. The set kept 
several workmen busy for months at its 
manufacture; and the cost was $100,000. 

1877. The Murphy temperance 
movement, during this year, swept 
through great portions of New York 
state. Thousands of persons signed the 
pledge. Francis Murphy, the leader in 
this, a reformed man of great power, 
attained a very extended usefulness, and 
is one of the foremost temperance 
advocates. 

1878. Jan. 2. A fearful explosion 
of two tons of nitro-glycerine, which 
was being loaded into a railroad car near 
Negaunee, Lake Superior, killed seven 
men, and destroyed a great amount of 
property. 

1878. Jan. 4. A severe snowstorm 
and gale raged upon the coast of New 
England. Many small vessels were lost, 
and the United States steamer Kearsage 
went ashore in Portsmouth harbor, N. H. 

1878. Jan. 12. Henry M. Stanley, 
the African explorer, was presented at 
Rome, Italy, with the Victor Emanuel 
gold medal of merit. The king of 
Italy sent a letter to be read at the pres- 
entation, mentioning Stanley's work in 
the highest terms. 

1878. Jan. 14. A general strike oc- 
curred among the Crispins of Lynn, 
Mass. Work was almost completely 
stopped, and preparations were made by 
the operatives and the manufacturers, for 
a long resistance on each side. The 
country at large was somewhat agitated 
in its manufacturing communities by 
similar questions of labor and capital. In 
some places outrages were committed by 
workinofmen. 



?94 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



1878. Jan. 15. An excursion train 

of two locomotives and nine cars, heavily 
laden with people returning from a 
Moody and Sankey meeting in Hart- 
ford, Conn., fell through a trestle vv^ork 
bridge on the Connecticut Western rail- 
road, near Tariffville, and was precipita- 
ted into the Farmington River. Thirteen 
persons were killed, and a great many 
wounded. The bridge was not built for 
sustaining heavy trains. 

S±]irEL BOWLES. 

1878. Jan. 16. Samuel Bowles of 
the Springfield Republican, Springfield, 
Alass., died at the age of fifty-two years. 
He was one of the leading journalists of 
the country, and had made himself such 
by hard work and a peculiarly inde- 
pendent spirit. He chose to attempt to 
mould public opinion rather than to sim- 
1878. January. P^J I'^flcct it, and in spite of 
Great suffering somc weakucsscs, 23roved 
aiono- the hmiself an able, strong, and 

Danitbe. j^ many respects a wise man. 

A hieh idea of right characterized the 
man, and often led him into needless op- 
positions, which the possession of greater 
patience on his part might have pre- 
vented. He left a deep mark as a jour- 
nalist upon the press of the United 
States. Mr. Bowles' father published 
the " Weekly Republican," and added 
the daily in 1S44, at the urgent request of 
his son, then eighteen years old. The 
latter assumed editorial charge of it. His 
life has been wholly confined to that 
single enterprise. 

1878. Jan. 26. Five men who took 
iH~8. Jan. 9. a prominent part in the 
Death of Victor Pittsburgh railroad riot, in 

l^mamiel at '^ ' 

Rome. the previous summer, were 

convicted, and held for sentence. 

1878. Jan. 31. The steamer Metrop- 



olis was lost upon Currituck beach» 
N. C, upon her way from Philadelphia 
to Brazil with two hundred isis. Jan. 10. 
laborers and five hundred , "I ", t," 

taken by Kus- 

tons of railroad iron for the sians. 
Madeira and Mamore railroad. She 
went ashore ni the furious gale which 
was raging, and about one hundred and 
seventy out of the two hundred and 
fifty jDcrsons on board were saved. The 
captain and mate affirmed that the vessel 
was perfectly seaworthy, but that the dis- 
aster was owing to the unskilful loading 
of the iron. 

1878. January. Severe reform meas- 
ures have been taken in the govern- 
ment of Brazil by the emperor, Dom 
Pedro, since his return to that country 
from his American and foreign trip. It 
was a genuine attempt to elevate Brazil 
in the rank of nations, and with good 
results. 

1878. Feb. 5. A defalcation of 
$100,000 in the Bank of North America, 
New York, was confessed by A. M. 
Turney, the teller. The money had been 
taken for speculation, and the crime had 
been kept secret for nine years, with the 
help of another clerk. Mr. Turney was 
committed to prison. 

1878. Feb. 8. A cyclone in Georgia 
destroyed several lives, and considerable 
property. 

1878. Feb. 9. An immense anti- 
free trade demonstration took place in 
Pittsburgh, Penn. A procession of fif- 
teen thousand men was formed. 

GIDEON WELLES. 

1878. Feb. 11. Hon. Gideon Welles, 
ex-secretary of the United i8i8. February. 

c. . T 1 iTTi- Co7ista>tti>iople 

States navy, died at Hart- ^.^, v, 

-' ' ocaipted by Rns- 

ford, Connecticut. He was sians. 

born in 1S03. His principal public posi- 



1877-1881.] 

tion was secretary of the United States 
navy in President Lincoln's cabinet. 
This position he filled with considerable 
ability. After this he lived in comparative- 
obscurity, although in the exciting politi- 
cal contest of 1876, he wrote a number of 
papers favoring a change in the manage- 
ment of the government. He wrote also 
a number of sketches of the naval fights 
of the civil war. On the organization of 
the republican party in i860, he became 
a member of its rank and file, but was 
claimed by the democracy in 1876. 

1878. Feb. 13. Judgment was 

entered in New York, against Wm. M. 
Tweed, for the sum of $10,857,197.09. 

1878. Feb. 14. The Daniel Webster 
house at Marshfield, Mass., was entirely 
consumed by fire. 

1878. Feb. 14. An explosion of five 
„ pounds of fulminate took 

Pope Puis IX. place in Springfield, in a 
'^'^^' percussion cap factory. 

The building was totally destroyed, and 
one man killed. 

1878. Feb. 15. A cremation of the 
body of Mrs. Ben Pitman, of Cincin- 
nati, occuri'ed at Washington, Penn, 
under the charge of Dr. Le Moyne. 

1878. Feb. 22. J. W. Barron, 
cashier of the savings bank at Dexter, 
Maine, was murdered by unknown per- 
sons. He was found bound and gagged, 
and in an unconscious condition. He died 
without returning to consciousness. It is 
supposed that he refused to open the 
safe. The robbers obtained only about 
$100. 

SILVER BILL. 

1878. Feb. 28. The Silver Bill, 
which had been passed by both houses 
of congress, was vetoed by the president. 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



795 



and immediately passed over his veto. 
This was the end of a long isrs. Feb. 26. 
contest in congress, and the ^^"^^ concluded 

° betzueen Russia 

coinage of the new silver and Turkey. 
dollars began at once. The dollar of 
silver of 412^ grains was less in value 
than a standard gold dollar. Various 
predictions were made upon the result of 
declaring it legal tender. But the prob- 
lem is not yet fully settled. The adjust- 
ment of a double standard is still to be 
accomplished, if it can be. 

STE^M HE^TI.YG. 

1878. February. A successful ex- 
periment was made at Lockport, N. Y., 
in heating the buildings of the place by 
steam sent through pipes from boilers 
set at some central station, on the plan of 
water and gas supply. Dwellings, a 
schoolhouse, and the largest hall, were 
among the buildings heated. A meter 
is used to determine the amount flowing 
into each house. It seems to promise 
good results in the near future, though 
more experimenting must yet be made 
before complete success is reached. 



1878. February. Severe rain storms 

raged all over tlie United States. In 
New England great damage was done. 
At Providence, R. I., some streets were 
filled with water to the depth of four feet. 
In California, the levees of the Sacramento 
River broke through, and a large amount 
of valuable land was flooded, especially 
several highly cultivated islands near the 
mouth of the river. Cattle of all kinds 
were lost in the floods. Orchards and 
wheat fields suffered greatly. 

BEKMMIK F. WADE. 

1878. March 2. Benjamin Franklin 
Wade, an American statesman, died at 



796 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



Jefferson, Ohio. He was born in Spring- 
field, Mass., Oct. 27, 1800. His early 
life was filled with a series of difficulties 
which he was forced to encounter to ob- 
tain any degree of learning. He began 
the study of law in 1S36, and two years 
later was admitted to the bar in Ash- 
tabula county. In 1835 he was elected 
prosecuting attorney for that county; 
next he served three successive terms in 
the state senate. He was chosen presid- 
ing judge of the third district of his state 
in 1847. He was elected United States 
senator in 1851, and was reelected in 
1857 and 1863. In the senate he was 
distinguished for his boldness and tenacity. 
He was a bitter opponent of slavery, of 
secession, and of all measures looking to- 
ward a compromise between the North 
and the South. It became a common 
saying that " when Ben Wade took hold 
of anything, he never let go." He advo- 
cated the homestead bill for years, and it 
was in his charge that it finally passed 
through the senate. In 1S65 he became 
president pro tempore of the senate, and 
acting vice-president of the United States. 
In March, 1867, he was elected president 
of the senate. In 187 1 he was a member 
of the San Domingo commission, and 
favored the annexation of the island to 
the United States. 



1878. March 2. A terrible tornado 

raged in Casey county, Kentucky, in 
which seven lives were lost, and a large 
amount of property destroyed. 

1878. March 5. An extensive fire 
occurred at Hot Springs, Arkansas, One 
hundred and fifty buildings were de- 
stroyed, including some of the largest 
hotels. 

1878. March 23. An international 
walking match in London was won by 



O'Leary, the Irish-American contestant, 
who walked 520 miles between i a. m. 
of the i8th, and 10 p. m. of the 23d. 
O'Leary was declared the holder of the 
chamijion pedestrian belt of the world, 
and was allowed to bring it to America. 
1878. March 25. A great fire in 
Philadelphia burned property worth 
$ 1 ,000,000. It broke out at nine o'clock 
in the evening, and came near being be- 
yond the control of the fire department 
altogether. A strong wind was the 
chief cause of the extreme danger. The 
flames were checked only after long and 
sevei'e effort. 

E}fD OF CUBAK W-LR. 

1878. March. The insurgent chiefs 
of Cuba concluded terms of peace with 
the Spanish leaders, and the war of ten 
years may be said to have been, in a cer- 
tain measure, closed. There were many 
revolutionists in the mountains, however, 
who did not join in the arrangement, and 
thus trouble was not completely warded 
off. Very fair terms were granted, con- 
sidering the history of Spanish power in 
the island. The entire war has been as 
full of bloodthirsty deeds as any other in 
history. The island suffered in all its 
interests, to a very great degree. The 
sad story is one which moves the heart 
which loves liberty. 

COLOR7IDO "PETRIFIED .mX" 

1878. March. An exposure of the 
humbug in regard to the alleged ancient 
stone man found in Colorado in 1877, 
took place, through a man, it is said, who 
was paid as he was promised, for his part 
of the work. The statue was cast at a 
lime-kiln at Elkland, Penn., at the ex- 
pense of P. T. Barnum, the great " hum- 
bug " showman. Mr. George Hull, 



]877-18ol.j 

the originator of the Cardiff giant, super- 
intended the casting. The work cost 
about $40. 

GREAT DEFAimTIOm. 

1878. April 10. A great shock was 
given to the business world of Massa- 
chusetts, by the revelation that S. A. 
Chace, treasurer of the Union Mills of 
Fall River, was a defaulter to the amount 
of half a million dollars. The city of Fall 
River had maintained the credit of its ex- 
tensive milling interests without a blem- 
ish, through all the pressure of the hard 
times. A terrible blow was now struck 
in the disclosure of the crime of one who 
had been regarded as irreproachable. 
Mr. Chace had been a church member 
and officer. The story of his downfall 
has never been fully known. Nearly 
two weeks passed away when it became 
known that George T. Hathaway, treas- 
urer of another large corporation, was a 
defaulter to the amount of a million dol- 
lars or more. There was now a breath- 
less suspense. The effect was stunning. 
But soon business men began to rally. 
The men wei*e afterward tried and sen- 
tenced to the state prison. But in the 
same city other revelations have since 
followed. These were also only a small 
part of the revelations being made at 
this time, in different parts of the country. 
Every corporation feared lest its turn 
should come next. Confidence was sadly 
impaired. The bitter fruits of reckless- 
ness and speculation were being reaped. 

WILLMM M. TWEED. 

1878. April 12. William Marcy 
Tweed, noted in American history for 
the enormity of his frauds, died in Lud- 
low street jail, New York. He was 
born in New York, April 3, 1823. He 



■THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



797 



served the public, the first few years of 
his majority, as a chair maker. In later 
life he became a lawyer. As a local law- 
maker and breaker he served in various 
capacities in the city, and in the state of 
New York. He was in congress in 
1853-5. From 1S67 to 187 1 he was 
state senator. In 1870 he was appointed 
commissioner of public works, and in 
this position he and his " ring " appro- 
priated vast sums of money to private 
use. On Oct. 28, 1S71, Charles O'Connor 
brought suit against him, in behalf of the 
people, and Tweed gave bail for 
$1,000,000. He was re-elected to the 
state senate the next month, but did not 
take his seat. On Dec. 16 he was 
arrested on a criminal charge of fraud, and 
gave bail for $5,000. On Jan. 30, 1873^ 
the first suit was tried, and the jury dis- 
agreed. On Nov. 19 he was sentenced 
to twelve years' imprisonment for fraud, 
and was fined $12,550. He was sent 
to Blackwell's Island. The greatest of 
the numerous suits was begun against 
him in the New York supreme court, 
April 7, 1875, to recover, of the public 
money, $6,000,000. On default of bail 
to the amount of $3,000,000, he was con- 
fined in Ludlo\Y street jail. He escaped 
on Dec. 4, but was recaptured in Spain, 
and returned, to remain in jail till death. 



1878. April 13. A tornado proved 
very destructive to property at Cotton- 
Vt^ood, a station on the Atchison, Topeka 
and Santa Fe railway. Several persons 
were killed. 

1878. April 16. The burning of the 
Bishop mansion, on the Hudson River, 
caused a loss of many val- 1g^g_ April. 
uable paintings, one of o>u- hmidred 

thousand Etig- 

which was valued at usi, cotton op^ra- 
$30,000. Other valuable ^'^'^^ "« « -''''**'• 



im 



P RES EXT DEVELOPMENT. 



works of art were also destroyed in this 
fire. 

1878. April 21. A violent tornado 

swept through the interior of the United 
States, doing a vast amount of damage 
to property and life. It was especialh^ 
destructive in Illinois and Iowa; one 
hailstone which measured fourteen inches 
in circumference, was found. The path 
of the tornado was about a mile wide, 
and forty miles long. It left destruction 
in its wake. 

THE LIBERM EXCITEMEXT. 
1878. April 21. The first ship-load 
of colored emigrants sailed from Charles- 
ton, S. C, for Liberia, Africa, in the 
barque Azor. The company numbered 
two hundred and fifty persons, and were 
isis. Great but a vcry small part of 

famine in China. those who wishcd tO Start 

for Africa. A considerable degree of 
excitement ran through a wide portion 
of the South, but as the possession of land 
increased, and the difficulties of making 
an ocean voyage to a strange land ap- 
peared clearly, the excitement died away. 
The restlessness of the colored people has 
since taken another direction. 

S^inXGS B±rK F±\7C. 

1878. April. A panic ran through 
the greater part of the country, among 
depositors in savings banks. The height 
of the trouble was felt in Massachusetts. 
People began to fear that the assets of 
the banks, through the great shrinkage 
in real estate and stocks, would not be 
sufficient to pay claims. The banks 
wei-e therefoi-e obliged to take refuge 
behind a law which allowed them to 
limit their payments upon demand, to a 
certain per cent, of the sum due. In a 
short time the excitement wore away. 



JOKY .VORRISSEY. 

1878. May 1. John Morrissey, a 
state senator in New Vork, died at 
Saratoga. He was born in 1S31. He 
was noted for his adventurous life, his 
peculiar jDosition in politics, and the 
largeness of his heart and ,„,, „ 

o 1818. .Vay. 

fists. He had been a great Deai/i of Lord 
prize-fighter, a notorious ■''"" 
gambler, and a prominent politician, 
having filled many public positions. He 
was, on the whole, an extraordinary pro- 
duction of American social and political 
conditions. He was born in Ireland, but 
reared in America from the third year 
of his age. He received no education, 
but did a good deal of haixl work in iron 
establishments. In course of time he 
became rough and wild. This inaugu- 
rated his career of adventure. In his 
later years it is said that his wife became 
his instructor, and taught him constantly. 
He seems to have had some moral sense, 
and was never involved in the fraudulent 
dealings of his fellow democrats, in New 
York city. 

1878. May 2. An explosion oc- 
curred in the Washburn i8~8. May 2. 
ffouring mills at Minneapo- ^"'''"^\ '" "" 

c> X sassinate lite t,m- 

lis, Minnesota, causing the peror wniiam. 
destruction of several mills. Seventeen 
lives were lost, and property to the 
amount of $1,500,000 was destroyed. 
These mills were larger than any other 
in America, and than any other in the 
world except one. It was thought that 
the explosion originated in the ignition 
of gases from the mill-dust. 

1878. May 7. The Indian chief- 
tain, Gall, surrendered to the United 
States forces with one hundred and fifty 
of Sitting Bull's warriors who were under 
his command. 



1877-1881.] 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



799 



1878. May 7. Serious troubles oc- 

cun-ed among the miners in Belleville, 
Illinois, four thousand of whom had 
struck. Many of those without work 
were also without money or bread. In 
a short time fifteen hundred were on the 
verge of starvation. Entire destitution 
was the lot of hundreds of families, a 
terrible commentary on the evils of 
■strikes. 

1878. May 10. Another heavy mill 
defaulter was found at Lawrence, Mass. 
George F. Waterman had embezzled 
$100,000 from the Pacific Mill company 
of that city, of which he was formerly 
assistant paymaster. He was sent to 
prison for twelve years. 

1878. May 11, Much suffering was 
reported in Labrador, because of the 
failure of the fisheries. 

CATHERLYE E. BEECHER. 

1878. May 12. Miss Catherine E. 
Beecher, a sister of Henry Ward Beecher, 
<jnd an educator and author, died, aged 
seventy-seven years. She was born at 
East Hampton, L. I., Sept. 6, 1800. She 
remained unmarried because of the death 
of her aflSanced lover Prof. Fisher of Yale 
College, who was lost by shipwreck upon 
a voyage to Europe. At the age of 
twenty-two she established a school at 
Hartford, Conn., and continued in it until 
ten years later. She opened a female 
seminary in Cincinnati, where her father, 
Dr. Lyman Beecher, had gone to labor 
in Lane Seminary. The rest of her life 
was given to active thought upon female 
education in the full sense of fitness for 
all duties. She wrote quite extensively. 



1878. May 22. An excursion 
steamer on the Grand River at Gait, 
Ontario, was capsized, and carried over a 



dam. There were eighteen persons on 
board, and some of them were lost. 
1878. May 23. A terrible cyclone 

devastated a great portion of Southern 
Wisconsin. It began at Mineral Point 
and swept across nearly to Milwaukee, 
leaving complete ruin in its path. Some 
whole families were killed. Everything 
was laid waste. Cattle, men, houses, 
trees, all disappeared in a few instants. 
Large numbers of persons were injured, 
and thirty or more killed. Another storm 
did injury to life and property in Brown 
county. 111. Floods in Colorado at the 
same time had serious effects. This 
month was a month of gales through 
the Western states. 

REVIVAL OF SILK IjYDUSTRIES. 

1878. May. The inactivity in the 
manufacture of silk which followed 
the silk " bubble," gradually disappeared, 
and the American Silk Association re- 
ported a total product the previous year 
of $31,41 1,436. If the difficulties which 
arise from the importation of silks at an 
under-valuation can be removed, the silk 
industries of America have a promising 
field and certain success before them. 



1878. June 12. A mob of strikers 

in Quebec created a riot. Their opera- 
tions were only checked by the militia- 
men, who were called out by the govern- 
ment authorities. The ring-leaders were 
arrested after a severe contest, in which 
one man was killed, and sevei^al injured. 

WILLMM CULLEK BRYAKT. 

1878. June 12. William Cullen 
Bryant, an American poet, died in New 
York. He was born in Cummington, 
Hampshire county, Mass., Nov. 3, 1794. 
His father, who was a prominent local 



800 



PliESEN T DE VEL OPMEN T. 



physician, and a man of considerable cult- 
ure, endeavored to develop the intellect- 
ual and moral faculties of his son; in 
this his success was certainly admirable. 
William wrote verses for the county 
paper before he was ten. In his four- 
1818. June 13. teenth year he wrote the 
The Peace Con- ,,g nibar^o,"a political satire, 

ffress opened at o / i ? 

Berlin. and the " Spanish Rev- 

olution"; the former of these attracted 
considerable attention, and a second edi- 
tion of both was printed in 1809. Until 
the fact was established beyond doubt, 
the public found it difficult to believe 
that one so young had written the poems. 
At the age of sixteen he entered Wil- 
liams College, but left at the end of two 
years to pursue the study of law. He 
was admitted to the bar in 1815, and be- 
gan the practice of his j^rofession in 
Plainfield; but he afterward removed to 
Great Barrington. He soon became 
prominent in Massachusetts as a lawyer; 
but he eventually found his proper 
sphere in the field of literature. "Than- 
atopsis " was published in the " North 
American Review" in 1817, at which 
time he became acquainted with Mr. 
Richard H. Dana, who was then one of 
the conductors of the " Review." Mr. 
Bryant became a contributor of prose 
and poetry to that magazine. In 182 1 
he delivered a poem entitled " The Ages," 
before the Phi Beta Kajjpa society at 
Harvard College. In that year his poems 
were published in a volume at Cam- 
bridge, and obtained for him the wide 
reputation for a poet which he has held 
ever since. In 1825 he became editor of 
the " New York Review," and contrib- 
uted to this several poems and criticisms. 
In 1826 he connected himself with the 
New York " Evening Post," with which 
newspaper he remained, in one capacity 



or another, for over a half a century, un- 
til the time of his death. At first it was a 
federalist sheet, under the editorial control 
of William Coleman. When Mr. Bryant 
obtained control, the " Post" became more 
" democratic " in character, favoring free 
trade. During this time Mr. Brj'ant 
contributed poetical and prose articles for 
other publications. In 1833 a complete 
edition of his poems was published in 
New York. Washington Irving caused 
an edition to be published in England, 
for which he wrote a laudatory preface.. 
The volume was highly complimented 
by John Wilson in " Blackwood's Maga- 
zine"; and from that time Mr. Bryant's 
genius was recognized in Europe as well 
as America. At times he rested fi-om, 
his professional labors, and visited. 
Europe, making himself familiar with the 
languages and literature of foreign nations.- 
In his third tour, in 1849, he traveled 
into Syria and Egypt. He also jour- 
neyed through nearly every part of the 
United States, and visited Cuba. He 
made his last visit to Europe in 1857-58.. 
His account of these wanderings was pub- 
lished in two diflferent volumes. In 1863 
he published a new volume of poems- 
He was engaged for a number of years, 
in the translation of Homer into English 
blank verse ; this translation was received 
as the best in the English language. 
One of his last productions, " The Flood 
of Years," is regarded by many as his 
best. Certainly a grander poem was 
never written. Mr. Bryant was also a 
powerful and eloquent orator. He ad- 
dressed many public bodies on momen- 
tous occasions. On the 30th of May, 
187S, he made an eloquent address at 
the Mazzini celebration in Central Park. 
On returning from the park he fell, strik- 
ing his head on a stone step. He died 



1877-1881.] 

from the effects of this fall. The life of 
William Cullen Bryant was pure and 
simple; it was peculiarly fortunate and 
happy. His fame was made a half a cen- 
tury before his death, yet each year 
made it more enduring. To Americans, 
Bryant is in poetry what Homer was to 
the Greeks. And as 

" A mighty Hand from an exhaustless arm, 
Pours forth the never-ending Flood of Years 
Among the nations," 

his sublime verses will inspire the 
thoughts and souls of new generations, 
and his name will be reverenced more 
with each successive age. 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



801 



1878. June 14. The title of Presi- 
dent Hayes to the presidency of the 
United States, was pronounced irrevo- 
cably settled, by a bill which passed the 
house of representatives by a vote of 215 
to 21. Some of the democrats changed 
from " no," to " aye," at the last minute, 
when it was seen that the bill would 
have a majority. The bill was intro- 
duced by Mr. Burchard of Illinois, and 
claimed that as the 44th congress had 
pronounced the title valid, no succeeding 
congress had any right to interfere with 
the decision. 

1878. June 23. A fight with the 
1S7S. June 26. Indians occurred forty-five 
TJie^neen of ^^jj^^ ^^.^,^^ p^^.^ Harney, in 

spam died, aged •' ' 

eighteen years. which the United States 
forces were victorious, with the loss of 
Col. Robins, and some men. 

1878. June 24. A flying machine 
was exhibited in Tremont Temple, 
Boston, by Prof Ritchel, of Connecticut, 
and seemed to promise some success in 
navigating the air. But nothing has 
since been heard of it, and we are as far 
as ever, apparently, from that delightful 
result. 



One thousand 
two hundred a7icL 
sixty-nine 
Communists 
pardoned at 
Paris. 



1878. July 3. The Missouri River 

rose to a greater height than had been 
known since 1844. ^^^ high water 
injured a great deal of property. 

1878. July 8. A battle occurred 
between the Indians and Gen. Howard's 
forces, at Battle Creek, Oregon. The 
United States forces succeeded in driving^ 
the Indians from three strongholds. 

SUTRO TUKKEL. 

1878. July 8. This great engineer- 
ing enterprise, undertaken in 1S69, inthe 
mountains of Nevada, was at last brought 
to a successful conclusion, at a cost of 
$3,500,000 in gold. Mr. Adolph Sutro 
designed it, and superintended its con- 
struction. The tunnel was isis. July 1. 
designed to aid in working 
the famous Comstock silver 
lode, by draining off water 
which would otherwise 
have to be pumped out at great ex- 
pense, by affording better ventilation, 
and by creating better facilities for 
the passage to and fro of miners. A 
government subsidy was refused the 
promoters of the work, but it was carried 
through. The tunnel is at points two 
thousand feet below the surface, and is 
about four miles long. The enterprise is 
one of the most gigantic of the present 
time. 

1878. July 12. The threatened dif- 
ficulties at Montreal were avoided by the 
decision of the Orangemen, at the last 
moment, not to parade. Two thousand 
troops had been sent to the city by the 
Canadian government, and extra police- 
men had been appointed. But the case 
was one for serious apprehensions. The 
mayor had forbidden the j^arade to take 
place, and the riotous element had taken 



802 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



courage from this. There was some 
skirmishing through the day, but no en- 
counter took place. 

1878. July 21. The Indians were 
met by Lieutenant Walhice, on the 
Clearwater River, in Montana. The 
chief and five of his warriors v/ere killed. 
The existing warfare was now taking on 
serious proj^ortions. Carl Schurz, Sec- 
retary of the Interior, in the United 
States government, discovered in his in- 
vestigation of the Indian Bureau, that 
the Mormons had been supplying the 
Indians with war materials. 

1878. July 31. A little dory, named 
the Nautilus, arrived in London, after a 
safe passage of forty-five days across the 
Atlantic from Boston. It was a matter 
of great curiosity, together with its 
occupants. 

r.yPRECEDE.VTED HE>LT TERM. 

1878. July. Intense heat was felt 
throughout the United States. For 
several successive days the thermometer 
stood at lOO deg. and higher. Sun- 
strokes were constant, and very fatal; 
up to the 33d, one hundred and forty-five 
persons had died from sun-stroke in St. 
Louis alone. Other cities suffered to 
almost an equal degree. In some parts 
of the West farmers did the work in 
their fields by moonlight. The heat 
wave gradually passed to the East. 
It was a period of extreme danger in the 
great cities. The following was a re- 
port of it at the time : 

" At St. Louis, in seven days there 
were 145 deaths by sun-stroke, and 2,000 
required medical treatment in conse- 
quence of the heat. Over a hundred 
horses fell dead July 15. In Milwaukee, 
July 17, 103 pei-sons were prostrated. 
The thermometer stood at loi degf. inthe 



shade. In Muscatine, Iowa, the farmers 
gathered their hay by moonlight. In 
Ottumwa the contractors on city sewers 
had their men work at night, and i"est 
during the day. In Chicago a large 
number of persons have died, and over 
fifty horses. The water works have 
been pumping seventy million gallons 
daily. The death-rate among children 
is very large. July 17 was the hottest 
day known to the oldest inhabitants of 
that city. Those sitting quietly in their 
homes were overcome by heat, as fatally 
as those who were engaged at work in 
the sun. 

" At the East the heat has been scarcely 
less intense. In New York, with the 
thermometer at 100 deg. in the shade, 
there were thirty cases of sun-stroke. All 
through Massachusetts the thermometer 
stood from 90 to 100 deg. in the shade, and 
many have died in consequence. The 
daily papers state that fully two-thirds of 
all the fatal cases are of those more or 
less addicted to the use of liquors and 
other stimulants. 

" The physicians are everywhere rec- 
ommending entire abstinence during the 
heated term. They assert that beer is 
even more heating than whiskey; this 
gaining credence from the fact that 
Germans in great numbers have been 
prostrated. 

" It is well known that beer retards 
waste of tissue, making men grow cor. 
pulent, because the effete matter of the 
body is retained, but weaker, and less 
able to resist disease. It greatly vitiates 
the blood. When cholera visited this 
coimtry it took 5,000 drinking people to 
the other world before it touched a single 
total abstainer. Cholera and sun-stroke, 
at least, teach some valuable temperance 
lessons." 



1877-1881.] THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 

KEARKEYISM. 
1878. July. The country east of 



803 



the Rocky Mountains, for the first time 
had the privilege of hearing the leader 
of a lai'ge portion of the California 
workingmen, Dennis Kearney, the "sand- 
lot orator." He passed to New England, 
and there spoke to large audiences, often- 
times removing his coat and his collar 
when he got warmed up in his work. 
Essentially a coarse, rough man, he made 
speeches which no intelligent company 
ought to hear, and injured the cause of 
the laborer as much as he did that of the 
capitalist. He visited Massachusetts to 
help carry that state for Benj. F. Butler, 
one of the candidates for governor. Re- 
turning to his own state he has since sunk 
into comparative obscurity, because he 
proved to be an unsafe guide. His chief 
antipathies were to the Chinese, and to 
the " bloated bondholders." 

1878o Aug. 1. A fire in Utah de- 
stroyed property to the amount of $200,- 
000, in the town of Alta. It was caused 
by a man who went to sleep with a cigar 
in his mouth. Nearly the whole j^lace 
was burned. 

1878. Aug. 7. A railroad collision 
occurred near Steubenville, Ohio, in 
which fifteen persons were killed, and 
about fifty seriously injured. The mid- 
night passenger train from Pittsburg, 
while running at the rate of forty miles 
an hour, collided with a freight train. 
The engineer and conductor of the latter 
had let their watches run down, and were 
running on the time of the passenger 
train. 

1878. Aug. 9. A tornado at Wal- 
lingford. Conn,, destroyed much prop- 
erty, and killed thirty persons. Forty 
houses and fifty barns were destroyed. 



Twenty thousand persons visited the 
town the following week. The place 
was a scene of desolation. Other parts 
of New England were sadly injured by 
storms the same evening. 

1878. Aug. 10. The Chinese Em- 
bassy arrived at Hartford, Conn., having 
come across the country by rail from San 
Francisco. They remained i8is. Aufr. 10. 
in this city, which is so f"""'"':'' c«»- 

-' jerence opened 

closely connected with the at Paris. 
education of Chinese youth who have 
been sent to this country, for a short time, 
and then proceeded to Washington for 
their ofiicial conferences with the United 
States officials, concerning treaty rela- 
tions. Several Chinese ladies accom- 
panied the embassy. Chen Lin-Pin was 
the leading commissioner. 

1878. Aug. 13. A mob of 3,000 
Catholics created a riot with the Orange- 
men of Ottawa, Canada. A leader of 
the latter was killed, and others were 
wounded. The trouble was brought 
on by the readiness with which the 
mayor of Montreal at the proposed cele- 
bration by the Orangemen on July 12, 
refused to extend them his protection at 
first, and thus left the way open for ill- 
feeling. The only position the state can 
take is to give all parties its protection, 
so long as they live in conformity with 
the laws. 

1878. Aug. 17. A defalcation was 
discovered in the Pullman Palace Car 
company at Chicago. Charles W. 
Angell had abstracted $120,000 from 
the funds of the corporation. The long 
list of defaulters was unexpectedly added 
to by this development. 

1878. Aug. 17. A powder maga- 
zine containing about eleven hundred 
barrels, situated at Pottsville, Perm., was 
blown up by being struck by lightning. 



804 



PRESENT DE VEL OP MEN T. 



Several persons were killed, and quite a 
large number injured, 

1878. August. Rain storms, torna- 
does, hail storms, of great violence, visit- 
ed different parts of the United States. 
Property was destroyed in New Eng- 
land, Canada, and elsewhere, to a very 
great extent. Many persons were killed 
or prostrated by strokes of lightning. 

THE PLAGUE OF 78. 

1878. August. The yellow fever 
swept through the Southern states during 
this and following months, causing seven 
thousand deaths during the warm 
weather. The heaviest inflictions were 
confined to the region of the Mississippi 
River. In the extent of its devastations 
and its terrible results, the plague is with- 
out parallel in American annals. Its 
rapid progress can be accounted for by 
the general uncleanliness, and by the 
lack of good sanitary conditions in the 
Southern cities. Its fatality was also 
increased by the excessive heat of the 
summer. When the plague came upon 
them, the people of the South were totally 
unprepared for it; homes were desolated 
by death, and by flight; villages and 
even cities were deserted; industry and 
commerce, the progress of which was of 
so much importance to the South at this 
critical period, was at a standstill; there 
was confusion among the brave, and 
panic among the cowardly; the poor 
were without food, and the sick without 
medicine or nurses; the j^eople were cast 
upon the mercy of heaven, and the charity 
of men. Proclamations were issued, and 
relief societies organized throughout the 
North and West. The men of wealth 
sent large sums of money; the manu- 
facturers and farmers their products, and 
the poor cast in their mites. The nurses 



and the " sisters " came from other states 
to care for the sick, the dying, and the 
dead, and to die, if it need be, with the 
brave ones who stood by their post in the 
perilous hour. Past animosities were 
forgotten. It was no longer a " North " 
or a " South," but a dying people that 
needed attention. Amid the incessant 
tolling of the funeral knells the heroes 
and the heroines hurried over the newly 
made graves to save the sick and the 
dying in a land that seemed cursed. The 
scourge caused irreparable losses, and 
taught numberless lessons; and while it 
will ever be remembered with sorrow, 
the sublime heroism it produced can never 
be forgotten; for in the plague of '78, 
noble self-sacrifice was exhibited as it 
never had been before. For three or four 
months, until cold weather set in, the 
agonizing tale was daily told all over the 
land. 



1878. Sept. 3-4. A tornado and 

tidal wave caused a great loss of life in 
Hayti. 

1878. Sept. 7. Another prominent 
defalcation in Fall River astounded the 
business men of that unfort- ^§75 5^,^^^ 5 
unate city. Charles P. Excursion 

c^ • ■, , 111 steamer Princes!^ 

Stickney, who had been a ^i^,, ,.„„ j„,„„ 
leading citizen, was found eoo lives lost. 
to have embezzled funds amounting to 
$50,000 or more from the Manufacturers' 
Gas company. He had served in the 
senate of Massachusetts four years. He 
was afterward sent to prison for his 
crime. 

1878. Sept. 27. An engagement took 
place between the United States troops 
and the Cheyenne Indians, two hundred 
and fifty miles south of Denver, Colo- 
rado. The government forces were suc- 
cessful. But in a short time fresh raids 



1877-1881.] 

were made by the Indians, particularly 
in Northwestern Kansas, and a great 
"scare" was felt through the whole 
region, including portions of Nebraska. 

1878. Sept. 28. An explosion of the 
boiler of the steamer Adelphi, running 
between Nor walk and New York, re- 
sulted in the death of twelve persons, 
and serious injury of about twenty more. 
It was afterward found that the boiler 
had been mended, and was evidently too 
old for use upon any boat, especially one 
employed for excursion purposes. The 
disasters of this kind emphasize the fact 
that many proprietors of such enterprises 
are reckless in the matter of their appli- 
ances for safety, and ought to be visited 
with severe condemnation. 

1878. Oct. 1. The Pacific mail 
steamship Georgia struck on a rock in the 
harbor of Punta Arenas, Central Amer- 
ica. All on board were saved, but the 
vessel was a total loss. 

1878. Oct. 2. A game of cricket 
was played between an Australian 
"eleven" and a New York "eleven," in 
which the former were successful, by a 
score of 163 to 161. 

1878. Oct. 2. A terrible earthquake 
was experienced in Central America, es- 
pecially at San Salvador. Lives were 
lost, and property was destroyed. 

1878. Oct. 3. An international scull- 
ing match at Montreal was won by Han- 
Ian, a Canadian, against Courtney from 
the United States. 

1878. Oct. 8. A misplaced switch 
wrecked an excursion train on the Old 
Colony railroad, near Wol- 
laston, Mass. Twenty-one 
persons were instantly 
killed, and one hundred 
and fifty wounded. Carelessness was 
the leading element in the accident, and 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



805 



1878. Oct. 2. 
Bank of Glas' 
gow suspended, 
ivith $^0,000,000 
liabilities. 



the extreme results were brought about 
by the attempts of the freight men to cor- 
rect the switches when it was too late. 

1878. Oct. 12. A fearful disaster befell 
the whaling bark " Sarah " upon the day 
of her departure from New Bedford for 
her voyage. A hurricane capsized her, 
and destroyed eighteen out of the twenty- 
five men who constituted her crew. The 
remaining seven were in the forecastle, 
and were thus imprisoned by the overturn, 
within the hull of the vessel. Four of 
them died very soon because of lack of 
food and the pain of being thrown about 
by the rolling of the sea. Two of the 
other three succeeded in getting upon the 
outside of the wreck by diving until they 
were able to come up on the surfiice of 
the water, whence they climbed to the 
bottom of the hull. A pilot boat came 
along, and thus they were able to cut a 
hole for the relief of the last man, who 
was still imprisoned. The tale is one of 
the most romantic in our sea annals. 

1878. Oct. 23. A frightful tornado 
visited Philadelphia. Six lives were lost, 
and four hundred buildings were par- 
tially or wholly demolished. Thirty-one 
churches were greatly damaged. The 
loss rose to $2,000,000. 

1878. Oct. 29. A bold robbery was 
committed in New York city in day- 
light by masked men who entered the 
Manhattan Savings Bank upon Broad- 
way, and carried off $11,000 in money, 
and $2,700,000 in securities. 

1878. October. Serious riots took 
place in Santiago, Chili, and eighty per- 
sons were killed and wounded by the 
attempt of the police to suppress the 
difficulty. 

1878. Nov. 6. The body of A. T. 
Stewart was stolen from the family 
vault, in St. Mark's churchyard. New 



806 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



York. The deed caused intense excite- 
ment far and near. The greatest mys- 
tery attended the affair. It was possi- 
ble to follow the course of action pursued 
by the robbers in entering and leaving the 
vault. Traces were sought in all direc- 
tions, but nothing resulted. Judge Hilton 
offered a reward of $35,000 for the return 
of the body. It is supposed that it was an 
attempt to secure a large sum of money as 
a ransom. If so, it failed through the 
force of opinion which set in against such 
a transaction. A guard was soon placed 
over the remains of Mr. Vanderbilt, for 
fear that a similar attempt would be 
made in that quarter. In 1S79 the rob- 
bers forwarded the coffin plate and a 
piece of the coflin cover to Judge Hil- 
ton, and offered to return the body for 
$250,000. This was refused. Com- 
munications were afterward held with 
the robbers, but without result. 

1878. Nov. 9. A fire consumed 
eight hotels, and many cottages, at Cape 
May, N. J., the fiimous summer water- 
ing place. 

1878. Nov. 25. The Marquis of 
Lorne, who had been appointed gov- 
ernor-general of Canada, and had reached 
Halifax in the steamer " Sarmatian," 
made his official landing with his wife, 
the Princess Louise, fourth daughter of 
Queen Victoria. The Marquis is the 
eldest son and heir of the Duke of 
Argyle, widely known as an eminent 
1878. November. Scotch Writer, scicutist, and 

"' * statesman. He was mar- 

■war upon 

Afghanistan. ricd in 1 87 1. A prcvious 
visit to Canada and the United States has 
inade him acquainted with the field of 
his authority. His appointment was 
very pleasing to the Dominion jDCople. 
His official residence was fixed at New 
Edinburg, two miles from Ottawa. The 



passage of the Marquis and his wife from 
Halifax to their new home was one of 
brilliant receptions and constant applause. 

1878. Nov. 28. A collision between 
the steamer Pomerania, from New York 
to Hamburg, and an iron barque bound 
for Cardiff, sunk the former in twenty 
minutes, with a loss of fifty persons. 
The disaster occurred at midnight, in the 
English Channel, off Folkestone. An 
inquest showed that part of the crew 
showed exceedingly cowardly conduct. 

1878. Nov. 27. The first Chinaman 
on record as admitted to citizenship in 
the United States, by naturalization, was 
Wong Ah Lee, a cigar-maker. Appli- 
cations in two prcvious cases had been re- 
fused on the ground that a Mongolian is 
not a white person. In the present case 
the judge ruled that a Mongolian is 
either white or black, and can therefore 
be brought under the law. 

1878. Dec. 17. Gold was sold at 
par in New York. It was first sold at a 
premium in January, 1S62. It now con- 
tinued at par, and resumption was thus a 
fact two weeks before the time set for 
the accomplishment of it. 

B7lY:iRD mYLOR. 

1878. Dec. 19. Bayard Taylor, an 
American traveler and author, died in 
Berlin, Prussia. He was born in Ken- 
nett Square, Chester county, Penn., Jan. 
II, 1S35. At the age of seventeen he 
became a printer's apprentice. In 1S44-5 
he made a tour of Europe on foot, tramp- 
ing over a great portion of the continent. 
He returned in 1S46, and published 
" Views Afloat, or Europe as Seen with 
Knapsack and Staff." In 1847 ^^^ edited 
a paoer in Phoenixville, Penn., and the 
next year went to New York, to become 
a writer for the " Literary World." 



1877-1881.] 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



807 



1878. Dec. 14. 
Grand Dtichess 
of Hesse -Darm- 
siadi, former Iv 
Princess A lice of 
England, died. 



Soon after, he joined the editorial staff of 
the " Tribune," in which many of his 
subsequent writings were published. In 
1849 ^^^ visited California and Mexico, 
and in 1851 began a tour of the Old 
World. He ascended the Nile, traversed 
Europe, Syria, and Asia Minor; and in 
1852 he started from England across 
Asia to Calcutta. From there he went 
to China and joined Commodore Perry's 
expedition. In 1862-3 he was Secretary 
of the Legation and Charge d'Affiiires, at 
St. Petersburg. In 1S74 
he again visited Egypt, and 
during the same year at- 
tended the millennial cele- 
bration in Iceland. Dur- 
ing his travels he i-esided for a number of 
years in Germany. He was appointed 
minister to that empire in 1878. Be- 
sides being a celebrated author and 
traveler, he was also a well known lec- 
turer and poet. Altogether he published 
about twelve different works of travel, 
and perhaps twenty poetical volumes. 
Several of his works have been trans- 
lated and published, in French, German, 
and Russian. He had for a long time 
been engaged on a life of Goethe, which 
he left unfinished. His greatest work 
was his translation of Goethe's Faust, 
which must ever remain a master-piece. 
The death of Mr. Taylor caused great 
sorrow, for he was entering upon a pecu- 
liarly useful period of life. He was an 
untiring worker, and a valuable official. 

1878. Dec. 24. The steamer State 
of Louisiana, from Glasgow to New 
York, struck a rock on the English coast 
near Belfast, and was lost. The passen- 
gers and a part of the cargo were saved. 

1878. Deo. 27. The steamer Emily 
B. Souder, from New York to Turk's 



Island, foundered at sea, and only two 
persons were saved. This was the 
steamer which carried yellow fever to 
New Orleans in the summer of this 3'ear. 

1878. Dec. 27. A flood in Hayti, 
W. L, destroyed an immense amount of 
property. 

1878. December. A severe famine 
existed for the year in Brazil. The cat- 
tle died by thousands, and the poor peo- 
ple of the interior perished in great 
numbers. Yellow fever and small-pox 
added to the horror of the situation, the 
death rate in one city reaching as high 
as one thousand a day. Half a million 
persons died in one province this year. 

1878. December. Father Pur cell's 
Failure. Archbishop Purcell, of Cincin- 
nati, was shown to have received a large 
amount of money in the aggregate, from 
the people of his diocese, and to have vir- 
tually promised them to serve in the use 
of it as a savings bank, when all the time 
he had been employing it in increasing 
the property of the diocese in such a way 
that when needed by his creditors, it was 
locked up past his power to get it out. 
A panic ensued in the diocese, because 
many had put all their savings into his 
hands. The number of depositors was 
about eleven thousand, and the total lia- 
bilities without reckoning full claims for 
compound interest, which would " in 
equity " be due, amounted to more than 
$3,000,000. The archbishop issued a 
weak appeal for sympathy, and finally 
an exhortation was issued by the author- 
ities, to the church, to aid the father in his 
miserable emergency. But not much 
has come of it, and many who trusted 
that the archbishop was a savings bank, 
are still waiting for their earnings. In 
18S0 the pope practically deposed Father 
Purcell by appointing W. H. Elder his 



SOS PRESENT DE 

■coadjutor, with the right of succession, and 
control of all the property. 

CIPHER TELEGR±¥S. 

1878. The ' New York Tribune 
created a great excitement by produc- 
ing certain cipher telegrams, which it 
claimed had been used in the last presi- 
dential campaign by the democrats, and 
by interpreting them with a certain key 
which showed that the telegrams i-elated 
to bribery in trying to control the count 
in the doubtful states. It charged that 
the telegrams reflected severely upon 
Mr. Tilden, the democratic nominee for 
president in that campaign. The pro- 
duction of these dispatches and the use 
inade of them by the Tribune, undoubt- 
edly were intended to, and did strengthen, 
the republican party in its winter's work. 

PHOKOGR^PH. 

1878. During this year an invention 
was brought before the peojDle which 
excited universal attention. It seemed to 
follow in the path of the telephone. It 
was the production of Thomas A. Edi- 
son, the inventor. It was a cylinder 
around which a piece of silver foil could 
be wound, the surface of the cylinder 
being covered with a spiral groove, 
slowly running from one end to the 
other. Against this foil the point of a 
bit of metal is placed, the little rod being 
adjusted in such a way as to be moved 
backward and forth lengthwise by 
the vibrations of a disk, against which 
the sound of the voice is thrown. As 
the cylinder revolves, this rod traces the 
vibrations of the disk by a series of slight 
depressions in the foil. It is only neces- 
sary to begin at the beginning and turn 
the cylinder again to reproduce, as the 
rod retraces its path along the depres- 



VELOPMENT. 

sions, the words, or the song, which origi- 
nally made the depressions. But the in- 
vention has not, like the telephone, be- 
come of practical use. 

RESUMPTION. 

1879. Jan. 1. The United States 
resumed specie payment with great ease, 
in spite of the evil j^redictions of many 
false prophets. The premium upon gold 
had practically disappeared at the close 
of the old year. More gold was re- 
ceived during the day at the sub-treasury 
in New York than was called for. It 
had been about seventeen years since our 
paper money had been at par. For the 
successful accomplishment of a return to 
specie payment the country was indebted 
very largely to John Sherman, secretary 
of the treasury, who carefully and wisely 
prepared his way and pursued it, in spite 
of frequent advice to do differently. 
Specie payment was suspended in Decem- 
ber, 1 86 1. The highest point reached 
by gold since that time, was on the 
eleventh day of July, 1S64, when the price 
of $100 in gold ranged from $376 to 
$285 in currency. This made a dollar in 
paper worth only about thirty-five cents 
in gold. The following table gives the 
highest and lowest points reached by 
gold for each year, together with the 
average price for the year. It also gives 
the value in gold of $100 in currencv. 











Worth 


Year. 


Hig^hest. 


Lowest. 


Averag-e. 


of paper. 


1S62 


134-0 


101.12 


"3-3 


S>.3 


1863 


17^ -S 


122.12 


1 + 5-2 


68. 9 


186+ 


285.0 


'5^5 


203.3 


49.2 


1865 


234-37 


12S.12 


'57-3 


63.6 


1S66 


167-75 


125.12 


140.9 


71.0 


.867 


146-37 


132.12 


13S.2 


72.4 


1S68 


150.0 


132.0 


■30.7 


71.6 


i86q 


162.5 


119-1; 


133-0 


V'-'' 


1870 


123-25 


I lO.O 


"4-9 


87.0 


1871 


"S-.37 


108.37 


III. 7 


S9-S 


1S72 


115.62 


laS.s 


"2.4 


89. 


1S73 


119. 12 


106.12 


113. 8 


87. 9 


1874 


"4-37 


109.0 


III. 2 


89-9 


1875 


117.62 


"1-75 


115. 1 


86. 9 


1S76 


115.0 


107.0 


III. 5 


89.6 


1877 
187S 


107.87 


102.5 


104,7 


95-5 


102.87 


lOO.O 


101.43 


9^5 



1877-1881.] 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



809 



CALEB CUSHIKG. 
1879. Jan. 2. Caleb Gushing, one 
of the leading American jurists and 
diplomatists, died at the age of seventy- 
nine years, less fifteen days. He was 
born in Salisbury, Mass., Jan. 17, 1800. 
He early exhibited a strong mind, and 
during his boyhood laid a good founda- 
tion in the lower branches of study. 
When seventeen yeai's old he graduated 
from Harvard College, and spent about 
two years then in serving as tutor in 
mathematics and kindred studies. He 
began a course of law-reading, and was 
finally admitted to the bar. Having 
chosen Newburyport, Mass., as his place 
of practice, he at once attained a success 
which promised a marked career for him. 
He was soon enlisted in state politics, and 
served in both the house and senate. In 
1S34 he entered congress as representa- 
tive, when he served for four terms. His 
success as commissioner to China in 1844 
in negotiating the first treaty ever con- 
cluded between the United States and 
China, gave him a wide repute as a di- 
plomatist. He served as an oflicer in the 
war with Mexico. For a time he was 
upon the bench of the supreme couit of 
Massachusetts, and subsequently attor- 
ney-general of the United States, under 
President Pierce. His first sympathies 
in 1S60 leaned toward the South in their 
claims. At the Charleston democratic 
convention, and at the Baltimore conven- 
tion of seceders from the I'egular body, 
he presided. He, however, gave his 
eflforts afterward to the support of the 
Union. His most widely known recent 
position was in the council of the United 
States at Geneva in regard to the Ala- 
bama claims. He was minister to Spain 
in 1S73. During his life he exhibited great 
literary talent, and wrote abundantly. 



1879. Jan. 6. Polygamy was de- 
cided by the United States supreme court 
to be illegal, and to be subject to the 
prohibition of congress. 

1879. Jan. 14. A great ice-break 
took place in the Kentucky River at 
New Albany, Ind. The flood swept 
away a great amount of property upon 
the river banks for miles. 

1879. Jan. 14. Two Molly Maguires 
named McDonnell and Sharpe, were 
hung at Mauch Chunk, Penn., for the 
murder of George K. Smith, in 1863. A 
reprieve for six days had been granted by 
Gov. Hartranft, but the messenger ar- 
rived at the scene of execution about 
thirty seconds after the drop had fallen. 

1879. Jan. 16. A memorial service 
in honor of the late Prof. Joseph Henry, 
secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 
was held by the United States congress 
in the hall of the house of repi'esentatives. 
Testimonies to the worth and ability of 
Prof Heni-y were given with great ear- 
nestness by members of both houses. Dr. 
McCosh, president of Princeton College, 
and Dr. Sunderland, chaplain of the sen- 
ate, conducted the devotional part of the 
service. 

1879. Jan. 17. A great fire in New 
York city burned out nineteen dry goods 
firms at a loss of nearly three millions of 
dollars. 

1879. Jan. 21. Hon. George S. 
Hillard of Boston, died, aged seventy 
years. He was chiefly known as a liter- 
ary man, although he was a lawyer by 
profession, and was at one time United 
States district attorney for Massachusetts. 
He traveled extensively in Europe, and 
issued " Six Months in Italy." Educa- 
tion took a portion of his attention, and 
resulted in the publication of a series of 
school readers. 



810 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



1879. Jan. 22. A revolutionary 
movement took place in Venezuela, S. 
A., in favor of Guzman Blanco. 

1879. Jan. 25. An insane asylum 
near St. Joseph, ]Slo., was burned, at a 
loss of two hundred thousand dollars. 

1879. January. A change in the 
calendar was proposed in a bill intro- 
duced into the United States house of 
rejDresentatives, by Representative 01i\er 
of Iowa, arranging for three hundred 
and sixty-five days in every common 
year, three hundred and seventy-seven 
days in a "jubilee year" once in a 
half century, and thi"ee hundred and 
seventy-eight days in a "great jubilee 
year " once in five centuries. The extra 
days of these jubilee years were to be 
Sabbath days. 

1879. Feb. 2. Richard Henry Dana, 
a prominent American writer in his day, 
died at the advanced age of ninety-one 
years. He was born at Cambridge, 
Mass., Nov. 15, 17S7, studied at Harvard 
in the class of 1808, but was not gradu- 
ated, because-of his connection with the 
college rebellion of 1S07. Law and 
politics engaged his attention, and he 
was admitted to the bar in 181 1. But 
his work took more and more of a liter- 
ary turn. He assisted in establishing the 
"North American Review" in 1815, 
and at one time assisted to edit it. He 
constantly wrote for it. Mr. Dana pos- 
sessed a poetic faculty, and published sev- 
eral volumes of poems which show many 
excellencies. He was of the generation 
to which William Cullen Bryant be- 
longed, being but seven years older than 
that eminent poet. 

WOMEK I.y U. S. SUPREME COURT. 

1879. Feb. 7. A bill allowing 
women to practice law in the U. S. 



supreme court, was passed by the U. S. 
senate. The same bill passed the house 
nearly a year before, and was called up 
in the senate through the persistent efforts 
of Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood, who has 
been j^racticing in the lower courts of 
Washington for years, and who has de- 
termined to secure this last and highest 
privilege for her sex. The chief advo- 
cates of the bill were Senators Hoar of 
Massachusetts, and Sargeant of Cali- 
fornia. A handsome bouquet was sent 
to Mr. Hoar by Mrs. President Hayes, 
after the passage of the bill. 

1879. Feb. 11. Six men were buried 
alive by the caving in of the sides of a 
railway cut at Kansas City, Mo. 

1879. Feb. 14. A colored man. 
Senator Bruce, was for the first time in 
the history of the United States, made 
pro tem. presiding officer of the senate. 

1879. Feb. 20. A severe disaster 
occurred to the fishing fleet of Glou- 
cester, Mass., upon the Georges bank, by 
which fourteen vessels and one hundred 
and fifty-five lives were lost. This was 
another of the many afflictions which 
have fallen on the fishing towns of the 
Atlantic coast. 

1879. Feb. 22. A boiler explosion 
at Stockton, Cal., killed 16 persons, and 
injured 25. 

1879. Feb. 24. A revolution broke 
out in New Granada, S. A. 

1879. . February. The state treas- 
urer of Missouri, named Gates, was 
found to be a defaulter to the amount of 
$343,000. 

1879. March 1. The anti- Chinese 
bill, which had passed both houses 
of congress, was vetoed by President 
Hayes. The bill restricted to fifteen the 
number of emigrants that should be 



1877-1881.] 

brought into America in any one vessel 
at one time. 

1879. March 2. A great fire con- 
sumed a greater part of San Reno, 
Nevada, and destroyed five lives. The 
loss of property was one million dollars, 

1879. March 5. Archbishop Pur- 
cell of Cincinnati, and his brotlier, Father 
Edward Purcell, transferred all their 
property to J. B. Mannix, to be applied 
for the benefit of their creditors. 

1879. March 5. United States ports 
were ordered to take precautions against 
the plague, which was causing fear in 
Europe. 

TEMPERAKCE PETITIOK. 

1879. March 6. A petition signed 
by I io,ooo persons, was presented to the 
legislature of Illinois, asking that women 
might be allowed to vote on all questions 
w^hich involve the granting of licenses 
for the sale of liquor. It was afterward 
found that amendments to the constitu- 
tion of the state would be necessary be- 
fore such a law could be passed. 

"THE LE^RKED BLACKSMITHr 

1879. March 7. Elihu Burritt, who 
had acquired a wide reputation under the 
above popular appellation, died at New 
Britain, Conn., aged sixty-nine years. 
He was born in the same place, Decem- 
ber 8, iSio. His father was a shoemak- 
er. The growing boy went to the com- 
mon school of the place, and when it 
became necessary for him to choose soine 
occupation for life, he entered as an ap- 
prentice to learn the art of blacksmithing. 
He now began his literary studies, 
which were kept up for a lifetime. The 
Scriptures first of all inspired him to mas- 
ter their original tongues, and between 
whiles at his work, he occupied himself 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE 
with 



811 



his task. His progress was very 
considerable. At one time he began 
work in Worcester, Mass., that he might 
have access to the well-known antiqua- 
rian library there. His focility in learn- 
ing languages seemed to be very great, 
and the writer of this sketch heard 
him say in his last years that "prob- 
ably more languages had been for- 
gotten by him than most men under- 
take to learn." The activity of Mr. 
Burritt was very great, especially in 
the cause of "Peace Societies." He 
formed in London, in 1S46, the " League 
of Universal Brotherhood," and lectured 
constantly to secure the abolition of war 
by the employment of arbitration. He 
was prominent in jDcace congresses held 
in Europe. 

1879. March 10. A notable anni- 
versary was held in New York, at the 
residence of Mr. Cyrus W. Field, it being 
the 35th celebration of the day on which 
the original compact forming the first 
Atlantic telegraph company was signed. 
The room and the table were the same 
on each occasion. Four out of the five 
original signers came together, viz.: Mr. 
Field, Peter Cooper, Moses Taylor, and 
Marshall O. Roberts. Other distinguished 
persons were present, and a great social 
occasion was enjoyed. It was stated by 
Mr. Field that he had on that very day re- 
ceived permission to land a proposed Pa- 
cific telegraph from the United States 
to Japan, on the Sandwich Islands. 

1879. March 14. A new tariff in 
Canada increased duties upon imported 
goods from seven to about twenty-five 
per cent. The aim was protective, but 
English and Canadian merchants ob- 
jected to it. It acted adversely upon 
all countries. Great Britain included. 



812 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



1879. March 15. The international 
walking match in Gilmore's Garden, 
New York, ended with the victory of 
Rowell, the Englishman. It had lasted 
six days, and the receipts were over 
$50,000. The distance was five hundred 
miles. A gallery crowded with specta- 
tors fell during the walk on the I3th, in- 
juring some. 

1879. March 19. The British steam- 
er Bolivar sunk the Haytien steamer 
IVIichel in a collision near Kingston, 
Jamaica. Sixty lives were lost. 

1879. March 20. Thirteen clear- 
ing-house banks at New Orleans sus- 
pended payment for ten days, except 
by certified checks. The financial stress 
was great, but it was hoped would be 
safely passed. Aid was sent from New 
York banks, and in due time the worst 
was encountered. The suspension was 
resorted to in order to check a panic 
threatened by the failure of two banks. 
The banks opened in five days. 

1879. March 20. Dennis Kearney 
was violently assaulted at Santa Anna, 
Cal., for having used abusive language 
in a lecture in that place. He was very 
severely beaten. 

1879. March 22. Considerable ex- 
citement occurred among Quebec mer- 
chants in regard to the new tariff, which 
had increased the duties upon some arti- 
cles. A protest was prepared, and signed 
by many. The new tariff was intended 
to protect home industries, and raise 
$3,000,000 revenue. The bill, however, 
had become a law in England before the 
Canadian protests could be sent. The 
provisions were the same for all the Eng- 
lish dominions. The rate of increase 
was from seven per cent, to twenty-five 
per cent, on most articles. 

1879. March. Forest fires were rag- 



ing in Kansas, and were attended by loss 
of life in Lincoln county. 

1879. March. The cashier of the 
Bank of Hochelaga, Montreal, was found 
to be a defaulter to the amount of 
$50,000. 

1879. March. A thousand citizens 
served each night as a patrol in Colum- 
bus, Ohio, to guard against incendiary 
fires, which had broken out in great 
numbers. The excitement died away in 
a short time. 

yEGRO EXODUS. 

1879. March. The movement among 
the colored people of the South toward 
Kansas and other states, which has at- 
tracted so much attention during the last 
two years, began this month. It was at 
this time that the first negro emigrants 
gathered at St. Louis, and created the 
perplexity which has since characterized 
the entire process. The first ones in some 
way thought that they would find free 
transportation and support beyond St. 
Louis, until they arrived in the " prom- 
ised land." Their ignorance made it im- 
possible to get at the truth of their under- 
taking. The numbers gradually increased, 
and the problem of providing for them 
was forced upon the railroads and the 
people of Kansas, whither they were 
making their way. For two years a 
more or less steady stream has been 
pouring into that state, and at times great 
suffering has been experienced. Some 
of the wanderers have taken up their 
abode in other states. The question of 
the origin of the " exodus" is not yet fully 
settled. The more intelligent ones state 
that they were emigrating because they 
had never been allowed in the South the 
rights of citizenship; that they had been 
intimidated for attempting to vote ac- 



1877-1881.] 

cording to their convictions; that they 
had often lost their just wages, and were 
sometimes depi'ived of the means of sus- 
tenance. They wished to " move to a free 
country," and thousands of them rushed 
to uncultivated Western lands, starved, 
ignorant, and penniless. They gave up 
the "Sunny South" forever, and their 
former masters vainly endeavored to hold 
them back. Great political excitement 
arose over the exodus. Northern politi- 
cians charged it upon the blindness and 
cruelty of the former slave-owners, while 
the latter charged it upon the designing 
arts and solicitations of the former. But 
gradually it became clear that it was a 
great movement which owed its extent to 
a kind of restlessness on the part of the 
blacks under the deprivations of their sit- 
uation, and a vague idea that in the free 
West they would be able to make better 
and more rapid progress. The move- 
ment, however, was not transitory. Its 
force is yet unspent, and many of the 
former slaves are acquiring property, and 
1821-1879 becoming peaceful citizens 

William nep- of the great interior states. 

worth Dixon. j^ ^^^ ^^^^ j^ ^^jjj ^^.j^^^ 

good. It will force a redistribution of 
land and labor at the South, and change, 
perhaps annihilate, some of the elements 
of difficulty, in the reconstruction of that 
fair portion of the United States. 

THE CHILl-PERUVMK W^R. 

1879. April 3. Peru and Bolivia 
declared war upon Chili. The immedi- 
ate cause of hostilities was the violation 
of a treaty regarding the management of 
certain silver mines, which the two 
former powers wished to control. An 
American who witnessed the conflict, 
thus wrote of the causes: "Bolivia is a 
small state lying between Chili and 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



813 



Peru. It has a high, steep coast, with 
but one seaport, and that not a very good 
one. In the southern part of Peru, all 
through Bolivia, and the northern por- 
tion of Chili, are rich nitrate mines. 
Niter, from which is obtained saltpeter, is 
the great export and source of wealth of 
the country. The Bolivians were too 
poor, lazy, and inefficient to work their 
own mines, and rented them to an enter- 
prising Chilian company. It was stipu- 
lated by the two governments that the 
Chilians should work the mines and im- 
prove the shipping facilities by fixing the 
harbor, and removing many of its ob- 
structions. In consideration of this 
Bolivia exempted the company from all 
taxation. For some time this plan worked 
without trouble, vmtil Bolivia, wishing to 
raise some funds, taxed the mining com- 
panies. And this violation of their 
agreement by the Bolivians, so say the 
Chilians, brought on the war that is now 
waging. On the other hand, the Boliv- 
ians claimed that the harbor was not 
being improved sufficiently, and more- 
over the Chilians were assuming an un- 
justifiable authority, and trying to con- 
trol the country. Both parties, in my 
opinion, are to blame. Regarding the 
imposition of the tax, there can be no 
doubt; regarding the other point, writers 
diflfer. Hence the war." This war, as 
we shall see, eventually became one of 
the bloodiest and most useless, in the his- 
tory of South America. A few days 
after war was declared, the Peruvian port 
of Iquique was blockaded by Chili. 

PONCA TROUBLES. 

1879. April 9. A writ of habeas 
corpus was issued at Omaha, by Judge 
Dundy, commanding Gen. Crook of 
the United States army, to show why he 



814 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



held a large number of Ponca Indians 
prisoners. The history of the rise of the 
trouble was as follows : The Poncas had 
1S79. April u. lauds wliich they were cul- 
czar of Russia jj^^^^ji, very thriftily, and 

shot at four- . 

times. were succeeding very well 

in becoming civilized. In an ill moment 
the Interior Department decided, because 
of certain arrangements with other In- 
dians, that they must give up their lands, 
and go south to the Indian Territory. 
This was carried out against their own 
wish. In their new home the climate 
soon caused a heavy mortality, and be- 
fore long one hundred and fifty-six were 
dead. Their discontent now became 
serious, and they started upon a journey 
to their old lands. The United States 
government ordered Gen. Crook to force 
them back, and he seized them for that 
purpose, with the result above stated. 
This case has been before the country 
ever since, and great perplexity has been 
felt because an arrangement had been 
made for their former lands, which could 
not easily be readjusted. The Interior 
Department now confesses that a great 
mistake was made in the removal of the 
Poncas. Members of the tribe have vis- 
ited various cities since, and the one best 
known is " Bright Eyes," a young lady 
of intelligence and attractiveness. On 
May 14 Judge Dundy declared that the 
Poncas were citizens, and they were 
therefore released from imprisonment. 
Their case has been brought widely be- 
fore the country, and called fresh atten- 
tion to the story of the wrongs of the 
Indian. 



1879. April 20. A parade of com- 
munists, armed with rifles and bayonets, 
took place on Sunday, the twentieth, in 
Chicasfo. There were four hundred of 



theni in all, and they intended by this 
parade to express their antagonism to a 
bill in the Illinois legislature, forbidding 
the drill of all bodies not enrolled accord- 
ing to law. 

1879. April 21. General John A. 
Dix died at New York. He was born 
in 1 798. He had been senator, governor 
of his state, and secretarv of the treasury; 
also mai'or-general of the United States 
volunteers. His famous order, tele- 
graphed to the lieutenant of a revenue 
cutter, at New Orleans, on the eve of the 
civil war, "If any man attempts to haul 
down the American flag shoot him on 
the spot," indicated his spirit. He was a 
war democrat. He wrote a translation 
of" Dies Irae," which is thought to be 
the best of all attempts to render that 
great hymn. 

1879. April 23. A conflagration 
consumed the Notre Dame Roman Cath- 
olic University at South Bend, Ind. 
The loss was about $1,000,000. 

1879. April 23. An attempted as- 
sassination of Edwin Booth took place at 
McVicker's Theater in Chicago, while 
he was playing Richard III. A man 
named Gray committed the deed by fir- 
ing two shots without eflect. He was 
afterward arrested, and found to be crazy, 
and was committed to an asylum. 

1879. April 23. A coal mine at 
Sugar Notch, Penn., caved in and buried 
seven men. Efl^orts were at once begun 
for their release, and in four days they 
were found alive, having subsisted upon 
the meat of a mule, and water. They 
had been able to kindle a fire. 

1879. April 24. The British Co- 
lumbia parliament, mo^-ed by the fact 
that certain pledges made to them by the 
home government had not been fulfilled, 
passed a resolution, demanding permis- 



1877-1881.] 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



815 



sion to secede from Great Britain, unless 
those pledges were fulfilled by May i. 
Part of these pledges related to their 
means of communication with the eastern 
provinces of Canada. 

1879. April 26. A proclamation 
forbidding white settlers to enter the 
Indian Territory, was issued by President 
Hayes. This was made necessary by 
the fact that some families were crossing 
the line in order to get upon lands held 
by the Indians. These persons were, 
however, soon removed by United States 
troops. This was the first of the trouble 
which became so extensive in the winter 
of 18S0-1. 

1879. April 30. Mrs. Sarah J. Hale, 
for many years editor of" Godcy's Lady's 
Book," died at the age of eighty-nine 
jears. Her husband died when she was 
thirty-two years old, leaving her five 
children to support. She began to write 
at this time, and has been identified with 
a literary life ever since. It is asserted 
on good authority that she originated 
the idea of a national thanksgiving day, 
and the entrance of women into mission- 
ary and medical work. 

1879. May 1. A terrible crime was 
committed at Pocasset, Mass., by Charles 
F. Freeman, who killed his younger 
daughter by stabbing her in her sleep. 
Mr. Freeman claimed to have been 
divinely commanded to commit the deed, 
with the assurance that God would stay 
his hand or raise his child to life on the 
third day. He was a Second Adventist, 
and called the Adventists of the place 
together, and explained his act to them, 
and then defended it. The affair pro- 
duced intense excitement, and some of 
his followers attempted to declare that he 
was right. Freeman was afterward sent 
to the insane asylum. 



THE TRML OF miM^GE. 
1879. May 2. The trial of Tal- 
mage, the Presbyterian preacher of 
Brooklyn, who had aroused in the minds 
of some of his brethren suspicions of his 
lack of good moral character, held before 
the presbytery, closed in ^§73. ,,^„^ 30. 
the acquittal of the accused. Peace of simia 

, , , , , betzveen Etiff- 

although there was a heavy ia„dand " 
vote for conviction. The Ajghajiistan. 
vote was 24 to 20. The charges were 
admitted, but it was claimed by many 
that they were not blameworthy. One 
was that the preacher had got a man to 
subscribe a large amount to the debt on 
the Tabernacle, with the understanding 
that he should never pay it, but should 
allow the use of his name as an influence. 
Singular that there should be any ques- 
tion of the wrongfulness of such conduct. 
The trial in its whole procedure and 
results, produced a most unfortunate 
result. 

1879. May 5. An international 
sculling race was held on the Tync, in 
England, at which Edward Hanlan of 
Toronto, Canada, defeated John Haw- 
don of Delaval, England. 

1879. May 6. Two exodus con- 
ventions were held, one being the Missis- 
sippi Valley Labor Convention, at Vicks- 
burg, composed of whites and blacks. 
It passed measures w^hich it was thought 
would incline the blacks to stay at the 
South, but the colored members would 
not vote upon them. The other conven- 
tion called itself the National Colored 
Conference, and was composed of blacks 
from fifteen states. The views and 
measures of this one favored the exodus. 
It formed the " American Protective 
Society to Prevent Injustice to Colored 
People." 



816 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



1879. May 14. An important de- 
cision was rendered by Judge Dundy of 
Omaha, affirming that the Ponca Ind- 
ians, who had been imprisoned for re- 
sistance to the government in the at- 
tempt to keep them from returning to 
their lands, from which they had been re- 
moved, were citizens, and hence were 
free to go where tiiey pleased. Stand- 
ing Bear and his party were therefore 
released. The homes of these Indians 
were unjustly broken up while they were 
honestly supporting themselves. The 
decision in their favor was a righteous 
one. It is to be hoped that before long 
an Indian can become a citizen of the 
United States as fully as any one, and 
can hold property, which shall be re- 
spected as his by all the laws of the 
country. Such a peaceful result would 
prove the best settlement of the long- 
vexed question. 

1879. May 15. An international 
congress was opened at Paris, to con- 
sider the question of cutting a ship canal 
across the Isthmus of Panama. Repre- 
sentatives were present from all the great 
powers, including the United States. 
M. Ferdinand de Lesseps, the man who 
did so much to carry through the 
work of cutting the Suez canal, was 
president of the body. Before adjourn- 
ment a vote of 98 to 8 was taken in favor 
of the Panama and Aspinwall route. 
This was the start in the undertaking 
which, by the visit of de Lesseps to this 
country, and his subsequent energetic 
measures to obtain funds, has been put so 
prominently before the American people, 
and which has produced a discussion, 
congressional and otherwise, of the Mon- 
roe doctrine. 

1879. May 23. A Southern quar- 
antine bill was passed by congress, ap- 



propriating half a million dollars for the 
establishment of quarantines along the 
southern coast of the United States. 
This measure was taken in view of the 
ravages of yellow fever in 1878. 

WILLMM LLOYD GtLRRISOX. 

1879. May 24. William Lloyd Gar- 
rison, an American reformer, died in 
New York. He was born in Newbury- 
jDort, Massachusetts, December 13, 1S04. 
When William was quite young, his 
father died, but he was left in the care of 
a Christian mother. His early education 
was obtained only by overcoming many 
difficulties. He was first apprenticed, at 
the age of nine, to a shoemaker; but 
neither his physical nor mental conditions- 
were adapted to this sort of work. After 
working to obtain the advantages of an 
academy, for a time, he became appren- 
ticed to the publisher of the Newburj'^- 
port " Gazette." While learning his 
trade he kept up his studies, and wrote 
articles on various topics for the press. 
In 1S26 he became editor and proprietor 
of a paper called the " Free Press," in 
his native town; but notwithstanding 
his energy and enthusiasm, this enter- 
prise proved a failure. In 1S37 he be- 
came editor of the "National Philan- 
thropist," a total abstinence journal pub- 
lished in Boston. Then he united with a 
friend in the publication of " The Joui*- 
nal of the Times," a temperance and 
anti-slavery paper, in Bennington, Ver- 
mont. His abolition principles had now 
begun to binng down upon him the 
wrath of the "best people" of New 
England. In 1829 he united with Ben- 
jamin Lundy, a Quaker, in the publi- 
cation of " The Genius of Universal 
Emancipation." This journal under Mr. 
Lundy's management had been a mild 



1877-1881.] 

sort of a sheet, favoring gradual aboli- 
tion; but there was nothing mild or com- 
promising in Mr. Garrison's attitude to- 
ward wrong. His " ruinous zeal " soon 
scattered the subscribers of the quiet 
Quaker, and landed the young reformer 
in prison for libel. A philanthropic 
friend paid his fine, and Mr. Garrison 
went to Boston, where, on the ist of Jan- 
uary, I S3 1, he issued the first number of 
the famed " Liberator." He started with- 
out money, and without an office. In his 
salutatory he said: "I am in earnest. 
I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — 
I will not retreat a single inch. And I 
WILL BE heard!" Further on he writes 
the following prophetic words: " Poster- 
ity will bear testimony that I was right." 
The boldness with which he fought at 
this early date for the abolition of the 
slave power, and the freedom of the 
slave, and the faith and perseverance 
exhibited, were sublime. In 1S33 he visit- 
ed England, and was cordially received 
by many eminent persons. On his re- 
turn he assisted in organizing the Ameri- 
can anti-slavery association in Philadel- 
phia. He also delivered many lectures 
while continuing the " Liberator." At 
one time he was seized by a mob and 
dragged through the streets of Boston. 
His offence was pleading for the liberty 
of his enslaved countrymen. He was 
afterward placed in jail to escape the 
violence of the mob. He was perse- 
cuted on all sides, and the governor of 
Georgia offered a reward of five thousand 
dollars for his arrest. He boldly de- 
nounced the clergy for timidly submitting 
to the dictates of the slave power, and 
denounced the inconsistency of the Union. 
He styled the slaveholders as pirates, 
and took for his motto " No Union with 
Slavery." He continued the battle until 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



817 



the nation was aroused, the combat waged, 
and the victory won. Then he laid down 
the armor of warfare. The enslaved 
were free, and the " Liberator's" work 
was done. On Jan. 1, 1S66, he pub- 
lished the last number of his paper. 
In his valedictory he said : " I began 
the publication of the ' Liberator ' without 
a subscriber, and I end it — it gives me 
unalloyed satisfaction to say — without a 
farthing as the pecuniary result of the 
patronage extended to it during thirty- 
five years of unremitted labors." After 
the suspension of the " Liberator," he 
engaged in writing on various topics un- 
til the time of his death. His funeral 
at Boston brought together a very large 
number of distinguished people. 

1879. May 28. A memorial was 

issued by a meeting of Mississippi cot- 
ton planters, jorotesting against the send- 
ing of steamers down the Mississippi 
River to aid the negroes in leaving. 
The plea was based upon the claim that 
for a few weeks the cotton crop needed 
all the care possible, and the loss of hands 
would cause a loss to the planters of thou- 
sands of dollars. 

1879. May 29. A naval battle oc- 
curred off" Iquique, Peru, between Chilian 
and Peruvian vessels. The former gained 
the victory. Several ships were sunk, 
among them the great Peruvian iron- 
clad Independencia. 

1879. May 30. Great tornadoes oc- 
curred, one in the vicinity of Frankfort, 
Kan., and one in Ottawa and RejDublic 
counties, Missouri. Both did much dam- 
age to dwellings, trees and crops. Many 
persons were killed, some whole families 
being whirled up into the air in a fright- 
ful manner. The regions were almost 
completely devastated. 

52 



818 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



1879. May. The Kearney consti- 
tution which was submitted to the popu- 
lar vote of California, received a majority, 
iiyyib-o. Sir . and was therefore carried. 
Ro^viaudim Yt made discriminations 

author of citeap 

postage xystem. agaiust Capital and corpora- 
tions, and in favor of individual laborers. 
Its scheme of taxation was severe upon 
those who were objects of its implied cen- 
sure. The Chinese were especially aimed 
at. Some valuable points were, however, 
incorporated into the constitution. The 
following months however, were marked 
by a reaction, which gradually set in as 
it became apparent that the labor agita- 
tion had been extreme, and that it was 
dangerous to go too far in that direction. 
The sentiment is daily becoming more 
healthy, and the subject is finally adjust- 
ing itself. 

1879. May. A Commission of In- 
quiry into the evil effects of the liquor 
traffic was appointed by congress. It 
consisted of nine persons, and all peti- 
tions for temperance legislation were to 
be referred to this body. A similar com- 
mission in England, appointed by the 
House of Lords, had done much excel- 
lent work in this field, and had made a 
valuable report. 

1879. May. A noteworthy accom- 
plishment took place in the successful 
passage of Behring's Straits, by an ex- 
pedition under Prof. Nordenskjold, the 
Swedish explorer, who sailed along the 
northern shore of Europe and Asia in 
the previous season, and wintered forty 
miles west of the straits. When the ice 
broke up he continued his voyage and 
passed to the south through the straits, 
and after a tour along the coast of 
China, returned home through the Suez 
canal. This voyage ranks among the 
most successful explorations on record. 



1879. June 5. D. M. Bennett, of 

New York, editor of the Truth Seeker^ 
was sentenced to a fine of $300, and thir- 
teen monthsMiard labor in the penitentiarv 
at Albany, for sending indecent and im- 
moral publications through the United 
States mails. A well contested trial had 
been held, and the conviction of the de- 
fendant aroused a storm of abuse from a 
large number of persons who were in 
sympathy with Bennett in his revolution- 
ary views of love, marriage, etc. The 
ground of defence in the trial was that 
the books were scientific and religious. 
But they were plainly shown to be cor- 
rupting. The conviction of Bennett was 
a part of the constant warfare waged 
upon indecent publications of every kind 
which are sent through the mails. A 
pardon was diligently sought for Ben- 
nett from President Hayes, but the latter 
refused to grant it. In a few months a 
scathing exposure of Bennett's character 
came out in a liberal journal. 

1879. June 7. Sitting Bull returned 
to the territory of the United States from 
the British Possessions, with eight hun- 
dred lodges. 

1879. June 11. A mysterious mur- 
der of Mrs. Hull occurred in New York, 
greatly shocking the entire city. The 
deed was afterward traced to a negro 
named Chastine Cox, who was exposed 
by pawning some of the jewelry owned 
by his victim. He was arrested in Bos- 
ton, and at a later day suffered the pen- 
alty of the law. 

1879. June 14. The question of 
authority between the Marquis of Lome, 
governor-general of Canada, and his sub- 
ordinate officials, backed by i^s_ June. 
the people, in regard to the f^ouu Napoh-on, 

. . ///.' vounnr Prince 

dismissal 01 an officer, in imperii/, kuiea 
this case, Lieutenant-gov- ''y ""^ ■^«''"- 



1877-1881.] 

ernor Letellier, was referred back by the 
home government of Great Britain to the 
governor-general. In July the disagree- 
able officer was removed. Tbe senti- 
ment against Letellier arose from his 
liberal politics. The people of Canada 
wished by their position to maintain their 
independence of England. 

1879. June 17. The city of Lynn, 
Mass., celebrated its 250th anniversary 
with boat races, concerts, fireworks, ban- 
quets, and speeches. It was an occasion 
of great interest, and was very successful 
in bringing out very much historical 
matter in commemoration of the founding 
of the place, 

1879. June 21. An international 
walking match, in London, England, 
was won by E. P. Weston, the Ameri- 
can, who made 550 miles in six days. 
The championship belt was then brought 
back to the United States. 

1879. June 22. A Sunday riot took 
place at Chicago, between a picnic party 
and a military company. Several pei'- 
sons were shot, and the soldiers were 
arrested. 

1879. June 24. The United States 
government issued a warning to its peo- 
ple not to violate the neutrality laws by 
aiding the Bolivian privateers. 

1879. June 25. A joint resolution 
was introduced into the United States 
senate by Gen. Burnside, declaring that 
the construction of a Panama ship canal, 
under the patronage of foreign powers, 
would be a violation of the Monroe 
doctrine. 

1879. June 27. Patagonia was 
ceded to the Argentine Republic by 
Chili. 

1879. July 1. Canadian Indians 
raided into Montana, and committed 
many depredations. 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



819 
1879. July 3. A terrible tornado 

swept over parts of Minnesota, Wiscon- 
sin, Iowa, and Dakota, with vast destruc- 
tion of property and lives. It was hardly 
possible to live in the path of it. Hail of 
great size fell, and a great amount of rain 
likewise. Five inches of rain fell in fif- 
teen hours at St. Paul, Minn. 

THE JE7L}fXETTE EXPEDITIOX. 

1879, July 8. The steamer Jean- 
nette, fitted out by James Gordon Ben- 
nett, for an arctic trip through Behring's 
Straits, left San Francisco. Several naval 
officers of great experience were with the 
expedition, the entire number of men 
being thirty-two. The reason for the 
attempt was in the thought that perhaps 
better success could be had in pushing 
north to the pole in this longitude than 
in the longitude so often tried east or west 
of Greenland. The preparations were 
made as perfect as possible. 



1879. July 9. A little boat named 
" Golden Gate " of one and one-seventh 
tons burden, sailed by two men, left Bos- 
ton on an attempted voyage to Australia. 

1879. July 9. The yellow fever re- 
appeared in Memphis, Tenn., and began 
its course for the summer, which, although 
not so fearful as in 187S, was neverthe- 
less sad enough in its results. 

1879. July 10. The Duke of Ar- 
gyll, well-known for his interest in sci- 
ence, arrived in Boston for a short tour 
of America. He was accompanied by 
two daughters. 

1879. July 11. A severe tornado 
swept across portions of Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, and Canada, destroying hundreds 
of thousands of dollars worth of crops, 
many public buildings, and much private 
property. 



820 



PRESEN T DE VEL OPMENT. 



1879. July 16. A terrible tornado 

devastated parts of Massachusetts. It 
"was felt with great severity upon the 
coast, and destroyed many vessels. More 
than thirty lives were lost. Some of the 
beautiful towns in the central part of the 
state were rid of the magnificent elms 
which had been shading them for many 
years. There was damage from hail and 
lightning, to a fearful extent. 

1879. July 17. President Canal 
of Hayti, resigned the government to 
the national assembly at Port-au-Prince. 
This step was accompanied by a serious 
contention in the assembly. 

1879. July 25. Sleepy Tom, the 
blind pacer, made the fastest record in 
the world upon the grounds of the Chi- 
cago Jockey and Trotting Club, making 
the mile in 3:i2|. The next pacer came 
in less than a second behind. 

1879. Aug. 8. A temporary finan- 
cial panic spread through Montreal. 
Some of the banks suspended for a time. 
The trouble began with the suspension of 
the Consolidated Bank, July 31. But 
the affi^ir was soon repressed, and the 
banks once more set in motion. 

1879. Aug. 11. The charcoal burn- 
er's association of two thousand Indians 
in Nevada, struck for higher wages- 
They defied the sheriff in his efforts to 
restrain them from violence, and three 
companies of militia were sent to compel 
submission. 

THE "UKCLE S^M." 

1879. Aug. 11. Another exhibition 
of foolhardiness was made in the leaving 
of Capt. Goldsmith and v/lfe from St. 
Johns, Newfoundland, for a trip round 
the world, in a very small boat which 
they named " Uncle Sam." They set 
sail with a fair wind, but had been out 



no more than a day, when Mrs. Gold- 
smith became so sick with inflammation 
of the bowels that she could do nothing. 
Still they kept on. Capt. Goldsmith 
sailed his little boat, and tried to doctor 
his wife as well as he could. When 
they had been out five days, a severe 
gale came on, and their experiences in 
this were most fearful. At times it 
seemed as if they must go down. All 
their provisions except some canned goods, 
were soon spoiled. Matches, oil, etc., 
were soon used up. The boat was well 
nigh filled with water for a long time. 
The di-ags and oars were lost. For 
seventy-two hours CajDt. Goldsmith went 
without sleep. On the 19th, after the 
gale had abated somewhat, a bark hove 
in sight, and they decided in their 
wretched condition to make no further 
attempt to push on, but signal the bark. 
They did this, and were taken on board 
the " Queen of Nations," a Liverpool 
vessel, under CajDt. F. W. Edwards. 
The "Uncle Sam" was scuttled, and left 
to herself uj^on the broad ocean. Capt. 
Goldsmith and wife recovered from their 
hardships, and arrived in Liverpool 
safely, September 3. Other heavy storms 
were experienced, which -would have 
made it impossible for them to have sur- 
vived had they remained on board the 
" Uncle Sam." 

1879. Aug. 15. A serious riot oc- 
curred in Quebec, Canada, between the 
French and Irish shipbuilders. The po- 
lice were powerless to rescue the city from 
the hands of the mob, and many were 
killed and injured. The trouble was sup- 
pressed by the military. It cost the city 
over $50,000. The origin of the diffi- 
culty was in a discussion which arose in 
the shipbuilders' society. The antagonists 
afterward came to an agreement. 



1877-1881.] 

1879. Aug. 16. A tank of burning 
oil at Titusville, Penn., caused a heavy 
loss. Two days before, a tank was struck 
by lightning, and the flames were com- 
municated from tank to tank. On this 
morning a tank burst, and the burning 
oil spread over the river, making it a 
sheet of flame. By a change of wind 
the town was saved. Eighty-five thou- 
sand barrels of oil were burned, at a loss 
of $100,000. 

1879. Aug. 18. The heaviest storm 
of the season raged along the Atlantic 
coast. Vessels were diiven ashore, and 
the velocity of the wind was sixty miles 
an hour. New England suffered severe- 
ly, and the damage to the shipping was 
great. At Norfolk, Virginia, the streets 
were flooded, and buildings unroofed, 
causing a loss of over $200,000. 

1879. Aug. 19. Damages to the 
amount of $103,000 were demanded of 
England, by the United States, because 
of illegal interference with the American 
fisheries, at Fortune Bay, 

1879. Aug. 20. The Dixon Out- 
rage. The difficulty in Yazoo county. 
Miss., which had been apparently settled 
by the withdrawal of Henry M. Dixon 
from his candidacy for sheriflf, when under 
the pressure of mob violence, was again 
aroused because Mr. Dixon consented 
again to run, when promised the protec- 
tion of several prominent democrats. 
Mr. Dixon was himself a pronounced 
democrat, but the opposition of his name 
to that of the regular candidate, caused 
the excitement. He was finally shot 
upon this date, by James H. Barkesdale, 
the democratic nominee for chancery clerk. 
The murderer was arrested, and released 
upon a bail of $15,000. 

1879. Aug. 23. The Kalloch Con- 
troversy. Charles de Young, editor of 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



821 



the San Francisco Chronicle, shot Rev. I. 
S. Kalloch, of that city, at the Metropol- 
itan Hotel, because of some severe terms 
which the latter had applied to him in 
the previous Sunday evening sermon. 
Kalloch was the workingmen's candidate 
for mayor, and the Chronicle had reflect- 
ed upon his former life. Kalloch denied 
the imputations before a very large audi- 
ence, and applied in return epithets too 
gross for utterance. This led to the 
shooting. Kalloch, though severely 
wounded, recovered, and was elected 
mayor. 

REFORM OF OKEIB:i COMMUKITY. 

1879. Aug. 28. A great sentiment 
of opposition to the marriage customs of 
the Oneida Community, in New York, 
was aroused all through the state, and it 
was felt that protest had been too long 
delayed. Numerous methods were taken 
by the clergy and others, until on this 
date, the community itself promised re- 
form by the abolition of its terrible cus- 
tom of complex marriage, and a new 
platform was adopted, which put the 
community more upon the foundation of 
a business company. The refoi'm was 
helped by the convictions of a large party 
in the community itself, in opposition to 
their joractices. This was specially true 
of the younger members, who saw the 
impossibility of erecting homes. Since 
then the process has gone still furthei", 
and John H. Noyes, the founder of the 
community, is obliged to live in Canada 
to escape the anger of his old associates. 
The community has now virtually be- 
come a simple joint-stock company. The 
Wallingford branch of this community, 
in Connecticut, also announced its i"eadi- 
ness to relinquish the system of complex 
marriaofe. 



822 PRESENT DE 

GEXERAL JOH.V B. HOOD. 
1879. Aug. 31. John B. Hood, an 
American general, died at New Orleans, 
of yellow fever. He was born in Bath 
count V, Kentucky, about 1S30. He 
gratluated at West Point, 1S53, and was 
mainly engaged in the frontier defense 
until 1S59. Having been severely wound- 
ed in a fight with the Comanche Indians, 
in Julv, 1S57, he obtained leave of ab- 
sence in 1S60; and on April 15 of the fol- 
lowing year he resigned his commission, 
and entei-ed the confederate army, in 
which he soon rose to the rank of major- 
general. He took part in the Chicka- 
hominy campaign, and fought at the sec- 
ond battle of Bull Run, at Antietam, 
and Fredei-icksburg. At Gettysburg he 
commanded a division of Longstreet's 
corps, and lost an arm in the fight. At 
the battle of Chickamauga he lost a leg, 
and was made lieutenant-general. He 
succeeded J. E.Johnston in command of 
the army against Sherman, at Atlanta. 
Having been defeated by Sherman, and 
compelled to evacuate Atlanta, on Sept. 
I, 1864, he went northward into Ten- 
nessee, to be crushed by Gen. Thomas at 
Nashville, Dec. 14-15. He was then 
succeeded by Gen. Richard Taylor. He 
had written an account of the war, 
which was left in manuscript. He is 
said to have often wept when going into 
battle, and sometimes upon the severest 
charges. His wife and child had died a 
few days before his death, and another 
daughter died about the same time as her 
father. Nine children were left, the 
eldest ten years old. 



1879. August. The evils of specu- 
lation were still further terribly set forth 
by fresh revelations in Fall River, and 
other cities. The former place especially 



VELOPMENT. 

seems to have been thoroughly diseased. 
Several defalcations had come to light 
since the great ones of 187S. During 
this summer Geo. B. Durfee, ex-treasurer 
of the Mechanics' IMill, was found to have 
squandered the money of others in this 
way. Walter Paine, third treasurer of 
the American Linen Mill, also proved a 
defaulter to the amount of $100,000. 
George H. Eddy, treasurer of the Flint 
Mill, revealed the same sad story. All 
these men, from the beginning, had been 
among the leading business men of the 
city, but had been sucked into the fatal 
whirlpool of sj^eculation, at the cost of 
character and everything else. The de- 
falcations of James W. Wilbur, at Law- 
rence, and of William M. Roach, cashier 
of the Citizens' National Bank, at Wash- 
ington, serve to enforce the valuable les- 
son which our young men need to learn, 
that integrity is worth more than any- 
thing else. 

1879. Sept. 6. A torpedo expedi- 
tion was captured by the Chilian fleet 
off Pisaguay. A contract with a Peru- 
vian merchant was found ; he had agreed 
to pay JCio,ooo for every Chilian iron- 
clad, and £5,000 for each corvette de- 
stroyed. 

1879. Sept. 14. The plantation 
slaves at Santiago de Cuba demanded 
their liberty, to which their masters 
agreed, if they would bind themselves to 
work three years for wages. Rather than 
agree to this, many of them ran away. 
Six thousand in all were soon liberated 
in the island of Cuba, upon these or sim- 
ilar terms. 

1879. Sept. 14. The gold fever 
raged in Queen's county. Nova Scotia; a 
stock company was organized with a 
large capital, valuable specimens having 
been found. 



1877-1881.] 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE 



RETURX OF GRANT. 
1879. Sept. 20. Gen. U. S. Grant 
and family arrived in San Francisco, 
from their trip around the world. He 
had passed through the principal coun- 
tries of the world, and had everywhere 
been received with distinguished honor. 
Royalty had graciously favored him be- 
yond what had ever been accorded to any 
other American citizen. His reception 
in England was exceedingly flattering. 
The freedom of the city of London was 
granted him, and constant attention 
showered upon his head. In China he 
was received and honored by the gov- 
^ , . ernment in an extraordi- 

18~9. Scpiemoer. 

Mutiny in nary way. Through all 

Afghanistan. ^j^j^ i-gmarkable trip Gen. 

Grant maintained his dignity and discre- 
tion, to the great gratification of all Amer- 
icans. The country felt a great pride in 
his reception. Upon his landing in San 
Francisco the city authorities gave him a 
fine reception. After lingering in the 
golden state for a while, he began his 
tour through the United States, which 
was extended South as well as North, and 
was everywhere marked by great accla- 
mation and splendid ovations. 



1879. Sept. 26. Deadwood, in the 

Black Hills, was destroyed by fire. Over 
two thousand people were made home- 
less. The loss amounted to nearh- 
$3,000,000. Rebuilding was immedi- 
ately begun. 

THE UTE OUTBREAK. 

1879. Sept. 29. The Ute Indians, of 
Colorado, attacked a force of three United 
States cavalry companies, under Major 
Thornburgh, while escorting a wagon 
train, near the Milk River. Major 
Thornbursfh and eleven of his men were 



823 

killed, and the rest were forced to en- 
trench themselves as well as they could. 
Many were wounded. Troops were at 
once sent forward to their relief. It was 
feared for a time that the whole force had 
been slain. But they were afterward 
found by United States troops under Gen. 
Merritt. At the same time the Utes com- 
mitted another desperate outrage. It was 
reported that Mr. Meeker, Indian agent 
for the White River agency, and all his as- 
sistants, had been murdered. The women 
were taken into captivity, and were after- 
ward restored. The Utes claimed that 
the treaty had been broken, their horses 
and cattle stolen. The massacre was 
committed contrary to the wishes and 
orders of Chief Oui'ay. For a long time 
there were fears of a general outbreak. 
But a long discussion set in with the Ute 
nation, and further hostilities were pre- 
vented. 

1879. Oct. 2. Another vain Cuban 
rebellion, which had been in pi-ogress for 
some time, was taking on a severe form. 
The insurgents were defeated in several 
encounters, by the Spanish troops, and 
quite a large number of prisoners were 
taken. 

1879. Oct. 3. A revolution in Hayti 
took place at Port-au-Prince, against the 
government, and a new constitution was 
formed. Gen. Aiontmorency was after- 
ward elected president of the republic. 

CAPTURE OF THE HUASCAR. 

1879. Oct. 9. The Peruvian iron,- 
clad, " Huascar," was captured by the 
Chilian navy. This was one of the most 
decisive and horrible combats of the war. 
Up to this time the Peruvians, with the 
" Huascar," had been successful in sink- 
ing a wooden frigate, in defeating a sloop 



824 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



of war, and capturing many prizes. The 
loss of the ship, and the brave men, who 
fought until nearly all were dead, caused 
great distress throughout Peru; for by the 
capture of this vessel Peru had lost her 
hold upon the ocean. The "Huascar" 
was attacked by two Chilian iron-clads. 
The gallant admiral and his men neither 
asked nor received quarter. In the fear- 
ful engagement the captain was blown 
through the turret into atoms. When 
the Chilians gained possession the lad- 
ders and passages of the " Huascar " were 
so crowded with mangled corpses that 
the men could not get below to stop the 
engines. The two Peruvian monitors 
were now kept in harbor defence. 

1879. Oct. 13. A serious disaster 

occurred in the loss of the aeronaut. 
Prof, John Wise, who made an ascension 
in an imperfect balloon, and was lost as 
is supposed, in Lake Michigan. The 
body of his one companion was after- 
ward found, and the circumstances were 
all similar to those attending the loss of 
Donaldson. 

1879. Oct. 16. The body of Prof, 
Le Moyne, a strenuous advocate of cre- 
mation, and who built the structure for 
that purpose at Washington, Penn,, was 
itself cremated in his own furnace. 

1879. Oct. 18. The steamer "Pa- 
jaro," from Havana for Neuveitas, took 
fire in the Bahama channel, and sunk in 
four hours. Seventeen persons were 
rescued by a passing steamer. The fate 
of thirty-three was unknown. 

1879. Oct, 19. A shocking massacre 
occurred at Silver City, New Mexico. 
Twenty-one persons were slaughtered 
by the Indians belonging to the Apache 
tribe. The men were shot or scalped, 
the women tortured, and seventeen chil- 



dren were killed. Government troops 
were called for, but it was some tnne be- 
fore assistance could be sent to the settlers. 
1879. Oct. 29. Paul Boyton, the 
swimm.er, who made a successful trip 
in his rubber suit across the English 
Channel, made a trip down the Connecti- 
cut River, and passed the dangerous 
points at Bellows Falls on ^^7.9. Zuiu -war 
this day. The shores were "' ^"""^ Africa. 
lined with spectators, some of whom had 
waited four hours to see his plunge over 
the falls. He made the passage safely, 
and went on his course, although slightly 
injured. When he reached Springfield, 
the citizens were notified by rockets and 
other fireworks. The object of all this 
was to display the safety of being cast 
adrift if protected by such a suit as the 
one worn in this trip. 

GEjYER^L JOSEPH HOOKER. 

1879. Oct. 31. Joseph Hooker, ma- 
jor-general of the United States army, 
died at New York. He was born at 
Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1S15. He 
graduated at West Point in 1S37, and 
served in the Florida war. He came 
out of the Mexican, w^hich he entered as 
a lieutenant, a brevet lieutenant-colonel, in 
recognition of his gallant conduct at sev- 
eral battles. In 1853 he resigned his 
commission in the army, and became 
a farmer in California. At the begin- 
ning of the civil war he at once en- 
listed in the service of the Union, and 
was appointed brigadier-general of vol- 
unteers. In the spring of 1S63 he was 
placed in command of a division of the 
Army of the Potomac, and on May 5 was 
made major-general of volunteers. He 
took an active part in McClellan's penin- 
sular campaign, and was wounded while 
bravely fighting at Fredericksburg, where 



1877-1881.] 

he commanded a grand division under 
Gen. Burnside. He succeeded Gen. Burn- 
side in the command of the Army of the 
Potomac January 26, 1S63, and in the 
early part of May fought the battle of 
Chancellorsville. On account of a dis- 
agreement with Gen. Halleck, he re- 
signed the command of the Army of the 
Potomac on June 27, and was succeeded 
by Gen. Meade. In September he was 
placed in command of the 13th and 14th 
army corps in and about Chattanooga, 
and took part in the November cam- 
paign. He commanded in the famous 
battle of Lookout Mountain, for which 
he was made brevet major-general of the 
United States army. He was subse- 
quently placed in command of the Army 
of the Cumberland, and was prominent 
in the operations against Atlanta. He 
resigned this command in August, 
1S64, in consequence of a question of 
rank. He commanded in September, 
1S64, the northern department; in 1S65 
the eastern department, and in 1866 
that of the lakes. He was mustered out 
of the volunteer service on September i, 
1866, and on October 15, 1S6S, he was 
made brevet major-general of the United 
States army, and retired from service. 
He was familiarly known as " Fighting 
Joe," which rightly expressed his strong 
characteristics. 

1879. Oct. 31. Jacob Abbott, an 

American author, died at Farmington, 
Maine, aged seventy-six years. He 
graduated at Bowdoin College, and later 
at Andover Theological Seminary. From 
1825 to 1S29 he was professor of mathe- 
matics in Amherst College. For some 
time after this he had charge of a girl's 
school in Boston, Massachusetts. In 
1834 he organized a Congregational 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



825 



church at Roxbury, but in a few years 
he moved to Farmington, and engaged 
in literary work. He is well known 
for his series of child's stories, biogra- 
phies, etc. 

ZtLCHARMH CHAXDLER. 

1879. Nov. 1. Zachariah Chandler, 
an American statesman, died suddenly at 
Chicago. He was born at Bedford, 
New Hampshire, Dec. 10, 18 13. He 
was of Puritan descent, and of humble 
birth. His early education was limited, 
being such as he could obtain in a com- 
mon school and an academy ; but what he 
lacked in culture he made up in wonderful 
natural ability, fearless honesty, and re- 
markable common sense. At the age of 
twenty he removed to Detroit, and after 
teaching school for a time, engaged in 
the dry goods business. His entrance 
into politics was in 1851, when he was 
elected mayor of Detroit. In 1852 he 
was the whig candidate for governor, but 
was defeated, although he ran far ahead 
of his ticket. In 1857 he was elected to 
the United States senate, which position 
he retained, with one intermission, till the 
day of his death. He became an active 
republican on the day of the organiza- 
tion of that party, and remained with it 
throughout his life. He was a bitter par- 
tisan, for the reason that he consistently 
and honestly believed that only through 
his party good government could exist, 
and freedom be extended to every citizen 
of the Union, He became the great lead- 
er of the more radical wing of his party, 
and this secured for himself the name of 
" stalwart." As a leader he was bold 
and aggressive; he possessed a marked 
executive ability, and he was an embodi- 
ment of "old honesty" itself. On his 
entrance into the senate he besran and 



826 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



carried on an uncompromising warfare 
a<j^ainst slavery, and no man's power in 
this direction was more feared. He op- 
posed the Lecompton measui^e, and the 
annexation of Cuba, During the course 
of his career in the senate he served on 
many important committees. He was 
the ruHng spirit in the committee on the 
conduct of the war, and was mainly in- 
fluential in securing the removal of Mc- 
Clellan from the Army of the Potomac, 
and the final appointment of Grant. Up 
to the expiration of his third term he 
acted as chairman of the committee on 
commerce. He was the supporter and 
trusted friend of both Lincoln and Grant. 
In 1S75 Mr. Chandler was defeated for a 
fourth term by Senator Christiancy ; but 
on the loth of February, 1S79, Chris- 
tiancy resigned, and Chandler was re- 
elected. During this intermission he 
served from March 4, 1877, to Oct. 9, 
1879, as secretary of the interior in Pres- 
ident Grant's cabinet. This department 
1S79. November, was thoroughly renovated 
Loss of crops in \-yy Mr. Chandler. In 1876 

Ireland. Rise of . " , . -. , 

Land League l^e was chaunnan of the na- 
excitement. tioual republican committee, 

and on the night of the presidential elec- 
tion of that year he telegraphed the pro- 
phetic utterance: "Hayes has 185 votes, 
and is elected." He was outspoken in 
his convictions, and nev^er seemed to 
doubt. Although rough, and at times 
very profane, he possessed a solid char- 
acter, was a constant church goer, and 
possessed great reverence for religious 
men and divine worship. He was a 
strict Calvinist in belief. After making 
one of the greatest sjoeeches of his life, 
on Nov. I, 1S79, he went to the hotel, and 
retired for the night. The next morn- 
ing he was found dead in his bed. There 
were no indications of a struggle, and it 



was supposed that he died from cerebral 
hemorrhage. He had evidently over- 
worked himself. Mr. Chandler was 
wealthy, and left a wife and a daughter, 
who married Hon. Eugene Hale, of 
Maine. 

STORMIKG OF PIMGUA. 

1879. Nov. 2. A Chilian fleet of 
sixteen vessels appeared off Pisagua, 
Peru. The place was bravely defended 
by a small force of 900 men, under the 
command of General Buendia. The 
Chilian fleet landed from twelve to six- 
teen thousand men under the cover of 
their guns. The men charged up the 
steep, sandy mountain, and with the loss 
of five hundred men, gained the place, 
which was a strong foothold on Peruvian 
soil. The Chilian army was now 
thoroughly drilled, and splendidly armed 
and equipped; and it was ready to move 
against the enemy with eflfect. Opposed 
to it were two armies; one of 10,000 Pe- 
ruvians, and another of 6,000 Bolivians. 
It was expected that the forces of the 
contending armies would be concentrat- 
ed for a combat at Iquique, as the Chilr 
ians, immediately after the capture of 
Pisagua, began to march in that direction. 



1879. Nov. 8. The small band of 

revolutionists, which had been organized 
in San Domingo, defeated the forces of 
President Guillermo, at San Pedro. 

1879. Nov. 8. The loss of the polar 
schooner, " Florence," in the Cumber- 
land Straits, ^vas announced. The ves- 
sel was commanded by Captain Tyson. 
The crew suffered greatly, but was finally 
rescued by a passing vessel. 

1879. Nov. 9. A desperate fight oc- 
curred at Candelaria, in the mountains of 
Chihuahua, Mexico, between a band of 



1877-1881.] 

two hundred Indians and fifty whites, 
from Cariza, New Mexico. Thirty -two 
of the white men were slain. 

1879. Nov. 12. A significant illus- 
tration of post-bellum courtesies took 
place at Lexington, Mass., in the presen- 
tation to that town of a copy of a portrait 
of Lord Percy, who led the British 
troops in their march on Lexington, 
April 19, 1775. The portrait, made 
from another copy which is owned by 
the Duke of Northumberland, at Alnwick 
Castle, England, was presented by the 
duke to the town of Lexington. In re- 
turn the citizens voted to give the duke 
a painting of Munroe Tavern, in Lexing- 
ton, at which Lord Percy made his head- 
quarters during his short stay in the town. 

1879. Nov. 16. A new Franco- 
American trans- Atlantic cable was suc- 
cessfully completed by the landing of the 
end at North Eastham, Mass. The 
cable runs, as does the other French cable, 
to St. Pierre, near Newfoundland, thence 
to Brest, in France. This is the sixth 
cable across the Atlantic. The other 
French cable runs from Duxbury, Mass., to 
St. Pierre and Brest. A cable runs from 
Rye Beach, N. H., to Torbay, N. S., 
thence to Ireland. The three others run 
from St. Pierre and Newfoundland to 
Ireland. 

1879. Nov. 26. A stock transac- 
tion never before equaled in this country, 
took place in the sale, by William H. 
Vanderbilt, of 150,000 shares of stock in 
the New York Central R. R. and the 
giving an option of 100,000 more, the 
whole involving $30,000,000. The shares 
were taken by a syndicate. Vander- 
bilt still retained 350,000 shares. The 
transaction brought the road into connec- 
tion with the new Wabash line, and aimed 
at the building up of a through route. 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



827 



1879. November. The general elec- 
tions for this month, through the United 
States, resulted in a decided republican 
gain. The improvement in the integ- 
rity of the government under the adminis- 
tration of President Hayes, had brought 
back to the party a large number of 
voters who believed in Civil Service Re- 
form, and other political improvements. 
The " young republicans," and the " in- 
dependents,"" or " scratchers," were once 
more showing a disposition to trust the 
old party, with which they had become 
disgusted at the close of Grant's second 
term. The fight, which in certain quar- 
ters, had been made against the "machine," 
drew upon their sympathies, and won 
their confidence. Hence the new antici- 
pation which the republican party enjoyed. 

THE LOTTERY SWINDLE. 

1879. November. The Post Office 
Department undertook to make war upon 
the lottery enterprises of the country, by 
issuing an order forbidding the payment 
of money, or the delivery of registered 
letters to persons connected with these 
swindles. Attempts had been made for 
a year to learn the secrets of the business, 
and all the evidence obtained went to 
substantiate the suspicion that thousands 
of people were being cheated out of their 
money. The mails to the larger cities 
carried thousands of letters containing 
money for lottery tickets. A fight was 
made by the parties interested, and the 
w^arfare has never been fully settled in 
the courts. 

PROSTRATE PERU. 

1879. November. The president of 
Peru, his armies having been defeated by 
the Chilian forces, and his country almost 
completely subjugated, fled to New York, 



828 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



and thence to Europe. Nicolas de Pierold 
proceeded to take charge of the govern- 
ment, and reorganize the aUied armies to 
meet the conquering Cliilians under Gen. 
Bequedano. Tlie condition of Peru was 
now comparatively helpless, and business 
and commerce, which were in so prosper- 
ous a condition at the outbreak of the 
war, were now prostrated. At the com- 
mencement of hostilities, the government 
had constructed over three thousand miles 
of railroad, and was I'apidly outgrowing 
her South American sisters; now all such 
enterprises became wrecks, and every re- 
source must be drawn on to protect Peru- 
vian soil from complete devastation at the 
hands of the invading Chilians, who, but a 
few months before, were engaged in de- 
fending themselves against the Peruvians. 
The fortunes of war had been reversed. 
During this month, it is true, the Chilian 
forces had been defeated on the boundary 
of Peru and Bolivia. The troops of the 
latter pov/ers were acting on the defen- 
sive, and the victory gave an impetus to 
their arms for a time. The Chilian com- 
mander was killed, and the force of 1,500 
surrendered, with arms antl ammunition. 
Later in the month, according to the 
meager advices, Tarparaca, defended by 
the allied Peruvians and Bolivians, was 
captured by the Chilians, thus giving 
them another strong foothold. The loss 
of life was reported to be heavy. The 
close of the operations for 1S79 thus found 
Peru at a great disadvantage. The cap- 
ture of Pisagua, and the land battle of 
Pena Grande, had given the Chilians 
great gain. 

TROUBLES IX MEXICO. 

1879. November. Great excitement 
resulted for a time from alleged disclos- 
ures that a revolution was on foot 



throughout the whole of Mexico, against 
the government of President Diaz, who 
had been elected and inuagurated against 
great opposition from contesting parties. 
During the preceding month, a number 
of minor revolutions had been crushed, 
and it v^as thought that there could now 
be some unrestrained progress in the ad- 
ministration of civil affairs; but the spirit 
of the adventurous Mexican became rest- 
less at the slightest pretext. According 
to the announcement, the imminent out- 
break would involve all the leading Mex- 
ican states, and was incited by the society 
of " The Government of the Restoration 
of the Republic of Mexico"; of this 
organization Gen. De Abornoz was pres- 
ident. Certain capitalists of the United 
States, who were interested in mines and 
railroads in Mexico, had united with am- 
bitious Mexicans in the progress of the 
scheme. The revolutionists promised the 
capitalists who would engage in furnish- 
ing them arms, provisions, etc., the fol- 
lowing grants in return, when they should 
obtain possession of the government, and 
their rebellion prove successful : i . Au- 
thority to organize the National Bank of 
Mexico, the notes of which are to be 
legal tender for all debts, public and pri- 
vate, and to be receivable in payment for 
public lands at the rate of $1 per acre, all 
the public lands of Mexico to be set apart 
for this purpose. 2. Franchises for rail- 
ways and telegraphs throughout Mexico, 
and subsidies in bonds and national bank- 
notes, sufficient for the construction. 3. 
Abolition of all duties on importations of 
goods from the United States into Mexi- 
co. The land rights of immigrants are 
guaranteed, taxation and service in the 
Mexican army for a stated period is to be 
remitted, and religious toleration assured. 
About the last of the month, however, the 



1877-1881.] 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



829 



excitement was calmed, and the ardor of 
the insurgents dampened, by the arrest of 
Gen. Gonzales, one of their leaders. The 
presidential election created gieat excite- 
ment, and many disturbances, on account 
of the right of suffrage being secured to 
many people who heretofore had no ex- 
perience in voting; the elections for the 
republic being conducted by the govern- 
ment and the people, having heretofore 
being unconcerned in public issues. Pres- 
ident Diaz determined that the people 
should have their rights, according to the 
spirit of the constitution. His determina- 
tion led to great dissatisfaction among the 
old-time Mexican politicians. 

A GREAT IKVEKTOR. 

1879. Dec. 6. Erastus B. Bigelow, 
the inventor, died, aged sixty-five years. 
The following account of his early diffi- 
culties, and of his wonderful inventions, 
is taken from the Scientific American : 
" The early struggles of Mr. Bigelow 
afford a lesson of pluck, energy, perse- 
verance, and final success, which ought to 
be very encouraging to other young in- 
ventors, when things do not go as they 
would like. His father was poor, and he 
was early set to work on a neighbor's 
farm at small wages. His first invention, 
made when he was thirteen years old, 
was a hand-loom for weaving suspender 
webbing. Next he invented a machine 
for spinning yarn. This brought him a 
little money, and at sixteen he attended an 
academy at his own expense. Here he 
became interested in stenography, wrote 
1819. Dec. 3. and published the ' Self- 
Auemfi to bio-.v ^ ^i^ Stenographer,' from 

tip Russia ?t Czar => o i :> 

on railroad train. whicll he hopcd tO make a 

fortune. But the venture landed him in 
debt. Then he undertook the manufact- 
ure of twine, and failed again. Later he 



made another failure in the manufacture 
of cotton, which increased his indebted- 
ness to $1,400, a large sum in those days. 
Then he took lessons in penmanship, be- 
coming so skillful that he was able to 
support himself by teaching the art. The 
work did not promise any great profit, 
and he thought he would like to be a 
physician. After taking a course of 
classical instruction he entered his name 
as a medical student. At this point, 
while lying one night under a Marseilles 
bed-quilt, he conceived the idea that he 
could make a power loom to weave such 
fabrics. He dropped his studies for in- 
vention, succeeded, and entered upon a 
new course of effort, disappointment, 
more effort, and final success. A Boston 
house promised him money to set up his 
looms, but failed before he could get 
started. His father was also unfortunate 
in business, and in failing health. He 
thought he could make something by 
means of a power loom for weaving 
coach lace, and having found that there 
was a good market for such jDroducts, he 
set to work to invent the required loom. 
It was another success as an invention ; 
and better for him, it resulted in financial 
success. It gave him both money and 
reputation. But he was cut out for still 
better work, and he found it in the inven- 
tion of power looms for carpet weaving. 
He set up the first successful power loom 
carjDet factory in the world; and subse- 
quently passed on from looms for weav- 
ing ingrain to the greater invention of 
power looms for Brussels carpeting. In 
all he took out thirty-six United States 
patents, and ultimately acquired great 
wealth. It is said on good authority, 
that by his inventions, the cost of weav- 
ing coach lace was reduced at once from 
twenty-two cents a yard to three cents; 



830 



PliESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



and the cost of weaving Brussels carpet 
from thirty cents to four cents." 

M:imE ELECTION TROUBLES. 

1879. Dec. 15. A grave point was 
reached in the election dispute in Maine, 
by the announcement of Gov. Garcelon 
that eight republican senators, and twen- 
ty-nine republican representatives were to 
be counted out, because of some defects in 
the returns, and their places filled partially 
by democrats and greenbackers, several 
places being left vacant. The whole was 
managed so as to give a " fusion " major- 
ity in the legislature. The origin of the 
trouble was as follows: At the election 
held September 8, there was no choice of 
governor by the people, because the 
successful candidate must have a ma- 
jority over all. Neither the republi- 
can, the democratic, nor the greenback 
candidate, met this requirement. But 
according to the returns forwarded to the 
capital, the republicans had succeeded in 
securing a majority of the legislators by 
seven votes in the senate, and twenty- 
nine in the house. The governor and 
council, who during 1879 were democrats 
and greenbackers, are made by the law 
of Maine, canvassers of the election re- 
turns. In proceeding to their work they 
saw their opportunity, and embraced it 
with the above result. The decisions 
they made were based upon mistakes in 
the initials of a man's name, or ujDon 
some neglect in complying with the law 
of returns, etc., etc. In no case was it 
doubtful as to what the voters of the dis- 
trict intended to accomplish. The law 
of the state expressly provided that after 
an election had been held, the clear will 
of the voters should decide the returns 
in most of these cases. The democrats 
and greenbackers now became known 



through the country as " fusionists," be- 
cause in the whole conflict they stood 
together. The governor declared that 
the legislature he had announced would 
meet on January 7, and proceed to elect 
his successor. Great excitement reigned 
both in the state and out of it. Both 
sides bent their utmost energies to the 
task. 



1879. Dec. 15. Electricity was em- 
ployed in lighting the steamer "City of 
Berlin," which arrived in New York 
from Liverpool. At the close of the 
voyage the passengers presented a vote 
of thanks to the companv. 

1879. Dec. 22. A postal card from 
Iceland was received in Utica, New 
York. It was dated and issued Nov. 
29, and was a sample of Iceland's first 
postal cards. 

1879. Dec. 23. Father Duenhoflfer 
of Morris, Ohio, was tried and fined for 
whipjDing three Catholic boys who had 
served as pall bearers at a Protestant 
funeral. The affair produced great ex- 
citement. 

THE CUBAK RErOLUTIOK. 

1879. The revolution in Cuba con» 
tinned on a somewhat smaller scale. 
The abolition of slavery had produced 
satisfactory results in some places, and 
the Spanish government troops obtained 
a firm foothold. Small bands of the 
patriots occasionally made 
outbreaks here and there, "f'f- Z"": ? . 

' Attempt to shoot 

but were soon crushed. All Kinjr aijouso of 
captives engaged in gue- *"""' 
rilla warfare were shot wherever found. 
The disposition of Cuban affairs caused 
great agitation in the Spanish govern- 
ment. A new cabinet was formed at 
the close of this year, which promised to 



1877-1881.] 

support all needed reforms in the op- 
pressed island. The great difficulty was 
in adjusting the question of slavery to the 
wishes of everybody. 

RISE OF M'TI-MORMOmSM. 

1879. Never before had the senti- 
ment against Mormonism shown itself 
so clearly as during the last year. Within 
that time great efforts had been made to 
bring members of the Mormon church 
under the control of the U. S. courts for 
polygamy. Several indictments had 
been found, and arrests made, but all with 
the greatest difficult}^, and with no de- 
cided result. But the matter began to 
take hold of the country. Pi-esidential 

messages are now referring 

1879. Great • i , • • 

strikes of all to it, and the conviction 
kinds in Eng- that the country must be 
freed from an element so 
hostile to the integrity of the family, is 
fast gaining ground. After the message 
of President Hayes had been issued at 
the close of this year, Elder John Taylor, 
in an address to the Mormons, told them 
authoritatively to obey the usage in re- 
gard to polygamy, no matter what the 
U. S. government might do about it, for 
it was a law of God. 

IRISH :iGimT0R8. 

1880. Jan. 1. C. S. Parnell and John 

Dillon arrived in this country at New 
York, to promote the cause of the Irish 
Home Rule, and to gather funds for the 
relief of those suffering and perishing 
from famine in Ireland. Mr. Parnell is 
a member of parliament from Meath, 
Ireland, and an active home ruler. Dur- 
,„„^ ,., , ing his tour of the United 

18H0. Liberal <=• 

victory in Eng- States he spoke in many of 
lish elections. ^j^^ largest cities in the mid- 
dle and central states, and received con- 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



831 



tributions for the benefit of his people- 
Meantime starvation in Ii'eland had stead- 
ily increased, until now vast numbers 
were suffering and dying. It was, how- 
ever, much relieved by the gifts which 
flowed in from many quarters, especially 
the United States. Mr. Parnell made 
an unfavorable impression in several 
places, on account of his political criti- 
cisms and principles. He had, to some 
extent, created prejudice against his cause, 
by the revolutionary advice he gave his 
fellow subjects, at a mass meeting in Ire- 
land, a short time before coming to 
America, and by his willingness to see 
his countrymen suffer, if the money he 
got could be used for political purposes. 
He was the leader of his party in Ireland, 
a large land owner, and an able and cul- 
tured man. His purpose in coining to 
the New World was to create favor for 
the desires of the Irish to rise into a more 
distinct nationality. He seemed to be 
jealous of all other agencies for relief. 



1880. Jan. 3. Bishop McCloskey of 

the Roman Catholic church of Louis- 
ville, Kentucky, ordered parochial schools 
to be established throughout his diocese, 
and bade Catholic parents to send their 
children under nine years of age to these 
schools, upon penalty of being denied the 
sacraments for refusal. 

1880. Jan. 12. A terrific flood de- 
vastated the island of St. Kitts, W. I., 
"the mother of the Antilles." The 
heights of Mt. Misery rise back of the 
principal town, and upon these the storm 
and flood gathered till they could be no 
longer restrained, when they swept down 
the sides with resistless fury. The moun- 
tain streams were transformed in tor- 
rents, sweeping everything in their course. 
The earth was loosened so that numer- 



832 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



ous land slides occurred. Stores of sugar 
were destroyed, and j^lantations stripped. 
Two hundred persons perished, and a 
great many more lost all they had. It 
was the worst affliction since 1722. 
There was a loss of $250,000. 

MAINE ELECTION TROUBLES. 

1880. Jan. 17. The difficulties in 
Maine were somewhat lessened by the 
recognition of D. T. Davis as governor of 
Maine, by Gen. Chamberlain, who had 
military charge of the capitol at Wash- 
ington. The course of affairs since De- 
„„^ .-. o^ cember had been as fol- 

1880. Jan. 20. 

D>:aih oj Jules lows : The last of that 
"'^' month Gov. Garcelon had 

been induced, by the force of public 
opinion, to submit certain questions to 
the supreme court of the state. On Jan. 
3 a decision was returned, denying his 
position in every particular. On Jan. 7 
the legislature of the state convened, and 
the fusionists attempted to secure control 
of it by arbitrary rulings. The contest 
endured till the 9th, when Gen. J. L. 
Chamberlain, president of Bowdoin Col- 
lege, was asked by Gov. Garcelon to 
assume military control of the capitol, 
which he did. On the evening of the 
13th, the republican legislators who had 
been clearly elected, took possession of 
the statehousc after it had been vacated 
for the day, and at once decided to sub- 
mit the question of their legal existence 
to the supreme court of the state. The 
president of the fusion senate requested 
Gen. Chamberlain to recognize him as 
acting governor, but he was refused. 
On the 16th the fusion legislature elected 
as governor Major J. L. Smith, and con- 
ducted the inauguration. But on the 
same day the supreme court of the state 
rendered a decision recognizing the re- 



publican legislature as the legal legislat- 
ure of the state, because it had a clear 
majority of those who had been elected 
by the people. The latter therefore at 
once elected and inaugurated Mr, Davis,, 
and were recognized in the procedures 
b}' Gen. Chamberlain, who had gov- 
erned ever}' step by the decisions of the 
supreme court. The excitement was 
now somewhat relieved, and the anxiety 
lest there would be bloodshed, subsided. 
Still, a j^ortion of the conflict remained. 



1880. Jan. 23. The first earth- 
quake known in Havana caused great 
excitement. The shock was severe, but 
no great damage was done. Twelve 
miles from Havana, however, many 
buildings were demolished. During the 
day an official banquet in honor of Gen.. 
Grant and party, took place in Havana. 

MAINE ELECTION TROUBLES. 

1880. Jan. 31. The state seal and 
other property were surrendered by the 
" fusionists " to the republican officers, 
and the Maine embroglio came to an 
end. Since the 17th inst. ^^^^ y^^^^^_ 
a slight excitement was Great fire iii 
caused by the discovery of " '"' 
a plot, on the part of the " fusionists," to 
gain forcible possession of the legislature. 
But finally the " fusionists " adjourned 
on the 28th, with the professed purpose 
of meeting again in August. This, with 
the surrender of the seal, closed the whole 
affair. It afterward came to light, how- 
ever, that some of the returns from the 
towns had been deliberately falsified in 
favor of the " fusionists." 

EDISON'S ELECTRIC LIGHT. 

1880. January. A widespread in- 
terest was felt in the result of Edison's- 



1877-1881 .A 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



833 



long effort to perfect his electric light. 
He announced that he was confident of 
success; a company was formed, and 
prices of stock began to go up, till they 
reached the sum of $3,300 a share. But 
experiments were made, and unexpected 
difficulties were found in making the car- 
bon plates durable. Hence the antici- 
pated exhibition, which had been so long 
awaited by the public, was to a great ex- 
tent a failure. Stock at once went down 
to $1,500 a share. But the sturdy invent- 
or still affirms that he will accomplish 
it, and works away at his task. 

1880. Feb. 2. A novel scene took 
place before the bar of the United States 
supreme court. Hon. Joel Parker, who 
im. Feb. n. ^'^^'^ formerly been put for- 
ward by the democratic 
party as a candidate for the 
presidency, together with 
a colored lawyer from 
South Carolina, were admitted to prac- 
tice at that court. The latter was admit- 
ted upon motion of Mrs. Belva A. Lock- 
wood, who had been herself admitted to 
the same bar under the act of congress 
of one year before. 

1880. Feb. 20. Rev. Edward Cow- 
ley, who had for some time been at the 
head of an institution in New York, 
known as the " Shepherd's Fold," in- 
J380 Feb 29 tended for the instruction 
Si. Gothard and rearing of orphan chil- 

Tunnei opened. j i i i i i 

^ dren, and who had been 

convicted of starving and abusing the lit- 
tle inmates, was sentenced to a fine of 
$200, and one year's imprisonment. 
Cowley was foi'merly chaplain at Black- 
well's Island. The imposture he had been 
practicing was thoroughly broken up. 

1880. March 5. A convention of 
greenbackers was held at St. Louis. 



Attempt to kill 
the Russia)! Czar 
by blowing up 
the Winter 
palace. 



Stephen B. Dillaye of New Hampshire, 
was nominated for president, and B.J. 
Chambers of Texas, for vice-president. 

THE UTE KEGOTMTIOjYS. 

1880. March 6. Negotiations be- 
tween the United States and the Ute na- 
tion were concluded. The first para- 
graph stipulated that the Indians should 
procure the surrender of the murderers 
of Agent Meeker; the second that the 
territory of the Utes in Colorado should 
be ceded to the United States, and that 
the tribes should settle on the LaPlata 
River, Grand River, and the Utah res- 
ervations. As payment for their lands, 
the Indians were to receive an annuity 
of $50,000; the annuity of $25,000 
which they had been receiving, was to 
be continued until they should become 
self-supporting. 

"MLVATIOK ARMY." 

1880. March 10. Eight members 
of the "salvation army" arrived in New 
York, among the immigrants from Lon- 
don. This organization was originated 
in London in 1S65, by a minister, who 
held open air meetings and large public 
gatherings, for the purpose of converting 
those who attended no place of public 
worship. In 1865 there were over 3,500 
workers in the " army." They came to 
New York for the purpose of extending 
their work to the United States. They 
wore plain uniforms and inscrijDtions on 
their hats, and marched through the 
streets under a flag which bore the in- 
scription, " Blood and Fire : New York, 
No. 1." All their operations were 
guarded by certain regulations. 

1880. March 11. A farewell recep- 
tion was given in New York to Charles 



834 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



S. Parnell, the Irish agitator, on tlie eve 
of his departure for Ireland. Represent- 
atives from many of the principal cities 
were present, and the question of organ- 
izing a "land league" in America was 
fully and favorahly discussed. A league 
has since been organized in each of our 
large cities, and in some cases female 
leagues have been formed. 

1880. March 16. Dennis Kearney, 
who had been arrested in San Francisco 
for using indecent, violent, and abusive 
language, was sentenced to six months 
in the house of correction, and a fine of 
$i,ooo. He appealed to the superior 
court, but the sentence was confirmed. 
It was afterward reversed in the supreme 
court, and Kearney was released. The 
working men began to find out that their 
interests were not promoted by this igno- 
rant agitator. The citizens had formed a 
*' Union" for the protection of their 
homes and property. Great fear had 
arisen in many quarters that mob vio- 
lence would soon reign, and some people 
left the city. But the cloud passed, and 
the danger did not break upon them. At 
the election of March 30 the Kearneyites 
were defeated by over 7,000 majority. 

COXFLICT BEFORE ^RIC± 

1880. March 25. The blockade of 
Arica was forced by the Peruvian cor- 
vette " Union." This was not an exten- 
sive engagement, but it was one of the 
most brilliant of the war. The " Union " 
fought for seven hours with two Chilian 
ironclads, and during the fight a transport 
discharged her cargo of arms for the use 
of the land forces of the Peruvians. The 
opening fighting of the year gave the al- 
lies no new gain ; on the contrary, the 
Chilians not onlv held their, own, but 
continued aggressive action. 



JJ'EST FOLYT OUTRAGE. 
1880. April 6. At West Point mili- 
tary academy, a colored cadet named 
Johnson C. Whittaker, was found in his 
room, bound and bruised. Upon being 
loosed he said he had been taken from 
his bed by masked men, and had been 
maltreated by them severely. The aflfair 
at once became a subject of wide comment 
throughout the country, because it was 
thought that the outrage was committed 
by reason of an aversion to Whittaker on 
account of hi^ African descent. A court 
of inquiry was ordered and held, but 
after a long trial, there was no result 
clearly established in the minds of the 
people at large. An effort was made by 
some to show that Whittaker had com- 
mitted the deed himself, in order to gain 
sympathy. Recorder Sears of the court 
of inquirv, decided that Whittaker as- 
saulted himself. He was at once arrest- 
ed, and steps taken to court-martial him. 
A feeling of opposition to Gen. Schofield, 
the head of the academy, was developed, 
and he has been more recently remo\e(l 
by President Hayes, Gen. O. O. Howard 
being put in his place. 



1880. April 10. The best distance 
on record in a long walking match was 
made by Ilart, a negro, in New York. 
He walked 565 miles in six days, \z 
miles more than had ever been recorded 
in a similar contest. 

1880. April 18. The most fearful 
cyclone on record in this country, swept 
through portions of Indiana, Illinois, 
Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri. 
At Marshfield, Mo., what seemed to be 
a water spout burst upon the town, and 
all save twenty or thirty buildings were 
utterly wrecked. The stores and larger 
dwellings were literally prostrated. A 



Lord Beacons- 
fielii resigns « ? 
prime minister 
of England. 
Mr. Gladstone 
succeeds him. 



1877-1881 ] 

little child was afterward found suspended 
unhurt in the crotch of a tree, thirty feet 
above the ground, three miles from home. 
Cattle and people were scattered every- 
where. In other sections the injury was 
great. A hundred persons were killed. 
The destruction of property cannot be 
estimated. 

1880. April 21. A serious accident 
occurred at Madison Square garden. 
New York. By the falling of a portion 
of the walls and the roof, while a large 
hospital fair was in progress, more than 
18S0. April 22. twcnty-five persons were 
killed and injured. Many 
large paintings, which were 
loaned for the occasion, were 
destroyed. These were in- 
sured against fire, but nothing else. A 
great many lives were saved by the fall- 
ing of pieces of plastering, which warned 
the people, so that they fled the room. 
The cause was found to be in the treach- 
erous workmanship put into the building. 

1880. April 21. An extensive fire 
destroyed one-half the ,city of Hull, 
Ontario. Over 4,000 people were turned 
out of doors, and several lives were lost. 
The loss is estimated at $3,000,000. 

1880. April 23. The Kalloch con- 
troversy in San Francisco resulted in a 
frightful crime. The difficulties between 
Rev. Mayor Kalloch and Charles De 
Young, the editor of the Chronicle, 
which led to the attempt of the latter to 
shoot the former, at the Metropolitan 
Hotel, now took a more sd^ious turn. 
The son of the former entered the edito- 
rial rooms of the Chronicle, and shot De 
Young dead. The quarrel had been 
taking a hideous form in the eyes of all 
right-minded citizens. The impeach- 
ment of Mayor Kalloch had already 
been proposed, because of his wild lan- 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



835 



guage and indiscreet conduct. His son 
was immediately arrested. 

1880. April. The largest immigra- 
tion ever known in one month, at New 
York, took place when there were 
46,118 arrivals at the landing place, at 
Castle Garden. The only other month 
approaching this, was April, 1S73, when 
there were 42,743 arrivals. A great tide 
is now flowing into the country, and the 
western immigrant trains, during 18S0, 
were crowded. The railroads were 
forced to run extra trains. It is found 
that an average of $68 apiece is brought 
by this people, making $300,000,000 in 
seventeen years. The West swallows 
up sixty percent, of all immigrants. 

1880. April. The Chilian forces 
under Gen. Bequedano continued the 
invasion of the Peruvian territory, and 
met with almost uninterrupted success. 
They bombarded Callao, and much dam- 
age was done on the shore; for accord- 
ing to reports, the allied land forces suf- 
fered heavily. Gen. Bequedano cap- 
tured Moquega, an important port of 
Southern Peru. 

ylXTI-THIRD TERMI8M. 

1880. May 6. The sentiment of the 
country, which was opposed to the nomi- 
nation of Gen. Grant for a third term, as 
a candidate for the presidency of the 
United States, led to the holding of a 
convention at St. Louis, No public ref- 
erences were made, except to the nomina- 
tion of Grant. Hon. Thurlow Weed, 
Col. T. W. Higginson, Rev. Dr. Bel- 
lows, Rev. Dr. James Freeman Clarke, 
President Chadbourne of Williams Col- 
lege, Rev. Dr. Leonard Bacon, Gen. 
McClurg, and others, wrote letters of 
sympathy with the movement. The 
delegates represented many sections of 



836 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



the country, and arrangements were 
made to defeat the election of Grant, if 
nominated. The action was brought 
about by the "Independent Republicans." 
From this time the opposition became 
more intense. 



1880. May 21. The failure of the 
Reading Railroad company was an- 
nounced. It had total liabilities of $104,- 
000,000. The effect of the foilure was 
very great. The cause of it was in the 
attempt of the company to inanage large 
coal and iron interests also, and it thus 
imperiled the whole of its possessions. 
The road received a charter in 1833. 
The special step which embarrassed it, 
was in trying to secure a monopoly of 
the anthracite coal business. 

1880. May. Tacua, an important 
town of vSouthern Peru, was captured by 
the Chilian army. The Peruvians were 
routed, and their Bolivian allies were de- 
serting them. It is said that the Chil- 
ians practiced great cruelty on the inhab- 
itants of Tacua, and also of Arica. 

CAPTURE OF :iRlCA. 

1880. June 4. A Chilian force of 
6,000 men attacked Arica by land and 
sea. When the Peruvian garrison were 
summoned to surrender, the v replied, "We 
will resist to our last cartridge." But 
Gen. Baquedano carried the enemy's 
works by storm upon the loth. This 
gave the Chilians entire possession gf 
Southern Peru, and while the fleet block- 
aded and pillaged the northern ports, 
Baquedano organized an expedition 
against Lima. 

NTlTIOXAL REPUBLICtI.Y CO^^VEKTIOK. 

1880. June 8. The national re- 
publican convention, after a stormy ses- 



sion of six days at Chicago, nominated 
James A. Garfield of Ohio, for president, 
and Chester A. Arthur of New York, 
for vice-president. The convention de- 
clared itself in favor of " equal rights 
for all," and congratulated the people on 
the success of the resump- ,„„ 

^ I8SO. Great 

tion of specie payments. fhmi>ie in 
The main question that ^''"'■'""■ 
agitated the convention was, " Shall Gen. 
Grant be nominated for a third term?" 
Over three hundred delegates voted for 
Gen. Grant thirty-six times, on as many 
successive ballots. Blaine, Sherman, Ed- 
munds, Washburne, and Windom, were 
supported by sturdy friends. Until thirty- 
three ballots had been cast. Gen. Gar- 
field's name was hardly thought of, nor 
was he a nominee of the convention. He 
was nominated on the thirtv- sixth ballot, 
by a vote of 399 to 306 for Grant, and 
42 for Blaine. His nomination was 
everywhere received by the people with 
a feeling of relief. Even those who were 
most set about their wishes, experienced 
a degree of satisfaction in the result. The 
scene in the convention when his nomi- 
nation was assured, was beyond descrip- 
tion. There was a perfect frenzy of joy. 



1880. June 11. The Greenback 
convention, held in Chicago, nominated 
Gen. J. B. Weaver of Iowa, for presi- 
dent, and E. J. Chambers of Texas, for 
vice-president. The representatives of 
the party were divided into two conven- 
tions at fi/st, and only came together 
after considerable controversy. The 
whole session was one of tumult. 

DEMOCRATIC .YATIOXAL COKVEXTWX. 

1880. June 24. The democratic 
national convention at Cincinnati, nomi- 
nated Winfield S. Hancock of New 



1877-1881.] 

York, for president, and William H. 
English of Indiana, for vice-president. 
The convention in its resolutions declared 
its faith in Samuel J. Tilden, and ex- 
pressed its belief in his election in 1S76. 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 

five and one hundred 



837 



1880. June 29. The excursion 
steamer " Seawanhaka," out from New 
York, took fire from an explosion in 
the engine room, and the flames spread 
with great rapidity. Fifty persons per- 
ished. A striking instance of the in- 
fluence of song occurred in this catas- 
trophe. A colored singer and his wife 
were on board, and each secured a life 
preserver. But in the confusion, the 
one which the woman had was torn 
away by some one else. They were 
finally obliged to commit themselves to 
the water. After floating for a time 
with her hands on her husband's shoul- 
ders, the wife grew weary, and said 
she could not hold out any longer. 
After various encouragements without 
great effect, the husband said : " Let us 
try to sing 'Rock of Ages;' perhaps 
that will cheer us up so that we can 
get ashore." As he struck up with 
his rich voice, his wife felt new strength. 
In a few moments others on the water 
caught it, and the beloved melody aided 
some in making a new effort, and reach- 
ing the shore in safety. 

1880. June 29. The international 
rifle match at Dollymount, Ireland, was 
won by the American team over the 
Irish, by a score of 1292 points to 1280. 

1880. June. A collision occurred 

on Long Island Sound, between the 

*' Narragansett " and the " Stonington.'' 

While sinking, the former 

1880. June 30. , r' r^-rr 

Laz'j against took fire. Different esti- 
jesuits in mates of the loss of life 

France executed. . . 

place it between twenty- 



An investiga- 
tion showed that the ' captains did not 
understand the code of signals by which 
they should have been guided, 

1880. July 1. The boiler of the 
steamer " Mary " exploded at Hotel 
St. Louis dock, on Lake Minnetonka. 
Four persons were killed, and others 
wounded. The boiler was known to 
be unsafe, but was permitted to run 
without official insjoection, 

1880. July 3. The workingmen oi" 
California deposed Dennis Kearney from 
the headship of their party. He was 
threatened with mob violence. The 
mass of the party became convinced 
that he was a blind leader. 

1880. July 17. The national con- 
vention of prohibitionists met at ClevC' 
land, Ohio, and nominated Gen. Neal 
Dow of Maine, for president, and A. W. 
Thompson of Westville, Ohio, for vice- 
president. 

1880. July 21. The Hudson River 
Tunnel caved in, and was flooded with 
water, causing the death of twenty-two 
persons. It was afterward found that 
some of the adjustments had been care-, 
lessly made, and the safeguards had not 
been sufficient. The disaster arose from 
the endeavor to save expense. It was a 
long time before the remains could be 
excavated. The work was afterward 
begun again, and is now proceeding on a 
safer scale. 

1880. The Chilian transport " Loa " 
was exploded in Callao Bay. A torpedo 
launch, loaded with fruit and vegetables, 
was sent among the blockading squadron 
by the Peruvians. It was finally taken 
by the " Loa," and as the cargo was re- 
moved, the lessening of the weight caused 
machinery in connection with 300 pounds 
of dynamite' to work, and a terrible ex- 



838 PRESENT DE 

plosion followed. The " Loa " immedi- 
ately sunk, and 150 men perished. 

1880, July 29. The independent 
people's labor party held a national con- 
vention at Sharon, Penn., and nominated 
Garfield and Arthur as their presidential 

ticket. 

DR. T±'\'XER'S F^ST. 

1880. Aug. 7. The attempt which 
was being made by Dr. Tanner of Min- 
nesota, to live forty days without food, 
came to a successful close by the expira- 
tion of the time allotted. The experi- 
ment was made in New York, under the 
charge of physicians, although the ar- 
rangements were not so complete as to 
have absolutely prevented the secret pas- 
sage of food to the victim, had it been 
desired to accomplish it. This, however, 
is thought not to have been done. A 
great deal of Dr. Tanner's time was spent 
upon a couch. At times he was taken 
out to ride. He frequently took a swal- 
low of water, with which to moisten and 
rinse out his mouth. A large number of 
visitors daily gazed upon his emaciated 
form, and expressed their sympathy. 
But the experiment, while professedly 
made in the interest of science, in deter- 
mining the power of the will over human 
life, did not command any great respect 
from the people at large. Dr. Tanner 
claims that he had fasted at a previous 
period for forty days, and that he there- 
fore knew what he was doing. His 
daily condition was reported over the 
country. At certain times it seemed as 
if he would not live many hours. Dur- 
ing the next dav or two after the close 
of his fast, Dr. Tanner ate heartily of a 
large number of kinds of food without 
isso. August. any apparent ill elTccts. He 

Coloa^ne cat he- i ,• i • c \ ^ 

, f ^, . . advertised a series or lec- 

dral completed 

after 630 years, turcs in different parts of 



VELOPMENT. 

the country. His services were sought by 
lecture agencies at high price, but he de- 
clined them, and preferred to lecture upon 
his own account. The result was, com- 
plete failure. Nowhere could he gain 
an audience, a proof that his experiment 
only caused a slight temporary excite- 
ment. 

For the sake of comparison an account 
is here added of a fast of a month, which 
in its circumstances exceeds in importance 
the fast of Dr. Tanner. The account is 
taken from " Underground Life, or Alines 
and Miners, a work translated, adapted 
to the present state of British mining, and 
edited by H. W. Bristow, F. R. S. of the 
geological survey; Honorary Fellow of 
King's College, London; published in 
America by D. Appleton & Co." 

" The story of Giraud, who was exca- 
vating a well near Lyons, 1854: The 
poor fellow, dashed to the bottom of the 
hole by a fall of the ground from above, 
which had been perhaps insufficiently 
propped, beheld a sort of vault suddenly 
form above his head, which crusllfed him 
under its weight, and kept him prisoned, 
together with his fellow workman. The 
question then was, how to save these poor 
fellows. It was necessary to dig a new 
shaft near the first, and then to connect 
the two by means of a drift-way, which 
should strike it at the point where the ac- 
cident had taken place. In spite of all the 
exertions which were made, a whole 
month was spent in bringing the opera- 
tion to a close, for fresh falls occurred in 
the new workings themselves. 

" Giraud and his comrade heard the 
noise of the picks, and I'eplied to the 
workmen, thinking every moment that 
the hour of deliverance was at hand. 
Vain hope! The second man died. Hun- 
£fer added its horrors to the sufferings of 



1877-1881.] 

the survivor, as in the sad story of Ugo- 
lino. 

" Giraud, a person of greater energy 
than his companion, bore up. The 
corpse of his friend, which lay near him, 
poisoned the Httle air which he had to 
breathe; but the desire to live, sustained 
him. Neither hunger, nor this unj^leas- 
ant proximity, cast down this man ; he 
wished not to die. He carried on the 
contest for an entire month. Every mo- 
ment it was expected that he would be 
reached, when some fresh accident hap- 
pened, which rendered it necessary to 
begin the work anew. Giraud did not 
succumb; he replied distinctly to all the 
questions that were put to hnn. France, 
indeed all Europe, watched the contest 
day after day, and a bulletin was pub- 
lished every evening, of the day's j:)rog- 
ress. 

" On the thirtieth day victory was 
achieved, and Giraud saved. Pale, wan, 
and reduced to a skeleton, his body 
was a mass of sores. Gangrene had at- 
tacked all his limbs, caused by the corpse 
which for three weeks had been rotting 
by his side. The unfortunate well-dig- 
ger v/as carried to the hospital at Lyons, 
where, after lingering on for some time, 
he expired." 

F:iST TROTTING. 

1880. Aug. 12. The remarkable 
time of a mile in 2 m. ii^ sec, was 
marie on the track at Rochester, N, Y., 
by St. Julien and Maud S. This, at the 
time, was the fastest record ever made in 
the woidd, but was beaten later in the 
summer both by St. Julien and Maud S. 
St. Julien, who was owned and driven by 
Orrin Hickok of California, had a pre- 
vious record of 2 1125^. Maud S., owned 
by Vanderbilt, gained by this record, the 
reputation of being the queen of the turf. 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



839 



1880. Aug. 16. The Knight Tem- 
plars of the United States met in a grand 
convention at Chicago, ^g^^, ^,^^ jg 
There had never before oie Bull, the 

, II- celebrated vio- 

been so large a gathenng Hmsi, died in 
of this character. The J^orway. 
city was thronged with guests, and mag- 
nificent parades took place each day. 
The exercises lasted throughout the week, 
and the expense of the week's levity was 
enormous. The occasion had been an- 
ticipated for months. The lake front of 
the city was ci'owded with tents, and the 
streets were full of showy uniforms. 
The military evolutions of some of the 
encampments were very fine. 

1880. Aug. 18. The island of Ja- 
maica was devastated by a fearful hurri- 
cane, which brought great suffering on 
the peasantry, and destroyed many 
whole villages. 

1880. Aug. 19. A surrender of 
Sioux Indians took place at Fort Keogh, 
Montana, to the United States troops. 
On the following day still more gave 
themselves up. The whole number in 
the two surrenders was eight hundred. 

GEM. ALBERT J. MYER. 

1880. Aug. 24. Gen. Albert J. 
Myer, better known all over the country 
as " Old Probabilities," died at Buffalo, 
N. Y., aged fifty-one years. He was 
born at Newburgh, N. Y., September 20, 
1 828. He was thoroughly educated at 
Geneva College, where he graduated in 
1847. ^ course of study in medicine 
followed, until 1S51. The appointment 
of assistant surgeon in the United States 
army was received by him in 1854. The 
work of the signal service before the 
Civil War, was undeveloped, but his at- 
tention was turned to it. From 1858 to 
i860 he served in that department, and 



840 PRESENT DE 

in iS6o became chief signal officer of the 
army. His full attention was now di- 
rected to the increase of the efficiency of 
this branch, and with such success as to 
have made it through the Civil War a 
great power. He rose in rank to brevet 
brigadier-general. After the war he se- 
cured the addition of signal service 
studies to the courses at West Point and 
Annapolis. He had already begun 
weather work for the army, but gradu- 
ally his labor in this respect widened, 
until our Weather Bureau was put into 
its present shape. Much of its efficiency 
has been due to his constant supervision, 
and good judgment. His later years had 
been gfiven to this work. Though in 
the prime of life he succumbed to disease, 
and thus left a large sphere of useful gov- 
ernment service vacant. The meteo- 
rological service of the United States, 
which had grown up under his care, has 
become the leading one of the world, 
surpassing all others in importance. 



1880. Aug. 27. St. Julien, the Cali- 
fornia trotter, beat his own previous rec- 
ord, and that of Maud S., by going a 
mile over the course at Hartford in 
2:iii^. This beat the world, but was 
again beaten by Maud St. at Chicago, 
vSeptember iS. 

CHIEF OUR^Y. 

1880. Aug. 28. Chief Ouray of the 
Utes, died at Los Pinos Agency, Colo- 
rado. His loss caused considerable dis- 
may among the United States officers 
who had to deal with the Utes, for his 
influence had ahvays been in favor of 
peace. Ouray owned a form of sixty 
acres, which he managed with a good 
degree of success, being quite apt at the 
studv of agriculture. His services were 



VELOPMENT. 

very influential in connection with the 
threatened trouble over the Meeker 
massacre. His life was of excellent 
character, his intellect clear, and his sym- 
pathy deep and strong. His place was 
afterward filled by the Utes, by the elec- 
tion of vSapavanari. Ouray had never had 
but one son, who had been captured a long 
time ago, when twelve years old, by the 
Sioux. 

1880. Aug. 29. The steamer Vera 
Cruz was lost off the coast of Florida, in 
a hurricane of fearful jDowcr. She had 
eighty-two persons aboard, and only 
eleven reached the shore, after a terrible 
experience of twenty-four hours in cling- 
ing to pieces of the wreck. The steamer 
was apparently overwhelmed, and com- 
pletely destroyed in a very short time 
by the tornado. There was apparently 
nothing which could be done to save her. 
The same storm ruined a large portion 
of the Florida orange crop, to the amount 
of $1,500,000. 

MEXICAK TROUBLES. 

1880. August. The first prelimi- 
nary session of the tenth congress was 
dissolved upon convening. The reason 
of the dissolution was the preponderating 
number of members present, without 
official credentials. Some newspapers 
created a sensation by announcing that a 
conspiracy existed between Gen. Trevino 
and the American Gen. Orr, to establish 
a republic of Sierra Madra, composed of 
the states of Nuevo Leon, Durango, Chi- 
huahua, San Luis Potosi, and Tamaulipas, 
and afterward for the annexation of the 
new republic to the United States. During 
the month there were also some religious 
troubles between Catholics and Protes- 
tants. A number of Protestants were 



1877-1881.] 

stoned and assassinated near Guadalajara, 
while erecting a place of public wor- 
ship. The Catholic priest cynically of- 
fered to confess the assassinated persons. 

FOREIGN IKTERFEREKCE IK PERU. 

1880. Sept. 3. It was announced 
that if Chili and Peru did not come to 
terms, England, France, and Italy would 
act in concert to protect the lives of 
foreignei's, and insure their property 
against destruction. The French resi- 
<lcnts of Lima were well provided fon 
hut the Germans and Italians were in 
a helpless condition. The Chilians pos- 
sessed a bitter hatred against the Italians. 
One day later London authorities an- 
nounced that a preliminary peace had 
been signed, containing the following 
main articles : Peru " surrenders the 
monitors Mancocapac and Atahualpa, 
razes the fortifications of Callao, sur- 
renders all the artillery of Callao, en- 
gages to not augment her navy within 
twenty years, and will reimburse to Chili 
the cost .of the war. Chili engages to 
pay half of the exterior debt of Peru." 
But this afterward came to nothing, and 
the war continued. 

THE MEXIC±y ELECTION. 

1880. Sept. 9. According to dis- 
patches received at Washington, the 
elections in Mexico passed off peaceably 
in almost every state in the republic. 
President Diaz was elected a senator 
from Matehuala. " It was feared that 
Garcia De La Cadina, governor of 
Zacetecas, might incite a revolution in 
that state, but no outbreak occurred there, 
nor anywhere else, of any consequence. 
The press of the country of all parties 
condemned the revolutionary measures, 
and declared that Mexico had passed 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



841 



through her revolutionary period. There 
was marked activity in trade in Ameri- 
can machinery, and in mining." Gen. 
Gonzales was elected president. 

KEW 60VERKMEXT OF StIKTO 
DOMINGO. 

1880. Sept. 15. The Rev. Mr. Me- 
rino, the newly elected president of Santo 
Domingo, in his inaugural address, speak- 
ing of foreign relations, declared his in- 
tention to enter into the most intimate 
relations possible, with the South Ameri- 
can republics. He also announced his 
profound adhesion to the papal power. 

TIME DISTANCED. 

1880. Sept. 18. After considerable 
persuasion the manager of Vanderbilt's 
beautiful queen of the turf, Maud S., 
allowed her to trot a fast mile upon the 
grounds of the Chicago Jockey Club, 
and she made the unprecedented time of 
3:io|, beating St. Julien's Hartford 
record by one half second, and thus 
placing herself at the head of the world. 

AMERICtIK ±VI) MEXICAN RAILWAYS. 

1880. September. The project was 
discussed to a gi-eat extent in the United 
States, among leading capitalists, of build- 
ing extensive railway lines through 
Mexico. This was expected to open up 
communication with the outer world, and 
give a special impetus to American trade. 
Gen. Grant of the United States, in a 
letter to Gen. Matias Romero, said: 
" There is now no doubt that the work 
of the railroads will progress rajoidly, and 
that Mexico will commence to enjoy a 
progress admirable, and a prosperity ex- 
traordinary. If we could in the United 
States bring in the most important per- 
sons, we could form a syndicate which 



84^ 



P RES EN T DE VEL OP MEN T. 



woukl carry through these enterprises 
without the conditions which will now 
be necessary to undertake them; but 
my idea is now for the government to 
issue bonds at 6 per cent, per annum, 
organizing a liberal system of banking 
on this basis, which banks will issue 
notes receivable for all public debts, and 
thus preserve the national credit. Mex- 
ico could thus in a few years, from the 
products of her soil, export two hundred 
millions in value per annum, and receive 
in return the products of our manufact- 
ures. But if Mexico can preserve her 
precious metals, in addition to her other 
productions, she will enrich herself suffi- 
ciently to obviate the necessity of foreign 
importations. I can only repeat that if 
Mexico can peaceably elect her next 
president without revolution, it is certain 
that her prosperity will be secured, and 
that both republics will unquestionably 
be the recipients of benefits. Please ex- 
press my views to the parties most inter- 
ested, and I am, etc., U. S. Grant." 

lAST FR±yKLL¥ SEARCH PARTY. 

1880. September. An expedition 
which had been out in the Arctic regions 
in order to examine any still existing 
relics of Sir John Franklin and his men, 
returned to New Bedford, after an ex- 
perience of great difficulty. They had 
been gone eleven months and four days, 
having made a sledge journey of 3,000 
miles. The party was luidcr the com- 
mand of Lieut. Frederick Schwatka, U. 
S. A. They buried more than twenty 
skeletons, and identified the remains of 
Lieut. John Irving by a medal he wore. 
Relics were brought home which have 
great interest as reminders of the Arctic 
expedition which has caused the world 
such great perplexity. 



RUGBY, TEXX. 

1880. Oct. 5. An industrial colony, 
founded by Mr. Thomas Hughes, the 
well-known Englishman, was formally 
opened by appropriate ceremonies, Mr. 
Hughes himself making an address. 
His primary object in starting the idea of, 
and locating the colony, was to form 
some place where younger sons of Eng- 
lish nobility or persons from the English 
middle classes, or enterprising persons 
from other countries, might find a fair 
opening for their abilities. Special at- 
tention is to be given to temperance and 
education, the whole being under emi- 
nently Christian influences. The settle- 
ment started with great promise of success. 

BEXMMIX PEIRGE. 

1880. Oct. 6. Benjamin Peirce, the 
leading mathematician of America, died, 
aged seventy-one years. He was born at 
Salem, Mass., April 4, 1S09, He grad- 
uated at Harvard College in 1S29, and 
by his appointment as tutor in iS3i,he 
began that long course as instructor in 
the college, which has been exceeded 
only by one in the history of the institu- 
tion. He at once began work upon a 
series of text-books in mathematics which 
he issued between 1S36 and 1846. His 
books were marked by original methods, 
which have very widely influenced 
mathematical teaching in Americ:i. In 
1S43 ^^^ gave such attention to the fa- 
mous comet of that year, by lectures and 
otherwise, as to secure the establishment 
of the Cambridge Observatory. His 
verification of Le Verrier's mathematical 
calculations upon the perturbations of 
Uranus, and criticisms upon them, his 
decisive work upon the question of the 
fluidity of Saturn's rings, his service in 
connection with the American Nautical 



1877-1881.] 

Almanac, his vast assistance to the Coast 
Survey, and final efficient superintendency 
of it after the death of Prof. Bachc, in 
1867, all revealed the wonderful accuracy 
and jDOwer of his mind. All through his 
work in these respects was interwoven 
much abstruse mathematical work which 
equaled if it did not excel, any similar 
work in the world. This was esjDccially 
notable along the line of algebra, the 
numerous forms of the application of 
which, he developed greatly beyond 
what had ever been done in the world. 
Nor were his thoughts confined to purely 
mathematical lines. He extended his 
investigations into the realms of other 
sciences, and into philosophical and moral 
spheres. He was possessed of a singular 
breadth of mind. He was fervid and 
imaginative, at the same time that he was 
keen and clear. His heart, also, was 
hisfh in its religious tone. 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



843 



1880. Oct. 12. Water burst into the 

Ford Pit of the Albion mines, Stellaton, 
Nova Scotia. The mine managers and 
clergy united in an appeal to the people 
of Canada and the United States, to aid 
in the relief of sufferers, as the severe 
Canadian winter was already upon them, 
and they were almost destitute. It was 
stated in this apj^eal that the loss of life 
was fifty men and boys. The disaster had 
made thirty-three widows and a hundred 
and ten orphans; and seven hundred men, 
supporting a population of two thousand, 
were thrown out of employment by the 
destruction of the mines. 

1880. Oct. 12. Election in Indiana. 
A great republican victory was gained 
in Indiana, by a majority of 6,000, in 
1S80. Oct. 5. place of a democratic ma- 

Oifenharli, the • •, c , . l i. ii 

J , ' lonty or 14,000 votes at the 

French composer -' -i ' ' 

ditd. preceding election. The 



rej^ublicans 
more than 
democratic 



did not expect to do any 
diminish considerably the 
majority, and the country 
was surprised at the change. It discour- 
aged many of the democrats, and gave 
great cheer to the supporters of Garfield. 
It was especially helpful to the latter, 
since their expectations in regard to 
Maine had been so wofully disappointed 
in September by the disputed result. 
Ohio was also carried by the republicans 
on this date. 

1880. Oct. 13. The inauguration of 
Gen. Rocca as president of the new Ar- 
gentine government, caused great rejoic- 
ing in Buenos Ayres. The change 
seemed to give universal satisfaction. 

1880. Oct. 14. Death of the Apache 
Chief. Mexican troops pursued Victorio, 
the Indian chieftain, and engaged in bat- 
tle. The chief was killed, together with 
fifty of his warriors and eighteen women 
and children. For months this wild chief 
had been baffling every force sent against 
him. 

1880. Oct, 16. The Canadian gold 
mines in the region of Beancc, about fif- 
ty-five miles from Quebec, attracted con- 
siderable attention, and speculation rap- 
idly began. Stock companies with con- 
siderable capital were organized. Dur- 
ing this same year unusual excitement ex- 
isted over gold mines in almost every 
one of the United States, 

1880. Oct. 16. The congress of 
Santo Domingo, by legislative enact- 
ment, decided that it was the earthly re- 
mains of Christopher Columbus that were 
f(vand in the cathedi'al in 1877. Provi- 
sion was accordingly made for the erec 
tion of a suitable monument, toward 
which Santo Domingo gave $10,000, 
and invited all other American govern- 
ments to contribute. 



844 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



LADIES' DEPOSIT COMPAXY. 

1880. Oct. 16. A great swindle in 
Boston, which had been in operation for 
some time, in receiving deposits of. 
money from ladies under the promise 
of paying at the rate of eight per 
cent, per month, was overthrown by 
the arrest of Mrs. Sarah E. Howe 
and Miss Julia A. Gould, its mana- 
gers. The company had started off with 
the approval of a large number of women 
who would have been suj^posed to know 
better 'than to trust its business basis. 
The deposits were very large, and the 
money was apparently spent by the man- 
agers with great freedom. The expos- 
ure of its false pretences brought many a 
depositor to grief. This is a specimen of 
attempts which have been made in differ- 
ent parts of the world. One is said to 
have lived in another country for fifteen 
3'ears. 

1880. Oct. 16. The mediation of 
the United States, which had been ac- 
cepted by Peru and Chili for the settle- 
ment of their war difficulties, fell through 
because, at a meeting of the representa- 
tives of Peru, Bolivia and Chili, the lat- 
ter demanded the cession of territory 
which Peru refused to make. The war 
was therefore to be carried on with in- 
creased vigor. 

STORM HORRORS. 

1880. Oct. 16-18. The most disas- 
trous storm known to the sailors of the 
great lakes occurred, causing great losses 
of life and shipping. The shores of 
Lake Michigan in some places were 
strewn with wrecks. The greatest loss 
w^as the steamer " Alpena," of the Good- 
rich line, which went down near Hol- 
land, Michigan, with all on board. The 



loss of life was estimated at about seventy 
persons, including some of the prominent 
citizens of Grand Haven, Michigan. 
The captain. Nelson Napier, was a brave 
and trusted officer, and had been sailing 
on the lake for almost a half a century. 
Numerous other vessels v/ere lost, and 
many persons drowned. 



1880. Oct. 18. A snowstorm of 

great severity swept across the Argentine 
Republic, and destroyed 1,500,000 head 
of cattle. 

• THE MOREY LETTER. 

1880. Oct. 20. The great excite- 
ment caused by the issue of a pretended 
letter from Garfield to a man named 
Morey at Lynn, Mass., favoring Chinese 
immigration, was heightened bv the 
denial by Garfield of any knowledge of 
the letter. Circumstances soon showed it 
to be a forgery. No such man was known 
in Lynn. The postmark on the envelope 
was not in use when the letter was dated 
and sent. Kenward Philp, an editor of 
Truths in New York, was arrested on 
the charge of having forged the letter, 
but he afterward swore he did not. Two 
witnesses were, however, brought for- 
ward, who made full confession of the 
procedure as one calculated to hinder 
Garfield's election. Philp was afterward 
held on a charge of criminal libel. 

LYDM MARM CHILD. 

1880. Oct. 20. Mrs. Lydia Maria 
Child died at Way land, Mass., aged 
seventy-eight years. She was born at 
Medford, Mass., February 1 1, 1802. Her 
maiden name was Francis, her father, 
David Francis, being a baker. Her hus- 
band, whom she married in 1828, was 
David Lee Child of Boston, a lawyer of 



1877-1881.] 

eminent and varied ability. Miss Fran- 
cis had already made a reputation as a 
writer. When twenty-two years of age 
she published her first work, an Indian 
story entitled " Hobomok." In 1S25 
she published a story of the Revolution, 
entitled " The Rebels," which had much 
powerful writing in it. The "Juvenile 
Miscellany," the first periodical of the 
kind in the country, was established by 
her in 1826, and remained under her 
charge eight years. " The Girl's Own 
Book," "The Mother's Book," "The 
History of the Condition of Woman in 
all Ages," " The Biographies of Good 
Wives," and " The American Frugal 
Housewife," written during different 
years, all had a very wide and healthful 
influence upon the practical life of her 
sex. During the years of the anti- 
slavery agitation she strenuously espoused 
the cause of the negro, and wrote ex- 
tensively upon the subject. Her later 
writings were numerous and fruitful. 
Her last years were happily spent. She 
was known as favoring the greatly in- 
creasing movement in the direction of 
female education, and also as approving 
the effort to gain the rights of citizen- 
ship for woman. She died suddenly, and 
left a record of great activity. 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



845 



1880. Oct. 31. A great anti- Chinese 
riot occurred in Denver, Colorado. A 
mob assailed the quarter of the place in 
which the Chinese lived, tore open and 
sacked their dwellings, drove the inmates 
out with storms of abuse and injury, 
and for a long time held 

imo. Oct. 27. . . 

The Irish Land the City m terror. The 
League appeals citizcns finally rosc for their 

for aid. . i • i i 

own protection, and, aided 
by the military, succeeded in quelling the 
riot, but not till great harm had been 



done to life and property. It was on the 
eve of the presidential election, and it is 
thought that the excitement against the 
Chinese was indirectly perhaps a fruit of 
the forged Morey letter. 

1880. October. A shortened tran- 
sit of the mail from Australia ^o Eng- 
land, which had usually been carried by 
way of the Suez canal, was made by 
taking it to San Francisco, thence by 
special train to New York, and by the 
Guion steamer Arizona to England. The 
old trip consumed usually about forty-five 
days. The new trial trip was made in 
forty-one days, with more than one day 
used in delays along the route. 

PROGRESS OF THE W>1R I.¥ PERU. 

1880. October. The Chilians con- 
tinued the devastation of the northern 
provinces of Peru. They lost a sloop, 
the " Covadongo," by a strategy. The 
sloop picked up an empty boat at sea, 
which exploded on being hoisted on 
deck, and the " Covadongo " immedi- 
ately sunk. It had been captured by the 
Chilians during the Spanish aggressions 
of 1864. Only four of the ci^ew were 
saved. " The magnificent sugar planta- 
tions of Palo Seco and San Bernard 
were burned by the invaders, the owners 
having refused to pay money demanded. 
Live stock, sugar, rice, etc., about the 
village of Pueblo Nuevo were seized, 
and the village burned. The custom 
house and rolling stock of the railroad, 
were also burned. A joortion of the 
troops went to Supo, and continued the 
work of plunder, and destroyed the port 
and neighboring hacienda by fire. At 
Payta and Sullana all the rolling stock 
was burned. The Chilians captured the 
American steamer Isluga, and expressed 
their intention to capture the Colombian 



846 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



schooner Tumaco, which they said had 
carried war material to Supo. Tliey 
tinally steamed away in the direction of 
the rich dej^artments of La Libertad and 
Lambayeque." The Cliihans claimed 
to have an armed force of 25,000 men, 
with which to move against Lima. The 
United States and English authorities 
sent in a note to the Chilian authorities 
protesting against the barbarities which 
usually followed their victories. The 
note also declared that the lives and prop- 
erty of foreigners must be respected. 

1880. October. Don Candido Bari- 
ero, president of Paraguay, died, and 
was succeeded by Gen. Caballero, min- 
ister of the interior. 

TWEKTY-FOURTH PRESIDEKTML C>LM- 
P>LIGJ{. 
1880. Nov. 2. The presidential 
campaign which ended in the United 
States upon this date with the election of 
Garfield and Arthur, the nominees of the 
republican party, was marked by very 
hard work. Each side was determined 
to win. The nomination of James A. 
Garfield for president had drawn back to 
the republican party a great many of the 
"independents" who were in danger of 
deserting it, and would have deserted 
it, had Grant or Blaine been nom- 
inated. The campaign was carried on 
with harmony of action in the republican 
camp. The opponents of Garfield un- 
dertook to bring him into disrepute by 
the resurrection of the charge that he 
was involved in the Credit Mobilier to 
the extent of $329, and by the circula- 
tion of his connection with the De Gol- 
lyer contract, but both failed to Iiave 
much weight. A cui'ious feature of the 
campaign was the democratic measure 



of chalking 329 over the country, east 
and west, on fences, gate-posts, houses, 
and sidewalks. The opponents of Han- 
cock, the democratic nominee, endeavored 
to make headway against him by bring- 
ing up the " famous order," which was 
circulated freely, and by his position 
upon the tariff. The severest of all op- 
position to the democratic ticket fell upon 
the person of the candidate for vice-presi- 
dent, W. H. English of Indiana, whose 
business relations were searched out, and 
whose dealings with mortgages, fore- 
closures, sales, etc., were spread before 
his fellow citizens with great minuteness. 
Other minor charges were made on both 
sides. The " Solid South " played a 
prominent part in the republican oratory 
of the campaign. During the campaign 
Gen. Ncal Dow, the nominee of the pro- 
hibition party for president, wrote a letter 
advising his supporters to vote for Gar- 
field and Arthur. Confidence in the re- 
publican party, shaken by the adminis- 
trations of Grant, seemed to have re- 
vived in many quarters, and the result 
was, a victory of its nominees. The re- 
publicans, in accomplishing this, laid 
great stress upon the purity and financial 
success of the administration of President 
Hayes, as going to show that a change 
would be disastrous. The democrats 
bent all their oratory to the task of show- 
ing that a change was demanded, and 
would be profitable for the country. In 
the result it was found that out of the 369 
electoral votes cast, Garfield and Arthur 
received 214, and Hancock and English 
155. Neither Dow and Thompson, the 
prohibition candidates, nor Weaver and 
Chambers, the greenback candidates, re- 
ceived any electoral votes. The returns 
of the popular vote seemed to show that 
out of a total of somewhat over 9,000,000 



1877-1881.] 

ballots, Garfield and Arthui" had a plu- 
rality of about 3,000. One great feature 
of the presidential campaign was the gain 
in congressmen by the republicans, a gain 
sufficient to give them control of the 
house, and within one of a majority in 
the senate. 

1880. Nov. 7. Rev. H. W. Thomas, 
D. D., a Methodist clergyman who had 
been prominent as pastor of the Cente- 
nary church, Chicago, but who had been 
brought before the Rock River Confer- 
ence on charges of heresy, and had been 
given a supernumerary relation until a trial 
could be held, began the experiment of 
preaching in Hooley's Theater, Chicago. 
The undertaking was named the Peo- 
ple's church, and has since held its way 
very prosperously. 

LUCRETM MOTT. 

1880. Nov. 11. Mrs. Lucretia Mott 
died at her home near Philadelphia, 
aged eighty-eight years. She was born 
at Nantucket, Jan. 3, 1793. Upon com- 
ing to years of maturity she began to 
think very deeply upon questions of 
humanity, especially the abolition of 
slaveiy. During her younger years she 
lived in Boston, and later in Philadelphia. 
She married James Mott in iSii, and in 
a few yeai's began preaching among 
the Friends. After 18 18 she traveled 
through many states in this service. 
She took her stand in 1827 with the 
Hicksite Quakers. From this time on 
through the Garrison troubles, the mob 
era, and the early political abolition at- 
tempts, she was closely associated with 
everything anti-slavery in its character. 
She was a woman of unflinching cour- 
age, and impressive mien. She always 
aided in the escape of slaves from bond- 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



847 



age, and was deeply interested in every- 
thing which promised to ameliorate the 
condition of the race. Her mental facul- 
ties were retained unimpaired to the end 
of her life. 



1880. Nov. 11. A banquet was 

given in New York, by Senor Romero, 
formerly minister from Mexico to the 
United States at which General Grant 
and other distinguished persons vs^ere 
present. The object in view was a friend- 
ly discussion of the material interests of 
Mexico, and the possibility of developing 
them by a system of railway communica- 
tion with the United States. Speeches 
were made, among them a noticeable one 
by Gen. Grant, who showed that he had 
closely studied the situation of Mexico. 
A committee was appointed to look into 
the matter, with the view of establishing 
a line of railroad to the City of Mexico. 
The matter commends itself very widely 
to the citizens of the United States as a 
step which will be of value to each coun- 
try concerned. 

.YEW CHLYESE TREATY. 

1880. Nov. 18. A new treaty with 
the Chinese, in regard to Chinese immi- 
gration, was concluded at Shanghae, 
China. The contents were not fully 
known until January, when the text was 
published, and was found to concede to 
the United States the right to limit or 
control Chinese immigration, though not 
to prohibit it altogether. One agreement 
provided that the citizens of either coun- 
try should not be permitted to carry 
opium into the other. Other minor 
agreements were made, all bearing upon 
a just understanding between the two 
countries. An active opposition sprang 
up against the ratification of the treaty. 



848 



PRESENT DE VELOPMENT. 



THE TlDV^XCE ^G:iLyST LIM± 

1880. Dec. 1. The final advance 
against Lima was begun by the Chilian 
army. The invaders had increased their 
stores, and their rank and file, and had 
pillaged all the villages, and devastated 
all property of any value, on their march. 
The people of Lima were confident of an 
easy victory over the invaders, as their 
army outnumbered that of the Chilians 
by 2o,ooo well armed soldiers. The 
Peruvians daily increased their forces at 
Lima by new battalions. The principal 
men of the city, however, removed their 
families and household furniture to shijDS, 
and prepared for instant departure. 
Iquique, which had been destroyed by fire, 
was almost deserted; also all the towns 
of Southern Peru. The Chilians num- 
bered over 30,000, and the Peruvians and 
their allies about 50,000. All were anx- 
iously awaiting the conflict. 



1880. Dec. 6. Gen. W. B. Hazen 
was announced as the successor of Gen. 
Myer, as head of the Signal Service of 
the United States. 

1880. Dec. 14. The Panama canal 
project came up in the United States 
congress. A resolution was referred to 
the committee on foreign affairs, setting 
forth that the construction of the canal by 
a foreign power was hostile to the estab- 
lished policy of the United States, and a 
direct violation of the Alonroe doctrine. 
The opinion of congressmen was divided 
upon the matter. R. W. Thompson, 
secretary of the navy, resigned in order 
to take charge of the work of promoting 
the interests of the scheme in the United 
States. In the meantime de Lesseps, 
the energetic French engineer, was push- 
ing his work of raisinff funds. 



1880. Dec. 18. Ponca Committee, 

Owing to the difficulty in settling the 
Ponca matter, a committee of investiga- 
tion was appointed by the Interior De- 
j^artment, consisting of Gen. G. Crook, 
Gen. N. A. Miles, Mr. W. Stickney of 
Washington, D. C, and Mr. \V. Allen 
of Newton, Mass. Just at this time a 
delegation of Ponca Indians appeared at 
Washington, and said that if they could 
have money for the lands once occupied 
by them, but now in possession of Sioux, 
they would give up all claim to them, 
and remain in the Indian Territory. 

1880. Dec. 21. The wrecking law 
of Canada came up for discussion in the 
Dominion parliament, because several 
important Canadian cargoes had recently 
been lost, because of the clause in the 
law forbidding an American tug to assist 
in saving a vessel wrecked in Canadian 
waters. A desire was expressed that the 
correspondence between the two govern- 
ments in relation to the matter, should be 
made public, 

1880. Dec. 27. A gang of outlaws 
in New IMexico was broken up by the 
authorities. Its leader was known as 
" Billy the Kid." He and his followers 
had made themselves a great terror. 
Two were killed, and four lodged in pris- 
on. At first the enraged citizens seemed 
determined to lynch them, but this step 
was prevented. The success in destroy- 
ing these outlaws was widely applauded. 

REV. E. H. CHAPI.Y. D. D. 

1880. Dec. 27. Rev. Dr. Chapin, 
the leading Universalist divine of the 
country, died in New York, aged sixty- 
six years. He was born at Union Vil- 
lage, Washington Co., N. Y., Dec. 39, 
1S14. He gained a fair education, which 
he completed at a seminary at Benning- 



1877-1881.] 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



849 



ISSO. Dec. 
Mrs. Cross, 
" George Eliot,'"' 

died. 



ton, Vt. His first preaching soon after 
was as pastor of a mixed congregation of 
Unitarians and Universalists at Rich- 
mond, Va. He was settled in 1848 
23. over the Fourth Universal- 
ist church, having in the 
meantime lived in Charles- 
town and Boston. His entire remaining 
service was with this church in New 
York. Dr. Chapin was widely known 
as an eloquent and popular lecturer, as 
well as preacher. He has published sev- 
eral volumes, and has constantly been a 
hard worker. His system at last gave 
way to the burdens laid upon it, and he 
was obliged to lay aside his active efforts, 
for only a short time, however, before 
his death. 

1880. Dec. 29. A severe cold snap, 
accompanied by snow, did great dam- 
asre throughout the United States. At 
Greensboro, N. C, snow fell to a depth 
of more than fifteen inches. The cold 
and storm prostrated business entirely in 
some sections of the South. The orange 
orchards of Florida suffered great dam- 
age. The cold was beyond anything ex- 
pei'ienced for several years. 

1880. December. The band of " Ok- 
lahoma raiders," under the leadership of 
Captain Payne, attempted to gain pos- 
session of lands in the Indian territory 
which belonged to the Indians. Althoug-h 
commanded to disperse by the govern- 
ment authorities, the band remained in 
camp just outside the line of the territory. 
During this month the government troops 
grew in numbers, and presented a more 
formidable appearance than at first. Three 
new companies of cavalry arrived. The 
would-be settlers declared their legal 



right to the lands in question, and asserted 
that they could raise one thousand men 
on forty-eight hours' notice. Captain 
Payne issued a secret circular to mem- 
bers of the association, notifying them to 
be ready to move into the Indian terri- 
tory at a moment's notice. It seem.s that 
their plan was to quietly collect five 
thousand men and move on Oklahoma 
before the government foi'ces could dis- 
cover their rendezvous. By the exer- 
tions of the United States authorities, 
however, the raid was a failure. This is 
the largest attempt which has yet been 
made. It took on a semi-religious char- 
acter. Preaching was held in camp by 
the raiders every Sunday. It is thought 
that this movement was aided by the de- 
sires of several railroad companies, which 
wished to get right of way through the 
territory. 

1880. December. The Irish agita- 
tion extended to Canada, and produced 
uneasiness among the Canadians. At 
one time it was rumored that Quebec 
was to be fortified against a possible up- 
rising of the Irish. But this was after- 
ward denied, although there was un- 
doubtedly more or less hidden excitement 
in the Dominion. 

1880. December. An important de- 
cision was rendered in the English 
courts in the suit brought by the postal 
authorities against the Edison Telephone 
company for infringement, on the 
ground that the telephone is practically a 
telegraph, of which the government holds 
a monopoly. The decision was against the 
Edison compan}'. The telegraph depart- 
ment of the English postal service is now 
about to add telephones to its equipment. 

1880. December. A serious charge 
was made by Prof. H. T. Hind, an emi- 



850 



P RES EN T DE VEL OP MEN T. 



iient Canadian scholar, that the evidence 
brought before the HaHlax Commission 
upon the basis of which an award of 
$5,500,000 was given in favor of Eng- 
hmd, and paid by the United States, was 
false evidence prepared for the occasion. 
He charged that the returns of the pre- 
ceding years, if truly given, would not 
have justified such an award, and de- 
manded an investigation. This seems to 
warrant the indignation which was felt 
in the United States at the time of the 
award. It is uncertain what steps will 
be taken in regard to it. 

1880. The tenth census of the 
United States was taken, and showed a 
population of 50,153,866 people. The 
rate per cent, of increase maintained 
before the Civil War had been recovered. 
It was found curiously that there were 
6,677,360 foreign-born persons in the 
country, and 6,577,151 blacks. The 
foreign-born population in its proportion 
to the native-born had fallen off one and 
a half per cent, since 1S70. The blacks 
had increased in their proportion about 
two-thirds of one per cent. Since 1870 
the native white population had increased 
thirty-one per cent., and the black thirty- 
five per cent. 

1881. Jan. 4. An apology was pub- 
lished by the New York Tritth for hav- 
ing published the Morey letter against 
Gen. Garfield. 

1881. Jan. 8. George Q. Cannon, 
the Mormon delegate to congress, was 
denied a cei'tificate of election by Gov. 
Murray of Utah, on the ground that he 
had never been naturalized, with an 
additional statement that he could not, 
if now naturalized, be sent up to con- 
gress, because, in having more than one 
wife, he was living in violation of a law 
of the land. Therefore, although Can- 



non had received by far the most votes, a 
certificate was issued to A. G. Campbell, 
the Gentile nominee. 

TELEGRAPH MOXOPOLY. 

1881. Jan. 12. An announcement 
was made which brought regret to many 
a business man, that the Western Union, 
the American Union, and the Atlantic 
and Pacific telegraph companies, had 
formed a consolidated company, under 
the name of the first mentioned, with a 
capital of $So,ooo,ooo. The reductions 
in rates which have at times been secured, 
are no longer certain. Injunctions were 
obtained in New York against the con- 
solidation, but were afterward dissolved. 
New York merchants struggled hard, 
but in vain. The consolidation hastened 
several immature schemes to a head, and 
before long other companies will be in 
the field. It may lead to the discussion 
of the question of government telegraphy. 

WORLD'S F:iIR OF 1883. 

1881. Jan. 13. Gen. Grant was 
elected president of the World's Fair 
Commission, and accepted the same. 
The undertaking seemed to have gone 
forward slowly, and it was now hoped 
that great advance would iggj. jannarv- 
be made. The Inwood site, f'^bruary. Brit- 

isli reverses in 

north of New \ ork city, soiM Africa. 
was chosen as the place of Boers victorious 
the exposition. But enthusiasm in re- 
gard to the matter was very slight. At 
a later date Gen. Grant resigned his 
office, and concentrated his attention upon 
the interests of Mexican railway schemes. 



1881. Jan. 15. The complete res- 
toration of peace in Cuba was an- 
nounced in the Spanish Cortes. This 
was a strange sound for that assembly to 



1877-1881.] 

hear, after all the efforts of the insur- 
gents for so many years. 

THE FALL OF LIMA. 

1881. Jan. 17. Lima, the last strong- 
hold of the Peruvians, surrendered uncon- 
ditionally to the Chilian army, com- 
manded by Gen. Baquedano. The cap- 
ture of the city v/as the result of the 
three bloody battles of Chorillos, Bar- 
raca, and Miraflores. The heights of 
Chorillos, above which the Peruvians 
had entrenched themselves, were stormed 
and taken by the Chilians three days be- 
fore the capture of Lima. The fortifica- 
tion was distant from the capital about 
seven miles. Around and near it were 
several minor points of great strength. 
The Peruvians were surprised in the 
dense fog of the morning, by their ene- 
mies. The surprise, together with their 
natural cowardice, caused them to flee, 
panic-stricken, from their post, toward 
Lima. The Chilians, with their usual 
brutality, cut them down without mercy ; 
and before the Peruvians had reached 
their capital, five thousand of their num- 
ber were lost. The others, notwith- 
standing the efforts of the more coura- 
geous of the officers to rally them, came 
pouring into Lima with exaggerated 
stories of the battle, in order to excuse 
their cowardly retreat. The wounded 
filled the air with demoniacal cries, 
spreading terror among the defenceless 
foreigners, and the women and children. 
Some men of rank, even at this desperate 
houi", took advantage of the turmoil and 
the destruction of their fellow-country- 
men, to incite a revolution for the purpose 
of gratifying their own petty ambitions. 
It would have been impossible to gaze 
upon a more ungodly scene than Lima 
presented at this time. Next Barraca and 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



851 



Lurin fell, and the remaining Peruvian 
forces fell back before the Chilians to 
Miraflores, which, if captured, must leave 
the capital defenceless. The last day 
came. Miraflores marked a bloody Chil- 
ian victory. Lima was doomed. The 
Peruvians were now in the hands of a 
merciless enemy, whom they had at- 
tempted to conquer two years before. 
The battle brought into action 35,000 
Peruvians, and 30,000 Chilians. The 
former had begun the defence of Lima 
with nearly 50,000 men. At Miraflores, 
Gen. Pierola, president of Peru, and 
commander-in-chief of the army, escaped 
by flight. Gen. Piedras, his brother, 
and the Peruvian minister of war, were 
taken prisoners. The diplomatic body at 
Lima urged the conclusion of an armis- 
tice, and asked that the body of President 
Pierola be protected. After a short ar- 
mistice Gen. Baquedano demanded the 
unconditional surrender of Lima. The 
French and English admirals demanded 
of the Chilians that the lives and property 
of foreigners be respected; if this was not 
done they would at once take charge of 
the Chilian fleet in Peruvian waters. 
Gen. Baquedano ordered the Italian emi- 
grants to be killed, and announced that he 
would not guarantee the safety of the life 
and property of any, private or neutral. 
The English ships were cleared for 
action; but soon Lima surrendei'ed, and 
the combined cry of the Chilian victors 
and the Peruvian mob was, for a time, 
"Down with foreigners!" But at length, 
something having a semblance to human- 
ity possessed the Chilians, and peace 
reigned, and the wounded were given a 
chance to die untortured, and the blood 
allowed to dry in the streets of Lima. 
President Pierola fled to the mountains. 
The Chilians now occupied Lima, and 



852 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



the whole of Peru, and they were in ;i 
position to dictate terms according to 
their own wishes, unless foreign powers 
holding Peruvian bonds, and interested in 
Peruvian commerce, should interfere. 
The war had been to Peru almost one of 
extermination. On the part of the Chil- 
ians it had been one of unrestrained mur- 
der and plunder. The fall of Lima was 
regarded, under existing circumstances, 
which are well known, as due to the cow- 
ardice of the Peruvians engaged in its 
outer defences. But a coiTespondent of a 
prominent American newspaper throws 
some light upon the matter, and accounts 
for the apparent inexcusable surrender of 
Lima and Callao. He claims that "there 
were traitors in the Peruvian army, with- 
out whose assistance the Chilians would 
probably have been repulsed. At the 
close of the battle of Miraflores, which 
resulted advantageously for the Peruvians, 
Pierola, the commander, who had been in 
the saddle for four days and nights, fell 
asleep on the field. While he was uncon- 
scious, the traitors, who held subordinate 
commands, disbanded the army, and 
advised the men to anticipate the Chilians 
by pillaging Lima and Callao. They 
obeyed, and the riot which ensued was 
only quelled when the foreign residents 
organized to protect their property, and 
attacked the mob with excellent effect. 

ISTHMUS SCHEMES 

1881. Jan. 20. An argument was 
made before the congressional committee 
on Foreign Affairs, by ex-secretary 
Thompson, in favor of allowing the de 
Lesseps Panama canal scheme to pro- 
ceed without protest. He pleaded at 
considerable length that the Monroe doc- 
trine was not involved in the project. On 
the same day an argument was made be- 



fore the same committee by Capt. Eads, 
in favor of a scheme for a ship railway 
across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, for 
which he had already obtained great 
concessions from the Mexican govern- 
ment. CajDt. Eads, who is known by his 
successful work in building the jetties at 
the mouth of the Mississippi River, mak- 
ing the channel as safe as any in the 
world, proposed to raise vessels out of the 
water, transport them across the Isthmus 
upon a track, and float them in the 
Pacific Ocean without difiiculty. His 
scheme failed to find ready support. Dur- 
ing this month Gen. Grant had a long 
article in the " North American Review'* 
in favor of a Nicaragua canal, to be car- 
ried through by American enterprise. 
In the meantime work has already begun 
upon the de Lesseps canal. 

THE EGYPTM.Y OBELISK. 

1881. Jan. 22. After a long period 
of careful and successful effort in trans- 
porting the Egyptian obelisk to Amer- 
ica, it was set upon its pedestal in Cen- 
tral Park, New York, without injury. 
It was brought across the ocean in the 
hold of the steamer " Dessouk," into 
which it was put through the side. When 
the vessel reached New York it was 
drawn out and placed upon a track, along 
which it was slowly moved to its destina- 
tion. Once there it was clamped and 
fitted with cables by which it could be 
swung into place. It weighed 2191^ tons, 
and was sixty-eight feet long, yet the pro- 
cess of raising it from its horizontal posi- 
tion, and lowering it into its place upon 
the pedestal, was done with utmost ease 
within five minutes. The work was 
inider charge of Commander Gorringe. 
Mr. William H. Vanderbilt was the re- 
sponsible party in purchasing the obelisk. 



1877-1881.] 



and paying its expenses hither. It was 
formally presented to the citj', Feb. 22, 
with an address by Secretary Evarts. 

1881. Feb. 2. A message on the 
Ponea report was sent to congress by 
President Hayes, favoring the result of 
the investigation which had been given 
Jan. 26, and recommending that legis- 
lation be taken in accordance therewith to 
provide that all parties of the Poncas be 
permitted to stay where they shall select, 
freely, and be reimbursed for all losses. 
He also recommended that Indian treat- 
ment be improved by several much 
needed steps, in regard to property, etc. 

1881. Feb. 2. The presidential fund 
of $250,000, raised with particular refer- 
ence to Gen. Grant, and the interest of 
which is to be applied in the future for 
the senior ex-president of the United 
States, was completed. 

1881. Feb. 3. Cadet Whittaker Trial. 
The trial of Whittaker I'eopened at New 
York by an adjournment from Jan. 20, 
and began to drift on its way through a 
slow examination of Gen. Schofield and 
other witnesses. One or two little sen- 
sations were caused by pretended bright 
spots in the additional evidence. But the 
matter hung on without affording any 
clear solution to the problem. 

EXTEXSIVE STORMS. 

1881. Feb. 7. For the past week 
storms had been raging in different parts 
of the United States. Railroads in the 
Northwest had been blockaded, a great 
portion of New Orleans had been inun- 
dated by the bursting of the levees of the 
Mississippi River, and the Sacramento 
Valley in California was flooded, 3,500 
square miles being overflowed. The 
damage everywhere was very great. 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 

The winter at the South 



853 



as well as 
North was proving one of unusual sever- 
ity. On the 8th the weight issi. Feb. 5. 
of snow on the roof of the ff'""' ^'"" 

tyle died, a£ed 

New York Central depot 86 years. 
at Buffalo, N. Y., caused the walls to 
fall, bui-ying trains and people. Five 
persons were killed. Great floods were 
reported in Oregon. During the rest of 
this month floods occurred in many sec- 
tions. Toledo, Ohio, Washington, D. C, 
and other places, were filled with water, 
so that boats were used on the principal 
streets. An ice-gorge at Cleveland, 
Ohio, was broken up by firing cannon 
balls into it. Steamers sailed over flooded 
districts in California. Bridges were in 
many places swejDt away. 



1881. Feb. 9. The electoral count 
took place at Washington, D. C, in the 
presence of both houses of congress, and 
a large crowd of strangers. No confu- 
sion occurred, but the decision was 
reached in a very quiet way. Garfield 
and Arthur were declared elected. Upon 
a motion in the house subsequently to 
aflirm the result, a single " no " was given 
in opposition, by Thomas Turner of 
Kentucky, who gained a brief notoriety 
by this spiteful act. 

FERKTlJiDO WOOD. 

1881. Feb. 13. Fernando Wood, an 
American politician, died at Hot Springs, 
Arkansas. He was born in Philadel- 
phia, June 14, i8i2,of Quaker parentage, 
and began life in New York as a cigar 
maker. He entered politics, and was 
elected mayor of New York three times, 
in which position he was the first real 
"boss" whose power that city ever en- 
joyed. He was afterward elected to con- 
gress from a New York city district, and 



854 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



with some intermissions continued in tliis 
position until his death. He sympathized 
with the South during the war, and was 
always an ardent free trader and demo- 
crat. He was twice a leading candidate 
for speaker, but was defeated. He died 
from a combined attack of gout and rheu- 
matism. 

1881. Feb. 23. The constitution- 
ality of the liquor amendment to the 
state constitution of Kansas, was decided 
fovorably by the supreme court of the 
state, which declared that the state had 
a right to prohibit the manufocture and 
sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage. 

MATTHEW H. C^RPEXTER. 

1881. Feb. 24. Matthew Hale Car- 
penter, an American statesman and law- 
yer, died at Washington. He was born 
at Moretown, Vermont, Dec. 22, 1824. 
His mother died when he was a child, 
and at the age of ten Matthew was 
placed under the care of Governor Dil- 
lingham, whose daughter he afterward 
married. He studied at West Point Mil- 
itary Academy from 1S43 to 1S45. He 
studied law, and was admitted to the bar 
in 1S46, but subsequently continued his 
study for two years under Rufus Choate. 
He removed to the West in 1S4S, and 
settled in Beloit, Wisconsin. He became 
district attorney, and soon became known 
throughout the country as a brilliant and 
able lawyer. He succeeded James R. 
Doolittle as United States senator from 
Wisconsin in 1869, In earlier years he 
had been a democrat of the Stephen A. 
Douglas type, but at the close of the re- 
bellion he had allied himself with the re- 
publican partv. In the senate Wx. Carpen- 
ter distinguished himself for his brilliancy 
in debate upon all questions involving 



constitutional law. He, however, paid 
little attention to the regular routine of 
senatorial work. On the death of Henry 
Wilson he became president of the sen- 
ate. In 1S75 he \vas defeated for a re- 
election to the senate by a combination of 
democrats and dissatisfied republicans, 
and was succeeded by Angus Cameron. 
He then engaged in an extensive law 
practice in the United States courts. Mr. 
Carpenter was elected to succeed Timo- 
thy O. Howe as United States senator in 
1S79. He died in this position. In his 
last term he distinguished himself in the 
debate on the Fitz John Porter bill. He 
cared but little for statesmanship, and 
was unsuited for committee work. He 
loved the law with all the ardor of a fer- 
vid nature, and devoted his time to its 
practice. As an orator he had few equals. 
His last days were passed in great phys- 
ical weakness. His brilliant wit shone 
out in the midst of his utter prostration. 
He was accustomed to watch his phys- 
ical symptoms, and question his medical 
attendant upon the progress of his dis- 
ease. A day or two before his death he 
suffered an acute attack unlike anvthing 
he had previously experienced. He at 
once questioned the doctor, who told him 
that it was some derangement of the large 
intestine, called the colon. " Then," said 
Mr. Carpenter at once, "there is a little 
more time; we never come to a full stop 
at a colon." 

Tlic great comment upon Mr. Carpen- 
ter's life is, " what he might have done." 



1881. Feb. 25. A great financial 
excitement occurred in New York and 
other business centers, by the increased 
prospect that the funding bill, providing 
for bonds at three per cent., would be- 
come a law. The bill had been forced 



1877-1881.] 

upon congress by the persistency of the 
democrats, and was now fairly in a way 
to get to the president for his signature. 
Banks, in many places, at once retired 
some of their circulation, and a stringency 
in the money market was the result. 
Stocks went down, and interest went up. 
But the senate at once repealed the tax 
on bank deposits, and $io,ooo,ooo worth 
of bonds were called for by Secretary 
Sherman, and the danger passed by. 

VIOLEXT STORMS. 

1881. Feb. 26-March 5. Storms 
of unprecedented extent and severity vis- 
ited the United States, especially the 
Noi'thwest. The railroads were block- 
aded, and in many places, before com- 
munication could be opened, fuel and 
other supplies were exhausted. A great 
deal of suffering resulted. In some places 
families were obliged to burn railroad 
ties, telegraph poles, and the beams of 
bridges. In some cases two or more 
families moved into one house, and burned 
the others for firewood. The snow cov- 
ered some sections to a great depth. 
Before the effect of the first storm was 
lost, others set in of still greater violence. 
Chicago was cut off from nearly every 
quarter. Prices of provisions went up in 
some cases to more than double their 
former amount. When the blockade 
was raised, the accumulated mails were 
moved to all points with difficulty. Such 
an experience had been seldom known. 

MEXTOR. 
1881. Feb. 28. Gen. Garfield and 
his family left their home at Mentor, 
Ohio, for Washington, D. C. His life 
since his election had been one of great 
publicity, in spite of the retired spot 
which he made his home. Mentor be- 



THE VIGOR OF LIFE. 



855 



came minutely known in all parts of the 
country. The neighborhood, postoffice, 
telegraph station, house, orchard, furni- 
ture, etc., were pictured and described far 
and wide. Scarcely a day passed with- 
out visits from politicians, delegations, 
curiosity hunters, those who wished office, 
and those who wished to know who was 
to have office. The appointments for 
the cabinet were special subjects for 
rumor. In the midst of all Gen. Garfield 
seems never to have lost his dignity or 
good sense, but to have remained the 
same careful, discriminating statesman he 
had grown to be. 

FVXDIXG BILL VETOED. 

1881. March 3. President Hayes 
at once vetoed the funding bill, which 
had passed both houses of congress, and 
sent it back with his message, which bore 
chiefly on the injury which would result- 
to national banks if the proposed bill be- 
came a law. Thus a " three per cent." 
is not a possibility of the present. 



1881. 



IXAUGUR>lTIOX DtIY. 
March 4. In spite of the 



stormy season in great sections of the 
country, " Inauguration Day " passed 
successfully at Washington, D. C, and 
James A. Garfield of Ohio, and Chester 
A. Arthur of New York, were inaugu- 
rated president and vice-president of the 
United vStates for the term of four years. 
Washington was thronged. The pro- 
cession was of excellent character and 
proportions, the review of the military 
was a pleasing feature, the inaugurnl 
ceremonies were simple and impressive, 
the inaugural address was marked by 
good sense and moral tone, with some 
eminently clear expressions upon im- 
portant points, the ball and reception in 



856 



PRESENT DEVELOPMENT. 



the hall of the new National IMuseum 
were a success, and the clay ended with 
great gratification. During the next two 
or three days the crowd melted away to 
their homes, save a great horde of hun- 
gry office seekers who now waited for 
the spoils. 

THE CABIKET. 

1881. March 5. President Garfield 
sent nominations for his cabinet to the 
senate, and they were immediate!;, con- 
firmed as follows: 

James G. Blaine of Maine, Secretary 
of State. 

WiLMAM WiNDOM of Minnesota, 
Secretary of the Treasury. 

Robert F. Lincoln of Illinois, Sec- 
retary of War. 

William H. Hunt of Louisiana, Sec- 
retary of the Navy. 

T. L. James of New York, Post- 
master Gene;-al. 



Wayne McVeagh of Pennsylvania, 

Attorney-General. 

Samuel J. Kirk wood of Iowa, Sec- 
retary of the Interior. 

THE SEJ^ATE. 
The principal interest at the opening of 
the new administration twines i.round the 
Senate, in which it was found that Sena- 
tor INIahone, of Virginia, the readjuster, 
was in possession of a certain balance of 
power. The first few days were enli- 
vened by the successful attempts of Sena- 
tor Hill and others to bring tbe Virginia 
senator to a declaration of his principles. 
This was followed by an attemjDt on the 
part of the republicans to organize the 
senate committees, which had been for 
two years in the hands of the democrats. 
A " dead-lock " ensued, and the country 
was treated witii the sight of its so-called 
statesmen meeting from day to cjay only 
to go through a stereotyped struggle, and 
adjourn. 



" -. - ^.^ 




INDEX. 



Abbott, John S. C, biography 7S5 

Jacob, biography .... S25 

Abolition barbacue in N. J 324 

society of New York 328 

convention, national 359 

of slavery in New York 370 

society. Mass 470 

Abolitionism, early 199 

of William Southeby 228 

before legislatures 4 58 

Abolitionists first in America 96 

rewards for 447 

imprisoned 475 

Aborigines, American 54 

named Indians 54 

variety of tribes 54 

unity of 54 

origin of 55 

languages of 55 

degrees of civilization 56 

manufactures of 57 

idea of work 58 

governments of 59 

character of 61 

peculiar customs of 64 

religious views of 65 

imion of races 66 

education of 66 

numbers of 68 

distinct groups of 68 

Indians of present time 72 

Academy of Fine Arts, first 381 

Acadia colonized by De Monts 136 

destroyed by English 144 

re-established by French 145 

[8571 



Page. I 

Acadia taken by English 183 

expedition against 215 

unsuccessfully attacked 227 

captured by English 227 

Acadians exiled 251 

Accident in Louisville church 710 

in a church 726 

on B. and P. R. R 727 

in Syracuse 743 

at Kansas City, Mo Sio 

Acquia Creek, battle of. 552 

Adams, Dr., tory punished 278 

Samuel, biography 381 

John, biography 433 

John Quinc^', biography 496 

Advertising agency, lirst 439 

Aerolite, an, fell in Texas 391 

Aerolites from Greenland 704 

Africans landed in Georgia 531 

Agriculture, first essays upon 246 

Agricultural society, first 327 

fair, first 381; 

society at Georgetown 392 

newspaper, first 413 

statistics, first 470 

department of Oberlin 4S4 

convention, first national 510 

society, national, formed 514 

college land grant 581; 

Agassiz, Prof, remains in America 495 

biography 736 

Alabama, first settlement in 225 

admitted to Union 415 

seceded 547 

nullified secession 655 



858 



I.YDEX. 



Page. Col. 

"Alabama " sunk by " Kearsage." 627 2 

"Alabama Claims " award 720 i 

Alaska purchased 667 1 

Aleutian Archipelago explored 26S 2 

Alexander, biography 191 i 

Alexandria plundered 405 2 

Alexis, Grand Duke 711 i 

Algiers declared war on U. S 328 2 

declared war on U .S 399 i 

Algerine vessels captured 409 2 

Alien and Sedition laws 36S 2 

Allamance Creek, battle of. 31 8 i 

Allen, Ethan captured 2S7 1 

biography 343 2 

Almagro, contract with Pizarro 105 i 

sailed for Peru 106 2 

brought fresh adventurers 107 i 

attempted to conquer Chili 112 i 

seized Cuzco 113 i 

executed 114 i 

son of, executed 118 2 

" Almanac, Poor Richard's" 237 i 

Amazon discovered 88 i 

expedition down the 115 2 

descended 126 i 

ascended to Quito 1 68 2 

descended by two monks 146 2 

A'alley, Agassiz' visit 662 2 

Amendments to U. S. const., first ten. . 352 2 

Amendment, eleventh 368 i 

twelfth 385 I 

thirteenth 637 2 

thirteenth ratified 656 2 

fourteenth 661 1 

fourteenth ratified 675 2 

fifteenth 6S2 i 

fifteenth ratified 696 2 

America discovered by Welsh Prince . . 76 i 

discovered by Zeno Brothers 76 1 

discovered by Alonzo Sanchez .... 76 2 

discovered by Cousin 76 2 

discovered by Columbus 82 i 

first settlement in 83 2 

named 94 2 

map of, published 121 i 

America, North, coast of, first seen. ... 75 i 

North discovered 86 i 

South discovered 87 i 

America, Prehistoric 35 

study of, interesting 35 i 

remains of first portion 36 

second portion 37 1 

Mound Builders 37 2 



America, mounds 38 

inclosures 40 2 

ancient copper mines 42 i 

tools and weapons 46 

pueblos 47 2 

Casas Grandes 48 2 

clitr and cave dwellings 49 i 

ruins in Yucatan, etc 51 i 

ruins in South America 53 i 

American Aborigines 54 

see Aborigines, American 

American Academy founded 2>^t, 1 

arm}-, destitution of 313 2 

Association, The 277 2 

Colonization Society 411 i 

Fur Company 327 2 

Philosophical Society, The 243 2 

Assoc'n for Ad vancem't of Science. 495 1 

Ames, Oakes, biography 733 i 

Amistad captives 47 1 2 

Amnesty proclamation 360 2 

proclamation 376 2 

proclaimed by Pres. Johnson 652 2 

power taken from Pres. Johnson. . . 664 2 

debate 763 2 

Anesthetics, contest over 455 2 

Anchor chains raised at Quebec . . ... 7S9 i 

Ancient and Honorable Artillery Co. . . 168 2 

Anderson, Robert, biography 709 2 

Andcrsonville prison 620 

Andrada e Sj'lva, Bonifacio Jozcde 467 

Andre, execution of 315 

remains of, removed 421 

Andrew, John A., biography 669 

Andros, Edmund, governor of N. Y. . . . 201 

rebuffed in Connecticut 202 

appointed governor of N. England. 212 

arrested in Boston 214 

"Anglo-Saxon," lost 603 

Angola disaster 671 

Annapolis convention, The 330 

Antarctic continent discovered 472 

Anthracite coal used by blacksmiths. . . 268 2 

found in Pennsylvania 353 i 

Aniietam, battle of. 590 2 

Anti-Chinese bill vetoed 810 2 

Anti-free trade demonstration 794 2 

Anti-Masonry, political. . .- 436 2 

Anti-Mormonism, rise of. 831 i 

Anti-rent troubles in New York 487 2 

Anti-slavery society, Lundy's 410 i 

New England 448 2 

of New York 452 1 



INDEX. 



859 



Page. Col. 

Anti-slavery society, Boston Female... 457 i 

American and Foreign 472 2 

American 483 2 

Anti-slavery convention, national 452 2 

Anti-slavery paper. Clay's 489 i 

Anti-third termism 835 2 

Apache chief killed 843 2 

Apostle of Greenland 233 2 

Apple trees, first in America .......... 171 i 

Appropriation for war 491 i 

Arch, Joseph, visited Canada. ......... 737 2 

Arctic boating expedition. ............ 441 i 

expedition, Grinnell's. ........... . 506 2 

returned unsuccessful. 508 2 

land trip, Franklin's. .............. 415 i 

land trip, Capt. Back's 453 i 

land trip 466 i 

trip, daring, by Parry. ....... .... 438 i 

voyage, Ross and Parry's ........ 413 2 

voyage. Parry's 415 2 

voyage, Ross' 441 i 

voyage. Dr. Kane's. .............. 515 2 

voyage. Hall's first 544 1 

voyage. Dr. Hayes' 545 i 

voyage, Hall's second 630 i 

voyage, East Greenland 686 2 

voyage, Hall's last 708 i 

whaling fleet lost 774 i 

"Arctic " lost by collision. .. 518 2 

Argentine Confederation adopted consti- 
tution 514 2 

aftairs in 597 2 

revolutionist executed. ............ 6ji 2 

secession attempts. ............... 664 i 

rebellion in 697 2 

outrages of. ..................... . 700 i 

education in 712 2 

revolution broken. ................ 712 2 

inauguration. ... S43 2 

"Argus " taken by " Pelican "......... 402 i 

Arica, conflict before. 834 i 

capture of . 836 i 

Arizona explored. 107 i 

Arkansas admitted to Union.. 460 2 

banished free negroes. 541 2 

seceded 550 2 

loyal constitution. 623 2 

Post captured 601 2 

Arkwright machinery, first 350 2 

Arlington Heights, Va., occupied 551 2 

Arms seized in New York 548 i 

Army Medical Museum founded 581 2 

Army Medical Department 653 2 



Page. Co!. 

Army, a provisional, voted 368 2 

disbanded 376 2 

Arnold, Benedict, treason of 314 2 

biography 378 2 

Arsenic put into food 783 i 

Artesian well at St. Louis 501 2 

Articles of Confederation adopted 304 i 

ratified 318 i 

to be revised 332 i 

Arts and Sciences, National Academy.. 602 2 

Ashburton Treaty 477 i 

Ashmun, George, death of 699 i 

Ashtabula horror 776 i 

Asiatic Society, American 663 2 

Astor library 497 2 

opened 516 i 

Astoria founded 396 i 

Astronomical Observatory, first in U. S. 715 2 

Aspinwall, storm at 713 2 

Assassination of Jackson attempted. . . . 456 i 

of Lincoln 643 i 

Assassins executed 655 i 

Assembly, first colonial in America. . . . 148 2 

last colonial in Massachusetts 275 2 

Associated Press formed 521 2 

Asuncion, S. A. founded 113 i 

"Atacoma," loss 792 2 

Atahuallpa, ransom of no i 

executed no 2 

Atlanta, capture of 631 2 

"Atlantic" wrecked on Lake Erie 511 2 

' ' Atlantic " wrecked on ocean 730 i 

Atlixco, battle of 494 2 

Attack on Washington's character 364 2 

Attack, campaign, on Grant 716 2 

Augusta, Georgia, captured 318 2 

Aurora Borealis, first noticed. . . 232 i 

a brilliant 241 2 

a brilliant 465 2 

a brilliant 535 2 

Austria burned at sea 530 2 

Automatic clock, first. 498 2 

Automaton, a speaking. 727 i 

Averasboro, battle of. . 639 i 

Avondale mine disaster. 712 i 

Axes, first manufacture of 437 2 

Azara, Felix de, naturalist. ...... .... 320 2 

B 

Babbit Metal 430 2 

Babcock's fire extinguisher 692 i 

Babcock's Gen., "whiskey ring" trial. . 766 i 

safe-burglary trial 773 2 

Bache, Prof, appointed on Coast Survey 481 2 



860 

Page. 

Bache, biography of 665 

Bacon's rebellion in Va 202 

Baffin's Bay discovered 146 

* ' Baffin's Fair " 445 

Baliama Islands settled by English 15S 

again colonized by English 200 

Bahia in Brazil founded 95 

Balboa came to America S8 

escaped his creditors 95 

elected alcalde at Santa Maria 95 

captain-general of Santa Maria.. . . 96 

discovered Pacific Ocean 96 

governor of South Sea provinces.. . 97 

execution and character of 98 

Balize settled by English 199 

Bali in Canada, first 195 

for Prince of Wales 545 

Ball-throwing, trial at 722 

Ball's Bluff, battle of 563 

Balloon trip 1200 miles. 533 

catastrophe 755 

catastrophe S24 

Ballot, the first 166 

Baltimore, British advance on 406 

retreat from 407 

bloodshed in :;:;o 

occupied by Butler. 551 

oecessionists in 555 

Bank, first in America 312 

of North America 320 

first in Massachusetts 326 

of the United States, first 351 

stock of sold 352 

of the United States, expired 395 

of the United States, second 410 

Savings, first 410 

of the U. S., funds, withdrawn. .... 45 

of the United States, veto of 475 

of Pennsylvania 475 

of California, suspension of. 758 

Bank Note company, American. ...... 531 

Bank robbery, Northampton 763 

at Nor thfield 773 

Banks resumed in United States . 470 

of Philadelphia suspended 528 

of New York suspended 528 

of New York resumed 528 

others resumed 528 

at New Orleans suspended S12 

Baptist church, first in America. ....... 171 

second in America 176 

first Seventh Day 181 

first in Boston 192 



INDEX. 



Page. Col 

Baptist Free church, first in world 316 i 

Baptists banished from Massachusetts. .176 2 

dithculties in Massachusetts 181 2 

Barbadoes, W. I. visited by English. . . . 137 i 

settled 156 I 

Barcelona, battle of 412 1 

Barlow, Joel, biography 398 2 

Barnes, Albert, death of 703 2 

Barrier Forts, China, destroyed 524 i 

Base Ball Club, first. 488 ] 

Cincinnati 692 1 

visited England 747 

championship 776 

Base Ball, National Association 528 

Bastides, voyage of. S8 

Baton Rouge, battle of 587 

"Battle of the Kegs," 304 

Beaufort occupied 566 

Beaver Dams, misfortune of. 401 

Beecher, Lyman, biography 601 

H. W. in England 617 

H. W., trial of. 748 

Catherine E., Miss, death of. 799 

Beef, American, shipped to England. . . . 748 

Bees introduced into America 197 

Beet Sugar, first 469 

manufactory 635 

Behring's Straits discovered 179 

passage of 818 

Behring, Vitus, discovered Straits 235 

third voyage 241 2 

death of 242 1 

Belgium, indemnity from 471 2 

Belknap's exposure 767 i 

Bell foundry, first. 240 1 

Bell metal for cannon.. 573 2 

Behr.ont, battle of. 565 2 

Bemis' Heights, battle of. 302 i 

" Ben Sherrod," wreck of 464 2 

Bennett, James Gordon, biography 715 2 

Bennett, D. M., conviction of S18 2 

Bennington, battle of 301 2 

Bentonsville, battle of 639 2 

Berkeley, Bishop, in America 235 2 

Berlin and Milan decrees 394 2 

Bermuda Islands discovered 103 i 

settled 145 2 

made English colony 171 2 

Bethesda Orphanage, Whitefield's 241 i 

Bethlehem, Pa., settled 241 2 

Bible, first English printed in America. . 248 2 

Bible society, first 391 i 

Big Bethel, battle of. 554 2 



INDEX. 



861 



Big Black River, battle on 

Bigelow, E. B., biography 

Bill of Abominations 

Biloxi, in Mobile Bay 

Bird tracks, fossil 

Birthday, Washington's, celebration criti- 
cised 

celebrated after death 

Black Hawk, biography 

Black Hawk horse, first, died 

Black Act of Connecticut 

Black Beard, the pirate 

Black Friday in New York 

Black Hills excitement 

ceded to U. S 

Black voters in San Domingo . . . 

Blackstock, battle of 

Blackstone, W., first settler at Boston.. . 

Blackwater, battle on the 

Blackwell, Elizabeth, graduate in medi- 
cine . . . 

Bladensburg, battle of 

" Bleeding Kansas," . . . . 

Blind, first institution for 

Bliss, P. P., death of 

Block, Adriaen, in L. I. Sound 

Blockade, Civil War, ended 

Blood, first in Revolution 

last in Revolution 

first shed in Chili 

in Mexican war 

Bloody Bill, the 

Bloody Marsh, battle of 

Bloomerism 

Blossom Rock blown up 

Blow-pipe, oxy-hydrogen, invented. .... 

Blue-glass mania 

Board of Trade for America 

Board of Trade set over colonies 

Board of War created 

Board of Admiralty 

Boat, Rumsey's model for • • • • . 

Boat-race, first college 

Bogardus, James, biography 

Bolivar, Simon, in England 

proclaimed in South America 

at head of army 

great niarch 

dictator of Peru 

biography 

Bolivia formed 

confederation ended 

Linares dictator 



Page. Col. 
608 1 
829 I 

439 I 

222 2 
3S1 I 



356 2 
376 2 
468 I 

5^4 ^ 

452 2 
230 I 

688 2 
759 I 

77.3 ^ 

351 2 

315 2 

155 I 

567 I 

499 2 

405 2 

519 2 

441 I 

776 2 

145 I 

655 I 

280 2 

321 2 

394 2 

489 2 

452 2 

243 I 
499 
697 

379 

778 

95 

220 2 

303 2 

312 r 

327 2 
5" 
741 
393 
412 
414 

415 I 

424 2 

444 2 

430 I 

471 2 

532 I 



Page. Col. 



Bolivia, rebellion in 700 

revolution in 711 

Bolivian navigation company. . 678 

Bomb-shell, invention of. 403 

Bonaparte, Jerome, marriage of 382 

Bonaparte, Jerome Napoleon, death of. . 698 

Bonnet of oat-straw 369 

Bonnet of grass 421 

Book, first printed at Cambridge 171 

Bookseller, first in English colonies 182 

Boone, Daniel, biography 418 

Booneville, battle of 551; 

Boot, John Fletcher, Cherokee preacher 515 

Booth, Edwin, shot at 814 

Booth, Lincoln's assassin, death of 651 

Boston, first house at. 1 1^9 

aid for 276 

siege of. 281 

evacuation of 290 

burned 723 

Boston Mountains, battle of 594 

Bounty Jumpers in Revolution. ........ 299 

Bowdoin College founded 362 

Bowles, Samuel, biography 794 

Boys of Plymouth 272 

Boyton, Capt.,on Connecticut River. . . 824 

Brace, C. L., arrested in Hungary 507 

Braceti, battle of. 493 

Braddock's campaign 251 

defeat 251 

Bradford, William, biography 185 

Braganza, great Brazilian diamond 241 

Brainerd, David, death of 243 

Brandy, first made in America 171 

Brandy Quarrel in Canada 188 

Brandy wine, battle of 302 

Brazil discovered by Cabral 88 

visited by Vespucius 89 

Huguenots in 125 

under Spain 129 

tanned hides shipped from 130 

made Portuguese principality 171 

seized by Dutch 177 

retaken by Portuguese. 183 

John VI. fled to 390 

opened its ports to all. 393 

made a kingdom 410 

constitution proclaimed 420 

revolution in 420 

independent empire 422 

constitution adopted 426 

recognized by Portugal 430 

regency in 445 



862 i^DEX. 

Page. Col. 

Brazil, Dom Pedro II. crowned 475 i 

invaded 635 i 

emperor of in United States 76S i 

reform measures in 794 2 

famine in 807 2 

Breckenridge, John C, biograplij. ..... 751 i 

Breech loading rifle 498 i 

Brewery in Canada, first 195 2 

Brewers' congress in United States. . . . 743 i 

Brewster, Elder, biography 175 2 

Bricklaying, trial at 703 2 

Brier Creek, battle of. 310 i 

British American League. ............. 499 2 

British Columbia separated. 530 i 

surrendered 638 i 

joined Dominion 706 2 

secession contemplated. 814 2 

British frightened by two girls 399 2 

" Bristol " and " Mexico " wrecked 466 1 

"Bristol" lost on Long Island. .... . . 463 i 

Bristow Station, battle of. 616 2 

Broadcloth first inade in America. 385 2 

Brooklyn " Council " 764 i 

Brooklyn Theater burned 775 2 

" Brother Jonathan," origin of 32S i 

" Brother Jonathan " lost , . 655 2 

Brown, John, raid of. 535 2 

Brown University founded 265 i 

Brownlow, " Parson," biography 781 2 

Brunswick, Me., destroyed 233 2 

Bryant, William C, biography 799 2 

Buccaneer of the Lakes. . . '. 467 2 

Buccaneers in West Indies 159 2 

in Mexico 210 i 

in Peru 211 i 

at Campeachy 211 i 

on New England coast. 214 2 

took Cartagena 222 2 

Buchanan, James, biography 673 2 

Buck, first full-blooded Merino 379 2 

Buckwheat, first in America 156 2 

Buddhist priest in Mexico. 73 2 

Buenos Ayres founded 112 i 

a viceroyalty 297 i 

taken by English 389 i 

assailed by English 390 2 

sovereign assembly over 400 2 

independence gained 413 2 

democratic 420 2 

confederation 445 2 

Rosas, dictator of 458 i 

blockaded 489 i 

revolution in 509 2 



Buenos Ayres invaded 

Buena Vista, battle of 

Bull Run, battle of 

second battle of 

Bullets for currency 

Bunker Hill, battle of. 

anniversary .... 

first monument 

Monument Association 

Monument, corner stone 

Monument dedicated 

centennial 

Burglary at Baltimore 

Burgoyne, invasion of 

fouglit at Bemis' Heights 

fought at Stillwater 

surrender of. 

nicknamed Elbow-room 

Burlingame, Anson, biography 

Burnside superseded 

"Burr war," The 

Burr Aaron, trial of 

biography 

Burritt, Elihu, biography 

Bushnell, Horace, biography 

Bushy Run, battle 

Butler superseded 

O 

Cabinet, members of President Tyler's 

resigned 

of President Hayes 

of President Garfield 

Cable, sub-marine, Morse's 

Colt's 

across Hudson River 

Atlantic sounded for 

Cape Breton 

first Atlantic attempt 

unsuccessful Atlantic 

successful Atlantic 

from Cuba to Florida 

French-American 

anniversary 

new French-Ainerican 

Cabots, The, discovered North America 

Cabot, Sebastian, second voyage 

named Newfoundland 

noted the codfish banks 

visited South America 

character of. ... 

Calendar, proposed change of 

Calhoun John C, biography 

California coast explored 



Page. Col 

521 2 

493 I 

55^ I 

588 I 

166 I 

283 I 

360 I 

362 2 

423 2 

429 2 

481 I 

753 2 

719 2 

300 I 

302 I 

302 2 

302 2 

303 2 
693 2 
601 2 

388 I 

389 I 
462 I 
8ii I 
764 2 
263 2 
593 2 



663 

779 
S56 
478 
481 

501 
508 

523 

527 

530 

662 

678 2 

686 2 

811 2 

827 I 

86 I 

86 2 

86 2 

S6 2 



107 
107 
810 
502 
134 



INDEX. 



863 



Pa^e. 

California, Fremont governor of 493 

Kearney assumed control 493 

gold fever 495 

constitutional convention 501 

Callao besieged 156 

surrendered 430 

bombarded 659 

"Cambria " lost 703 

"Cambridge Platform " 179 

Camden, battle of. 314 

evacuation of 31S 

Camden and Amboy R. R. accident. . . 639 

Campeachy taken by English 1S6 

Canada invaded 22S 

destitution of 254 

passed to English hands 258 

Arnold's march to 2S6 

arrival in 287 

divided 353 

political troubles 396 

popular movements 464 

struggle in 465 

Earl of Durham governor 467 

reunited 474 

defence of. 638 

question of authority 818 

Indian raids from 819 

wrecking law of 848 

Irish agitation in 849 

Canal route, first 262 

across Nicaragua . 320 

enterprise 355 

Middlesex 385 

across Tehuantepec 408 

Erie begun 412 

Champlain 423 

Erie finished 430 

Assoc, in London 430 

survey in Central America 469 

Panama report 488 

" Ring" in New York 749 

Canale Napoleone de Nicaragua 489 

Cannon, seizure of 278 

removed from " battery." 285 

Canoe, daring voj'age in 90 

Canonicus, biography 178 

Cape St. Augustine discovered 88 

Honduras discovered 89 

Gracias a Dios discovered 89 

Horn discovered 106 

Cod named 134 

Horn seen by Dutch 146 

Horn, first voyage round 148 



Col. 

I 



Page. Col. 

Cape Breton separated 327 2 

reanne.xed 416 2 

Capital of United States 350 \ 

ordered to be surveyed 351 2 

Capitol, United States, corner stone laid. 358 i 

Caraccas founded 127 2 

Carbajal, coolness of 122 2 

Card making machine. Smith's 393 2 

Caribbean Islands discovered 83 i 

Carnifex Ferry, battle of 561 2 

Carolina settled 191 2 

divided into royal provinces 236 i 

Carpets, first manufactory 353 i 

first woven by power 471 i 

power looms for 488 2 

power looms for Axminster 524 i 

Carpenters closed work 277 i 

Carpenter, Matt, biography 8^4 i 

Carriage making in New York 268 2 

" Carrick " wrecked 494 1 

Carrick's Ford, battle of 557 i 

Carroll, Charles, biography 450 i 

Mrs. Bridget, death of 711 2 

Carson's sheep expedition 515 2 

Carson, " Kit," biography 673 2 

Cartagena, South America, founded.. . . no 2 

taken by French 120 i 

taken by buccaneers 222 2 

Carteret county colony 197 2 

Carthage, battle of r^6 i 

Cartier, Jacques, first voyage m i 

second voyage m 2 

named Montreal 112 i 

took Indians back to France 112 2 

third voyage 116 2 

last voyage 119 i 

Carver, Gov., death of. 152 i 

Jonathan, the traveler 268 2 

Cartwright, Peter, death of. 720 i 

Cary, Alice, biography 705 2 

Phoebe, biography 708 i 

Casa Mata, act of 423 i 

Casco Bay, settlement destroyed 214 2 

Cass, Lewis, biography 661 i 

Cassin, John, biography 682 i 

Castine, Me., settled 258 2 

Catastrophe in New York school 508 i 

Cathedral in City of Mexico begun 128 i 

finished 19c 2 

Catlin, George, biography 726 2 

Cattle, improved, imported 325 i 

great sale of. 734 2 

Cavendish, Thomas, voyage of 132 i 



864 



INDEX. 



Page. Col. 

Cayenne, S. A., deserted by French 183 2 

" Cazador " lost 522 i 

Cedar Creek, battle of 633 i 

Mountain, battle of 5S7 i 

Cemeteries, national 5S5 2 

Cemetery, national, at Antietam 668 i 

" Stonewall " Jackson 663 2 

Censure of President Jackson by senate . 453 1 

expunged 464 i 

Census, of United Stales, first 351 2 

second 377 ^ 

third 394 I 

fourth 419 I 

fifth 444 2 

sixth 472 2 

seventh 505 2 

eighth 546 2 

ninth 703 2 

tenth S50 I 

of Argentine Republic, first 692 2 

of Colombia, first 704 i 

of Brazil, first 727 i 

Centennial bill, United States 764 2 

opening of exhibition 768 2 

Hymn, Whittier's 770 i 

close of exhibition 775 i 

permanent exhibition 7S2 2 

Centeno rebelled against Pizarro 120 2 

rebelled again 121 1 

defeated by Pizarro 121 2 

Central America subdued 104 2 

independent 420 2 

Morazan president 448 2 

federal union 424 i 

dissolved 471 2 

union attempted 501 2 

attempt broken up 514 i 

convention in 7^4 ^ 

riot in 755 I 

"Central America" foundered 527 2 

Central Park, N. Y 529 i 

Ceralvo, battle of. 493 2 

Cerro Gordo, battle of 493 2 

Cessation of hostilities proclaimed 323 2 

Chamber of Commerce, N. Y 268 2 

Chambersburg, Pa., burned 630 i 

Champion Hills, battle of 608 i 

Champlain, early life 135 2 

in Canada 136 i 

on New England coast 137 i 

up the Ottawa 144 i 

death of 166 2 

Chancellorsville, battle of 604 2 



Page. Col. 

Chandler, Zachariah, biography 825 2 

Channing, William E., biography 477 1 

Chantilly, battle of. 589 i 

Chapin, E. H., biography 848 2 

Chapultepec stormed 494 2 

Charcoal Assoc, strike S20 i 

Charge, Judge Crawford's 2S1 i 

Charleston, S. C, founded 205 2 

Spaniards sail against 225 i 

Harbor, battle in 291 i 

refused to surrender 310 2 

captured 313 2 

evacuated 323 r 

blockaded unsuccessfully 567 i 

siege of 615 r 

occupied by Sherman 638 i 

Charlestown, Mass., founded 158 i 

Charter, first English 137 i 

second Jamestown 140 i 

third for Virginia 143 i 

first Massachusetts 157 2 

transferred to colony 158 2 

demanded by king 169 2 

Plymouth given to colonists 171 2 

Providence plantations 175 i 

first Connecticut 190 2 

Massachusetts, revoked 210 2 

every New England, revoked 212 i 

the hidden 213 i 

Charter Oak, Hartford, blown down .... 523 2 

Chase, Salmon P., biography 731 2 

Cliattanooga, battle of . 619 i 

Cheat Mountain skirmish 562 i 

Cheese factory, first in world 509 i 

Cherokees, trouble with 257 i 

war with 257 2 

removed 469 2 

adhere to South 559 2 

Cherry Valley inassacre 308 2 

"Chesapeake " taken by " Shannon ". . . 401 i 

Chicago, name first appears 199 i 

first notice on map 210 i 

laid out 441 1 

waterworks . . . . , 666 i 

great fire 709 i 

Chickamauga, battle of 615 2 

Chickasaw Bluff's, battle of 595 2 

Child, first European born in America. . 75 2 

first of English parents 132 2 

first of Dutch parents 155 i 

Child, Lydia M., biography 844 2 

Children, free or slave in Virginia 190 2 

in Maryland 229 i 



INDEX. 



865 



Page. Col. 

Chili, lighting in 125 2 

invasion of 404 1 

struggle in 412 i 

independence gained 413 2 

defeated Spaniards 419 2 

resignation of dictator 424 1 

adopted constitution 439 2 

revised constitution 45 1 2 

disturbance in 597 2 

Spanish gunboat taken 656 2 

Spanish fleet driven off 65S 2 

trouble in 692 2 

Chili-Peruvian war 813 i 

progress of. 835 2 

Chiinborazo ascended 44S i 

Chinaman, first naturalized S06 2 

Chinese embassy 482 i 

embassy 673 2 

boys in United States 619 2 

excitement in California 768 i 

embassy 803 2 

treaty, new 847 2 

Chippewa, battle of 405 i 

Chisholm tragedy 781 i 

Chloroform discovered 450 2 

Choate, Rufus, biography 534 i 

Chocolate first exported 181 i 

Cholera Asiatic, first 449 i 

in Mexico 451 i 

Asiatic 500 2 

in United States. 518 2 

in Brazil 522 i 

in United States 657 i 

in United States 733 i 

Christian Commission 654 i 

Chrysler's Field, battle of 403 i 

Church building, first in Boston 164 i 

first at New Amsterdam 1 64 2 

Church service, first at New Amsterdam 155 i 

Church support voluntary in Mass 216 2 

Church of England in Carolina 226 i 

Cigars first seen 82 i 

Cincinnati threatened 589 2 

Cipher telegrams 808 1 

Citizen Genet 357 i 

City, highest on the globe 120 2 

"City of Boston " lost 693 2 

"City of Glasgow" lost at sea 517 2 

City of Mexico, Iturbide in 420 2 

entered by Scott 494 2 

French in 608 2 

surrendered 667 2 

•'City of Philadelphia " lost at sea 518 2 



Page. ' 

"City of Waco " burned 760 

Civil Rights bill 659 

Civil Service Reform agitation 706 

Civil War, U. S., declared ended 659 

Clapboards exported from Plymouth. . . 154 

Clarendon County colony 192 

Clark's famous expeditions 309 

Class, first at Harvard 173 

Clay, Henry, biography 510 

old home sold 657 

Clayton-Bulwer treaty 505 

Cleaveland, Parker, biography • 531 

Clinton, Sir Henry, in Philadelphia. . . . 306 

George, death of 396 

Clock with wooden wheels, first 355 

with metal wheels, first 466 

Cloth-making, first 169 

first on power looms 403 

Coal, hard, first used in grates 390 

trouble with 400 

Coal mine disaster Si 4 

Coast defenses. United States 360 

Coast survey. United States, begun 413 

Code of laws, earliest colonial 168 

in Maryland 170 

in Massachusetts 172 

in Maryland 173 

Codrington college, Barbadoes, founded 243 

Coffee culture, first 229 

Coinage adopted bv congress 330 

Cold Harbor, battle of 626 

Cold, extreme, in New England 727 

wave, severe 849 

Colima, eruption of 686 

Collectors, first in America 204 

College lands in New Haven 183 

College of New Jersey founded 246 

College paper, first 377 

Colliery explosion 714 

Collision on Long Island Sound 719 

in Ohio 803 

in English Channel 806 

near Jamaica 812 

on Long Island Sound 837 

Colombia, S. A., declared independent. 395 

repviblic formed 415 

recognized by Spain 424 

revolution in 547 

United States of, formed 565 

civil war ended 597 

constitution adopted , 606 

revolution ended 707 

Perez elected president 748 



866 



INDEX. 



Page. Col. 

"Colon," accident to 773 i 

Color prejudice 447 i 

Colorado admitted to Union 772 2 

Colorado " petrified man." 796 2 

Colored troops 585 2 

senator first time pres. pro tem Sio 2 

conference, national 816 i 

lawyer admitted to U. S. bar 833 i 

Columbia college founded 251 i 

Columbia River discovered 353 2 

Columbiad, Barlow's 391 i 

Columbiad, invented 408 2 

Columbus, early lile of 79 i 

agreement with (Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella 80 2 

letter of privilege given 81 i 

first departure of Si i 

arrived at Canary Islands 81 i 

left the Canary Islands Si i 

discovered " variation of needle "... 81 2 

sailed through Sargasso Sea Si 2 

discov'r'd New World, San Salvador 82 i 

discovered Cuba 82 i 

discovered Hayti 82 2 

wrecked near Hayti 82 2 

erected Fort La Navidad 82 2 

returned to Spain 82 2 

arrived in Portugal 82 2 

arrived at Palos, Spain 83 i 

renew'd his contract with sovereigns 83 i 

second departure of. 83 2 

discovered Caribbean Islands 83 2 

founded first colony 83 2 

observed use of cotton 84 i 

sent products to Spain 84 i 

put down rebellion 84 i 

established Fort St. Thomas 84 i 

explored coast of Cuba 84 2 

Don Bartholomew at Isabella 84 2 

subdued Hayti 85 2 

opposed by enemies in Spain 85 2 

returned with Aguado 86 i 

coolly received in Spain 86 i 

third departure of 86 2 

knocked down Breviesca ... 86 2 

discovered Trinidad 87 i 

discovered South America 87 i 

discovered pearl fishery 87 i 

suppressed rebellion 87 i 

arrested by Bobadilla 88 i 

sent home in chains 88 2 

released in Spain 88 2 

fourth departure of 89 i 



rage. Col. 

Columbus arrived at San Domingo .... 89 J 

discovered Cape Honduras 89 i 

attempted a mainland colony 89 2 

wrecked upon Jamaica 89 2 

returned to San Domingo 92 i 

returned to Spain 92 i 

last visit to Spanish court 92 i 

death and character 92 2 

Don Diego governor of Hayti 95 i 

monument to Christopher 843 2 

Columbus and Hickman seized 561 2 

Columbus, Ga., occupied 650 i 

Combs, first horn 257 i 

Combahee Ferry, battle of 321 2 

Comet, The great 480 2 

Commerce, American, crippled 357 2 

Commercial college, first 473 2 

Commissioners of peace, English 306 i 

Commissioners of peace, U. S 321 2 

Committee of correspondence, first. .. . 272 3 

in Virginia 273 i 

Committee of safety, first 278 i 

Committee, congressional 546 2 

" Common-Sense," Paine's pamphlet . . 289 2 

Commonwealth accepted in Vii'ginia... 182 i 

Communists, parade of 814 i 

Company of the West 192 i 

Complaint of Massachusetts rebuked . . . 238 i 

Comstock Lode discovered 537 2 

fire in 683 2 

Concord, battle of 2S1 i 

Concordance of Bible 186 i 

Condensed milk invented 528 2 

Conestoga massacre 264 i 

Confederation, weakness of U. S 328 2 

Confederate States of America 548 2 

Conference concerning peace 294 2 

Congregationalism in New England... 158 i 

Congress, first American 215 i 

American 250 2 

colonial suggested 266 i 

met at New York 266 i 

first continental 276 2 

first Mass. provincial 277 i 

second continental 282 i 

continental met at York 302 i 

national opened 344 2 

C. S. A. adjourned from Richmond 580 2 

Congressional action, important 629 i 

Congressmen, ten expelled 556 2 

Connecticut pluck 219 2 

Tryon's raid into 299 i 

second raid into 311 i 



INDEX. 



867 



Connecticut ratified constitution 334 

" Connecticut Courant " established 265 

Constitution, first written in America . . 153 

first written framed bj people 170 

for Pennsylvania, new 224 

new in Massachusetts 315 

of United States adopted 332 

adoption of, celebrated 335 

to be carried into effect 335 

copy of 335 

amendments to 340 

" Constitution " escape of frigate 396 

captured "Guerriere " 397 

captured "Java " 399 

captured "Pictou" 404 

"Contraband," origin of term 552 

Contreras captured 494 

Convention in Faneuil Hall 275 

appealed for aid 275 

constitutional 332 

first national political 444 

anti-masonic 447 

national republican 447 

democratic 449 

democratic 456 

"Liberty party " 470 

first whig 470 

democratic 472 

of " Liberty party " 481 

whig 482 

democratic 4S2 

" Liberty league" 494 

democratic 497 

whig 497 

first " woman's rights" 498 

to organize," free soil" party 498 

democratic 509 

whig, last 509 

free soil 511 

democratic 523 

republican 523 

of Rivas 529 

first national Teachers' 530 

democratic 543 

republican 544 

" constitutional union " 544 

democratic 544 

slave state 544 

in Missouri 558 

republican 627 

democratic 631 

Philadelphia " new party" 663 

of colored men 664 



Page. Col. 

Convention, soldiers' and sailors' 673 i 

republican 673 i 

democratic 674 i 

national labor 688 i 

national temperance 688 i 

" national capital " 689 2 

national tvoman suffrage 690 2 

national labor colored 691 i 

labor retorm 714 i 

liberal republican 715 1 

national republican 716 2 

democratic 717 i 

" straight out" democratic. ........ 719 2 

prohibition reform. 770 i 

national greenback 770 i 

republican 770 2 

democratic 772 i 

greenback 833 i 

national republican 836 i 

greenback 836 2 

democratic 836 2 

prohibition 837 2 

labor party 838 i 

Convicts, transportation of. 230 i 

Cook, Capt., voyage of. 30S 1 

Cook book, first 246 i 

Copper mined in Cuba 97 i 

Copper money coined in Cuba 241 2 

Copper plate engraving, first 230 i 

Copper fever 488 2 

Copyright law, the first 199 2 

Corean forts destroyed 707 2 

Corinth, advance on 579 2 

evacuated 582 i 

battle of. 591 2 

Corn starch, first 479 i 

Cornbury, Lord, governor of N. York. . 225 i 

Cornell University opened 677 i 

Cornell, Ezra, death of 746 2 

Cornwallis sailed for South 301 i 

surrender of 319 2 

Coronado visited New Mexico 115 2 

Corpus Christi occupied 4S8 i 

Cortereal, Caspar, kidnapping voyage. . 88 i 

lost on second voyage 88 2 

Miguel lost on voyage 89 2 

Cortes Hernando, early life of 99 i 

put in command of Mexican expedi- 
tion 99 I 

sailed secretly 99 2 

fought battle of Tabasco. 99 2 

received embassy from Montezuma. 100 i 

power of, over his soldiers 100 i 



INDEX. 



Page. Col. 

Cortes, Hernando, defeated Tlascalans. . loo i 

entered City of Mexico loo i 

imprisoned Montezuma lOO i 

obtained great tribute loi i 

marched to the coast loi i 

fought battle of Cempoalla loi i 

returned to City of Mexico loi 2 

evacuated City of Mexico loi 2 

fought battle of Otumba 102 i 

marched upon City of Mexico 103 2 

captured City of Mexico 103 i 

made governor of Mexico 103 2 

marched to Honduras 105 i 

executed Guatemozin 105 2 

placed under Royal Audience 107 i 

went to Spain 108 i 

made captain general loS 2 

tried by Royal Audience 109 i 

landed in Mexico 109 i 

death and character 121 2 

Corwin, Thomas, biography 656 2 

Coseguina, eruption of 456 i 

Costa Rica adopted constitution 495 i 

invaded 522 2 

revolution in 535 2 

rebellion in 697 2 

Cotopaxi, first known eruption of iii i 

eruption of 267 2 

eruption of 787 2 

Cotton used by natives 84 i 

first culture at Jamestown 153 i 

exported for first time 246 2 

eight bales seized 327 i 

first Sea Island 330 2 

Cotton-gin, first 242 2 

Whitney's invented 359 i 

Cotton company in Providence 343 i 

Cotton mill, first in New England 333 2 

Cotton goods first printed by rollers. . . . 393 2 

Cotton seed, Mexican, imported 388 2 

County of Washington, Md., ceded to 

United States 342 2 

County of Alexandria, Va., ceded to U. S. 345 2 

receded to Virginia 490 2 

Courcelles, Gov., expedition of 193 2 

Court house at Rockford, 111., fell 7S3 i 

Covode investigation 542 2 

Cowley, " Shepherd " 833 i 

Cowpens, battle of. 318 i 

Crafts, William and Ellen, fugitives. . . . 505 2 

Crampton's Gap, battle of 590 i 

Crater, first descent into volcanic 103 2 

Credit Mobilier organized 606 i 



Page. Col. 

Credit Mobilier, assumed Pacific R. R. 

construction 664 2 

exposure 729 2 

Creek Indians, troubles with 463 i 

defeat of 403 i 

Cremation, first 776 i 

of Mrs. Pitman 795 i 

of Le Moyne 824 i 

" Creole," case of brig 480 i 

Cricket, game of. 805 i 

Crockett, David, biography 459 i 

Cross Keys, battle of. 583 i 

Croton Aqueduct 479 2 

Crown Point evacuated by French 256 i 

taken 282 2 

taken by English 295 2 

Cuba discovered by Columbus 82 i 

coast of, first explored 84 2 

first found to be an island 9^ i 

subjugated 96 i 

BaraQoa founded 96 i 

Grejalva sailed from 98 2 

Cortes sailed from . . 99 2 

allowed foreign trade 414 2 

coolie trade began 495 1 

proposed purchase of, by U. S 532 i 

outbreak of revolution in 677 i 

prisoners banished by Spanish 683 i 

constitution adopted 684 i 

expedition for 686 i 

freedom of the press 692 2 

ferocity in 700 i 

Spanish proclamation 713 2 

revolution in progress 73S i 

apparent end of revolution 796 2 

a fresh outbreak 823 2 

revolution in progress 830 2 

peace in 850 2 

Cumana in Venezuela founded 104 2 

Cumberland, army of the 592 2 

Currencv, playing-card, in Canada 211 1 

first continental 286 i 

continental, depreciation of 309 i 

depreciation 312 2 

depreciation 317 2 

Cushing, Caleb, biography S09 i 

Cushman, Charlotte, biography 765 2 

Custer and his three hundred 771 2 

Custom houses, first in colonies 200 i 

Cuzco visited by Spaniards no 2 

Cyclone in Georgia 794 2 

in Wisconsin 799 2 

in U. S 834 2 



INDEX. 



869 



Pi^e. Col. 



I> 

Dahlgren, Admiral, biography 

Dana, Ricliard A., death of 

Darien colony, from Scotland 

tardy reinforcement for 

" Dark Day " in New England 

at Detroit 

in New England 

in Canada , 

Dartmoor Prison, massacre of 

Dartmouth College founded 

Darwin, Charles, in S. A , 

Daulac, Adam, heroism of. , 

Davis' Straits explored 

Davis, John, second voyage of 

last voyage of 

Davis, Jefferson, capture of 

bailed , 

discharged 

Dead wood, Black Hills, burned 

Deaf mutes, first asylum for 

first school for, in Canada 

college for 

Deane, Silas, commissioner to France. , 

Death, sudden, in U. S. house 

De Ayllon, kidnapping voj'age 

attacked by natives for revenge. . . 

Debate in the Senate, Great 

Debt U. S. extinguished 

Decatur's, Stephen, achievement 

biography . 

De Castro appointed commissioner 

arrived at Quito , 

tried to govern Peru 

escaped to Spain 

Declaration of Independence in R. I. . . , 

recommended by Virginia 

committee on in congress 

adopted by congress , 

signed 

Deep sea dredging expedition 

Defalcation of Swartout 

in New York 

great Fall River 

at I.,awrence 

at Chicago 

in Fall River 

in Missouri 

in Montreal 

in Fall River 

Defoe, Daniel, issued Robinson Crusoe 
Delaware separated from New York . . 

ratified constitution 



698 
810 



223 


I 


229 


2 


262 


2 


313 


I 


3H 


I 


409 


I 


269 


2 


448 


I 


186 


2 


131 


I 


132 


I 


132 


2 


652 


I 


666 


2 


678 


2 


823 


I 


412 


T 


49S 


2 


635 


2 


290 


2 


456 


I 


102 


I 


106 


I 


442 


I 


457 


2 


3S3 


I 


417 


2 


116 


2 


117 


2 


118 


2 


119 


n 


290 


2 


290 


2 


291 


I 


291 


2 


294 


I 


712 


I 


467 


1 


794 


2 


797 


I 


799 


I 


803 


2 


804 


2 


810 


2 


812 


I 


822 


I 


232 


I 


207 


I 


333 


I 



Page. Col, 

Delegates in Massachusetts towns 164 i 

De Leon, Juan Ponce, colonized Porto 

Rico..... 95 I 

searched for Fountain of Youth. ... 96 i 

discovered and named Florida 96 i 

returned to Porto Rico disappointed 96 2 

sailed to Florida again 102 2 

death and character of 102 2 

Democrat-republicans, rise of party. .. . 332 2 

Democratic clubs 357 i 

Dentist, first native 343 i 

first in country 343 I 

Department of State, United States, , . , 345 i 

of War 345 I 

of the Treasury 345 i 

of the Postoflice 345 2 

of the Judiciary 345 2 

of the Navy 368 i 

of the Interior 499 2 

of Agriculture 597 i 

of Justice 698 I 

De Soto entered Florida 114 2 

discovered Mississippi 116 2 

death and character 118 i 

Dessalines, " emperor of Hayti " 3S5 i 

assassinated 387 2 

Detroit founded 224 2 

captured 25S i 

surrender of. 397 2 

Dexter bank robbery 795 i 

De Young shot by Kalloch 835 i 

Diamonds in Brazil 228 I 

Diamond, most valuable found in U. S.. 524 2 

Dickens, Charles, visited America 476 i 

visited America 671 i 

Dickinson Anna, first speech of 542 i 

Dieskau's defeat 252 i 

Difficulties with England ,. 357 2 

Dighton Rock, inscription on 75 2 

Directory, first city. 24S 2 

Disbanding of army , Rev'y 324 2 

of army. Civil War 652 2 

Disciples, The 392 i 

Dismal Swamp first surveyed 235 i 

Dissection, first anatomical 248 i 

Dissenters enfranchised in Carolina. . . . 226 2 

Dissension at Plymouth 155 2 

District of Columbia 350 i 

corner stone laid 351 i 

Dix, John A., death of. 814 2 

Dixon outrage 821 i 

Dominica taken by English 257 2 

received by England 325 2 



870 



INDEX. 



Dominican republic formed 

maintained 

Dominion of New England 

Dominion of Canada, set up 

Dom Pedro, emperor of Brazil 

became king of Portugal 

Dona Marina given to Cortes 

Donation Law .... 

" Don't give up the ship." 

Dorchester colony in S. Carolina 

Dorchester Heights fortified 

Doremus Mrs., death of 

Dorr's rebellion, R. I 

Dory crossed the Atlantic 

Doughfaces 

Douglas, Stephen A., biography 

Douglass, Frederick, escaped from 
slavery 

marshal of D. C 

Dover, N. H., fishing village 

Draft difficulties 

riot in New York 

closed up 

Drake, Sir Francis, early life of 

first voyage of 

voyage around the world 

another piratical voyage 

death of 

Dranesville, battle of 

Drawbridge, fall of 

Drawbridge open, R. R. accident 

" Dr. Bray's Associates " 

Dred Scott decision 

Drewry's Bluff, attack on 

Drouth, longest known 

Drunkards, i,ooo reformed 

Drunkenness fined in Maryland 

penalty for 

Duel, first in New England 

on Boston Common 

between Gwinnett and Mcintosh. . 

between Cadwallader and Conway. 

between Lee and Laurens 

between Hamilton and Burr 

between Clay and Marshall 

between Jackson and Benton 

between White and Finch 

between Mason and McCarty 

capital pimishment for 

between Wetmore and Street 

between Clay and Randolph 

between Biddle and Pettis 

between Cillev and Graves 



Puge. Col. 

482 2 
500 I 

213 I 

667 2 

422 2 

437 2 

99 2 

506 I 

401 I 

220 2 

289 2 

779 I 

478 2 

802 I 

417 2 

553 2 

4^7 2 

779 2 

155 I 

606 I 

613 2 

642 2 

128 I 

128 I 

128 2 

131 2 

133 2 

567 I 

473 2 

5'4 2 

236 2 

525 2 

581 I 

262 2 

475 2 

173 I 

273 I 

152 2 

235 2 

299 2 

306 2 

308 1 

383 2 

391 ' 

404 I 

416 2 

416 2 

419 I 

421 I 

430 2 

448 1 

466 2 



Page. Col. 

Duel, between Broderick and Terry. . . . 535 2 

Dueling, law against 388 i 

law against 469 2 

Duenhoffer, Father, fined 830 2 

Dug Springs, battle of 559 2 

Duke of Argyll in America 819 2 

Dunkards 231 2 

Dustin's Mrs., escape 222 i 

Duties on parchment suggested 235 i 

Dyewoods of Brazil, traffic in 109 i 

E 

Early's raid checked 629 2 

Earthquake in Chili 128 i 

destroyed Callao 132 i 

at Lima 164 i 

in New England 169 2 

in Chili 178 i 

in New England 190 2 

in Canada 191 2 

in Callao, S. A 213 1 

in Jamaica 216 2 

in English colonies 235 i 

in Chili 236 i 

in Peru 246 i 

in New England 252 2 

in Venezuela 267 i 

in Guatemala 274 i 

shocks in Missouri 395 i 

in Chili 423 i 

in Chili 456 i 

in Costa Rica 475 i 

in Chili 507 i 

in Venezuela 575 i 

in Central America 577 2 

in Me.vico 530 i 

in Quito 533 2 

in Argentine Republic 549 2 

in California 656 i 

in West Indies 669 2 

in South America 676 2 

in California 677 2 

in United States 703 1 

in Long Island 708 i 

in California 708 i 

in California 714 i 

in San Salvador 730 i 

in Guatemala 745 2 

in South America 752 2 

in Richmond 762 2 

in South America 7S2 i 

in Central America S05 i 

in Havana, first 832 2 

East Jersey bought by Quakers 206 2 



INDEX. 



871 



Pace. Col. 

East River bridge begun 703 2 

first wire of 772 2 

Ecclesiastical council, first 168 i 

Eclipse, total in U. S 686 2 

Ecuador independent 422 2 

withdrew irom Colombia 445 \ 

adopted constitution 489 2 

invaded 547 2 

political excitement 635 2 

revolution in 692 2 

Edge Hill, battle of 304 2 

Education, legacy for, in New Haven. . 185 1 

Edwards, Jonathan, biography 254 i 

Eight- Hour movement 727 i 

Elect-Surds, The 663 2 

Elections, local, provided for 168 i 

Elections, democratic gains 746 i 

Electoral commission 778 2 

Electoral count, U. S 853 2 

Electric light, Edison's.'. 832 2 

Electricity, Franklin experimented with 249 i 

Electricity, steamer lighted by 830 2 

Electrotyping, first 471 i 

Elizabeth city captured 570 2 

EUiston accident 714 i 

Ellsworth Col., shot 552 i 

Ellsworth Oliver, brief biography 390 i 

Emancipation, advocate of 352 1 

attempted in Missouri 561 i 

partially reversed 561 2 

foretold 591 2 

proclamation , 599 2 

day celebrated 657 2 

Embargo on American ports 359 2 

bill 390 I 

bill repealed 391 2 

for 90 days 396 2 

Emigrants during 1873 737 2 

" Emigration pamphlet," first 223 i 

" Emily B. Souder " lost S07 i 

Emma Mine scandal 747 2 

Endicott John, biography 193 i 

English army in America 254 1 

England declared war on Holland 316 i 

withdrew from Argentine waters.. . 498 i 

* ' Enterprise " captured " Boxer " 402 i 

Epaulettes, war of the 471 i 

Ej)idemic in Brazil 727 i 

Episcopacy in New York 219 2 

Episcopal bishop, first 326 2 

Epizootic 722 2 

" Epsilon " exploded 715 2 

"Equinox" wrecked 760 i 



Page. Col. 

" Erie " burned 47^ i 

Erie R. R. accident 629 2 

Erie R. R. accident 666 2 

" Essex " captured "Alert" 397 i 

" Essex " taken at Valparaiso 404 2 

Ether, first use of 476 2 

Ether, first public success 491 2 

Eutaw Springs, battle of 319 2 

" Evening Star " lost 663 i 

Everett, Edward, biography 636 i 

Ewing, Thomas, biography 710 i 

Excitement in Western N. Y 476 i 

Execution, first in New England 11^9 i 

Exeter, N. H., founded 169 2 

Exodus, the negro 812 2 

Exodus conventions S15 2 

Explosion of " Lioness ". , 453 i 

of powder 476 i 

of the " Pulaski " 467 2 

of the " Medora " 4S0 2 

of the " Peacemaker " 482 2 

of" Big Hatchee " 489 i 

of engine 6S9 i 

in torpedo factory 691 i 

of nitro-glycerine 707 i 

on Oceanus 71^ i 

at Bennington, Vt. 739 i 

in New York 767 i 

at Bergen Tunnel, N. J 768 2 

in New York 793 j 

at Lake Superior 793 2 

at Springfield 79^ i 

at Minneapolis 798 2 

at Pottsville, Penn 803 2 

of "Adelphi's " boiler Soi; i 

in California 810 2 

Express business, origin of 470 2 

foreign 475 1 

lightning 770 2 

train robbery 789 2 

Expulsion of congressmen ^25 2 

F 

Factories in Canada 712 2 

Fairfax Court house, battle of. 552 2 

Fair Oaks, battle of c;82 2 

Falkland Islands, discovered 133 i 

Falling Waters, battle of. i^£;6 i 

Falmouth, Me., burned 287 i 

Faneuil Hall, built 242 1 

Farewell orders of Washington 324 2 

address to the people, Washington's 365 i 

to congress 365 2 

" Farmers' Letters." 269 i 



872 



INDEX. 



Fage. Col. 

Farnham, Ralph, death of 568 i 

Farragut, Admiral, biography 7C» 2 

Fast Day, first 154 2 

Fast, a public 286 2 

national 500 2 

Fast, for death of Lincoln. 652 2 

Fast mail 759 2 

Fayetteville, battle of 639 i 

Federalist, The, written 343 i 

Federalists, rise of party 332 2 

Female institute, Troy 420 i 

Female suffrage resolution 682 2 

Fenianism founded 528 2 

Fenian congress, first 618 i 

raid on Canada 660 2 

vessel to Ireland 666 2 

attempt on Canada 698 i 

" Fern, Fanny," death of 720 2 

Ferry boat wrecked at New York 522 2 

Fessenden, William Pitt, biography. . . . 688 i 

Fifteen gallon law 467 i 

Filibusters in Buenos Ayres 518 2 

Filibusterism 520 2 

Fillmore inaugurated U. S. president. . . 505 i 

Fillmore, Millard, biography 739 3 

Finney, Charles G., biography 757 1 

Fire, first great, at Plymouth 156 i 

first in Boston 163 2 

at Port Royal, Jamaica 225 2 

in Boston 228 2 

in Charleston, S. C 241 i 

in Boston 257 2 

in New York. ... 295 i 

in Charleston, S. C 305 1 

in Detroit 386 2 

in New York 4S7 i 

at Washington, D. C 463 i 

in Charleston, S. C 467 1 

on board the " Washington " 469 2 

in New York 470 2 

in Quebec 485 2 

in Pittsburgh, Penn 485 2 

in Quebec again 487 2 

in N e w York 487 2 

in St. John's, Newfoundland 490 2 

in Louisville, Ky 492 2 

in Albany 498 i 

in St. Louis 500 i 

in San Francisco 504 i 

in San Francisco 507 i 

second 507 i 

burned Ohio State House 509 2 

burned Crystal Palace, New York. 530 2 



Page. Col. 

Fire at Key West 533 2 

in Charleston 566 2 

in Santiago, S. A 620 2 

in Nashville 654 2 

in New York 655 2 

at Fort Riley, Kan 658 2 

in New York 659 2 

at Richmond 659 2 

in Nashville 662 i 

in Guadeloupe 708 i 

in Williamsport, Penn 708 2 

at Chicago 709 i 

at Iowa City 714 i 

at Jersey City 719 i 

at Concord, Mass 719 i 

at Newburg, Ohio 720 2 

at Alexandria, Va 729 2 

in Portland, Oregon 734 1 

in Brooklyn, New York 738 2 

in Chicago, second 744 2 

in Oshkosh, Wis 750 2 

in Holyoke, Mass 752 2 

at Virginia City 760 2 

in Cincinnati 764 i 

at Williamsburg, New York 766 2 

at Quebec 770 i 

in St. Johns, P. 770 2 

at Castle Garden, New York 772 2 

at St. Hyacinths, P. 773 i 

false alarm of 774 2 

false alarm of 779 2 

in New York 779 2 

at St. Louis 780 2 

at Montreal 781 2 

at Montreal 784 2 

in Norfolk, Canada 788 i 

in Gayville, Dakota 7S8 i 

in Washington 789 2 

attempted at Fredericton, N. B 791 i 

at Hot Springs, Ark 796 i 

in Philadelphia 796 2 

bvn-ned Bishop mansion on the Hud- 
son River 797 2 

in Alta, Utah 803 i 

at Cape May 806 i 

in New York 809 2 

at St. Joseph, Mo 810 i 

in San Reno, Neb 811 i 

at South Bend, Ind 814 2 

at Hull, Ontario 835 i 

Fires during 1865 657 2 

forest in Michigan 733 i 

forest 753 I 



INDEX. 



873 



Page. Col. 

Fires, forest 784 2 

forest 812 I 

Fire service, first effective 515 2 

Fire-arm, repeating 234 2 

Fire-engine, first American 183 2 

Fire-engine, steam model for 473 2 

first 476 I 

Fireflies friglitened Spaniards 98 2 

frightened English marauders 133 i 

Fire-ship in Tripoli harbor 3S4 2 

Fish, first propagation of 3S6 i 

Fish commission, U. S 705 2 

Fish commission, Halitax award 792 2 

charge against 849 2 

Fishing creek, battle of 314 2 

Fishing disaster 810 2 

Fiske tragedy 713 i 

Fiske James, biography 713 i 

Five Forks, battle of 640 i 

Flag, first Union 289 i 

Flag of United States in China, first. . . . 327 2 

on Mexican soil 490 2 

Flag, confederate, first taken 551 2 

Fleet, British, repulsed on Lake Ontario. 397 i 

U. S., on Lake Ontario 398 2 

British beaten on Lake Erie 402 2 

Spanish withdrew from S. A 659 2 

Flood in Pittsburg 451 i 

in Virginia 6S9 i 

in Hayti 807 2 

in St. Kitts, W. I S31 2 

" Flora Temple's " trotting 535 2 

" Florence " lost 826 2 

Florida visited by de Leon 96 i 

visited again b}' de Leon 102 2 

disaster in 108 i 

expedition of de Luna to 125 2 

purchase 414 2 

admitted to Union 485 i 

seceded 547 2 

and Georgia expeditions. 572 2 

nullified secession 656 i 

expedition 622 i 

" Florida," capture of the 632 i 

Floyd, John B., indicted 548 i 

" Flying Machine," The, stage coach. . 273 i 

Flving machine, a 801 i 

Foot path up Mt. Washington, first. . . . 416 i 

Foote's flotilla 569 2 

Foraging party routed 298 2 

Ford theater opened as Museum 666 2 

Forfeiture, largest paid to U. S 723 2 

Forgery in New York 655 2 



Page. Col. 

Forgeries of Gilman 790 i 

Forrest, Edwin, biography 726 i 

Fort Alamo massacre 459 i 

Bowyer, attack on 407 i 

Clinton occupied 302 2 

Casimir on the Delaware 181 2 

Dearborn built 386 i 

Dearborn evacuated 397 i 

de Russy, capture of 623 2 

Donelson captured 571 i 

Donelson, attempt on 602 2 

Du Quesne erected 250 2 

Du Quesne captured by English. . . 255 2 

Edward abandoned 301 i 

Erie captured 405 i 

Erie assaulted 405 2 

Erie, battle near 407 i 

blown up 407 I 

Fisher captured 637 i 

Frontenac captured 255 2 

Galphin captured " 318 2 

George captured 401 i 

Henry captured 570 i 

Lee evacuated 296 i 

Macon captured 579 2 

McHenry bombarded 406 2 

Meigs, siege of 401 i 

Mercer attacked 304 i 

evacuated 304 i 

Mifflin evacuated 304 i 

Mimms, massacre of 402 i 

Necessity captured by French 250 2 

Niagara, expedition against, failed... 251 2 

Niagara taken by English 256 i 

Oswego taken by Montcalm 253 i 

Pillow, battle of 581 i 

Pillow, massacre at * . . . 624 2 

Pulaski captured 57S i 

Stanwix besieged 301 2 

siege raised 301 2 

Steadman captured 639 2 

Stephenson, assault on 401 2 

Sumter occupied by U. S. 546 2 

Sumter evacuated 549 2 

Ticonderoga attacked 255 i 

Ticonderoga evacuated by French . . 256 i 

Ticonderoga taken 282 i 

Ticonderoga evacuated 300 2 

Wagner evacuated 615 i 

Washington, capture of 295 2 

Watson captured 318 2 

William Henry, captured by French 253 2 

Fortress Monroe, army at 576 i 



874 



INDEX. 



Forts at Crown Point and Niagara 

Fortune Bay, damages demanded 

Fourierism 

Fourth of July, first anniversaiv of 

centennial 

Fox, George, tour of. 

France, aid from 

embassy to 

Francliise in Massachusetts 

in Massachusetts 

Francla, Dr., became dictator of Para- 
guay 

biography 

Franlcfort seized 

Franlilin's, Benjamin, lost clothes 

Franklin, Benj., before Privy Council. . 

deposed from postoffice 

biography 

Franklin stoves 

Franklin's, Sir John, last Arctic voyage 

search for 

relics discovered 

Arctic record found 

search party, last 

Fraud in Philadelphia 

Frazier's Farm, battle of 

Frederick College founded 

Fredericksburg, battle of 

Free press in New York 

Freedman's Bureau 

Freedman's bank, collapse of 

Freeman murder, Pocasset, Mass 

Fremont, John C, married 

superseded 

French in St. Bartholomew massacred. 

colony on Lake Onandaga 

defeat at Lake Champlain 

aggression in Ohio Valley 

and Indian war 

fleet at Delaware River 

at Narragansett Bay 

fleet at Newport 

loan 

Republic celebrated 

depredations 

indignities 

government, acts of 

privateers 

republic recognized by U.S. minis- 
ter 

" Friends' " first yearly meeting 

Frobisher, Sir Martin, early life of 

first and second voyages 



Page. Col. 

228 1 

821 I 

484 2 
300 2 

772 I 

199 2 

29S 2 

163 2 

190 2 

40S 2 

472 2 

240 2 

-74 - 

274 2 

347 I 

242 2 

485 ^ 
499 I 

518 2 

531 ^ 

842 I 

789 2 

584 ^ 

367 ^ 

594 ^ 

239 I 

638 2 

747 I 

815 I 

475 2 

565 I 

184 2 

185 2 
216 2 
249 2 
252 2 
308 
308 
314 
319 
356 
366 

367 
367 
369 

701 
210 

128 2 

, 128 2 



Page. Col. 

Frobisher, Sir Martin, third voyage of. i.!9 2 

death of 131 2 

Fugitives, surrender of 356 2 

Fugitive slave law passed 505 i 

slave, an alleged 505 2 

slave in New York 505 2 

slave in Christiana, Pennsylvania. . 507 2 
slave law pronounced unconstitu- 
tional 519 I 

Fund for ex-presidents 853 i 

Funding system, American 346 i 

Funding bill vetoed 855 2 

Fur company at New Orleans 262 1 

Fur companies, union of 421 i 

O^ 

(jjag rule in United States house 460 2 

Gage, Gen., arrived in Boston 275 i 

proclamation by 278 2 

policy of 280 1 

proclamation b}' 283 i 

recalled 286 2 

Gaines, Mrs., won her suit 671 i 

Gaine's farm, battle of. 5S4 i 

Gale on New England coast 410 1 

on New England coast 491 2 

on Atlantic coast 792 2 

Galveston recaptured 600 2 

Garrison, William Lloyd, biography.. .. 816 2 

Gas, proposal to light with 381 i 

first use of. 411 2 

first sviccessful use 423 i 

Gasca, Pedro de la, commissioner 121 i 

arrived in Peru 121 2 

defeated and slew Pizarro 122 2 

administered Peru 123 i 

returned to Spain 123 2 

Gaspee, burning of 272 2 

Gates, Gen., command at north 301 2 

appointed at south 314 i 

biography 386 2 

Gatling gun invented 597 i 

General court, first in Massachusetts... 159 i 

General assembly, first in Pennsylvania. 208 i 

first in Northwest Territory 369 2 

" General Lyon " lost 640 i 

Geography, Morse's 327 i 

Geological surveys 444 2 

George IIL acknowledged L^nited States 322 2 

Georgia chartered 237 i 

first philanthropic colony. . . .^ 237 2 

became royal province 248 2 

ratified constitution 334 i 

seceded 548 i 



INDEX. 



875 



Pase. Col. 

Georgia, Sherman in 631 2 

nullified secession 656 1 

legislature expelled colored members 676 2 

" Georgia " lost 805 i 

" George S. Wright" wrecked 730 i 

Georgetown college, D. C, founded. . . . 346 i 

Germantown, battle of 302 i 

Gerry, Elbridge, death of. 407 2 

Gettysburg, battle of 609 i 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, patent of 129 2 

sailed for America 129 2 

second voyage and death 130 2 

Gold found in Hayti 84 i 

in Venezuela 116 2 

in Brazil 223 i 

California fever 495 2 

in Kansas 532 i 

sold at par , . . . 806 2 

in Nova Scotia 822 2 

fever in Canada and United States. 843 2 

Gold pens first made in America 457 2 

"Golden Gate " lost 587 i 

"Golden Gate," Atlantic vovage 819 2 

Gomez explored North American coast. 106 i 

Good Samaritans established 495 i 

Goods, importation of, forbidden 387 2 

Goodyear, Charles, death of 545 i 

Gorton's colony in R. 1 173 2 

Gosnold in New England 134 i 

Gospel, society for propagating 180 2 

Gosport navy yard destroyed 550 2 

Government bill, the Massachusetts. . . . 275 i 

" Governor Fenner," The, lost 474 i 

Grades, heavy, on railways 461 2 

Granada on Lake Nicaragua founded. .. 104 2 

Grand Army of the Republic 663 2 

Grand Jury, first in America 166 2 

" Grand Model," Locke's 197 i 

Grand Trunk R. R. accident 629 i 

Grant, U, S., made lieutenant-general.. . 623 i 

made general 662 1 

return of, from abroad 823 1 

Grape-vines in Paraguay 134 2 

" Graphic Company " organized 738 i 

Grasshopper depredations 636 i 

Great Bridge, Va., fight at 287 2 

Great Eastern steamship 544 2 

Great Meadows, battle near 250 2 

Greeley, Horace, among ancient remains 43 2 

biography 724 i 

Greenbacks first issued . 597 i 

Greenbriar, battle on the 563 i 

Greene, Gen., superseded Gates 316 i 



Page. Col. 

Greeae, Viography 329 1 

Gre«iland discovered 74 2 

le-discovered by Eric 74 2 

colonized by Eric 74 2 

first bishop in 75 2 

last bishop in 76 2 

decline of, by black death, etc 76 2 

pestilence in 323 i 

east coast explored 423 i 

Grenada, W. I., settled by French 182 i 

Caribs exterminated in 182 i 

Greytown boinbarded 518 i 

" Griffith " wrecked 504 2 

Grinnell, Henry, death of 743 2 

Groveton, battle of 58S i 

Guadeloupe discovered 83 2 

taken by English 256 1 

naval battle near 320 2 

restored to France 412 i 

Guano first shipped 474 i 

Guatemala, Santiago,-C. A., destroyed. .117 2 

Guatemala, New, founded 297 2 

Guatemala adopted constitution 50S i 

revolution in 707 2 

Guatemozin chosen emperor of Mexico. 102 2 

captured by Cortes 103 i 

execution of. 105 2 

Guaymas taken 494 2 

Guaymas, battle of. 518 i 

Guayaquil blockaded 532 i 

Guerillas, proclamation against 494 2 

Guerilla warfare . 585 i 

Guerra Christoval, voyage of 87 2 

Guiana settled by Dutch 130 i 

colonized by French 137 i 

settled by English 159 i 

Dutch, taken by English 181 i 

French, retaken from English 193 i 

Dutch, seized by English 366 2 

Dutch, restored 381 i 

Dutch, retaken by English 383 i 

French, taken by English 392 2 

French, restored to France 408 2 

evacuated by Spanish 413 i 

British, erected 448 2 

Guibord's funeral 761 i 

Guilford Court House, battle of 318 i 

Gulf Streain first noticed 96 2 

Gulf of Mexico, coast of, explored 98 2 

Gulf coast, events on 563 i 

Gun, first rifled, in America 454 2 

Gunboat, The Impostor 602 2 

Gwinnett, Button, killed in duel 299 2 



876 



INDEX. 



H 

" Hail Columbia," origin of 

Hale, Nathan, execution of ; 

John P., biography 

Sarah J., Mrs., death of 

Halifax founded 

Hall, Charles Francis, biography 

Halleck, Fitz-Greene, biography 

Hamilton, Alexander, investigated 

biography 

Hampton, capture of. 

burned 

" Hancock," capture of the 

Hancock, John, biography 

Hand labor against machinery 

Hanging Rock, battle of 

Hanover Court House, battle of 

Harding county raid 

Harlem Plains, battle of . . 

Harmar's defeat 

Harmony Society, The. 

removal of 

Harper's Ferry surrendered 

Harper, James, biography 

Harrison, Gen. W. H., command at West 

biography 

Hart, Nancy, heroism of 

Hartford, Conn., Dutch trading post at. 
Hartford colony from Massachusetts.. . . 

Hartford convention, The 

Harvard College endowed 

named and opened 

general support of 

Hat act, English 

Hatteras Inlet, blockade of 

Havana, Cuba, founded 

burned 

pillaged 

pillaged a second time 

taken by English 

Haverhill, Mass., destroyed 

Hawkins, Sir John, begun slave trade. . 

second voyage of. 

third voyage of. 

death of 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, biography 

Hayden surveys 

Hayes' tour through South 

title declared irrevocable 

Hayne, Isaac, execution of 

Hayti discovered 

subdued - 

Spanish ceded to France 



Page. Col. 

36S 2 

295 I 

735 2 

815 I 

247 I 

710 2 

669 2 

356 I 

383 2 

401 2 

560 I 
299 2 
358 I 
445 I 
314 I 
5S2 I 
621 2 

295 I 

350 1 

3S5 2 

40S 2 

590 2 

6S2 2 

39S I 

474 I 

316 I 

164 2 

167 I 
407 2 

168 I 

169 2 
177 I 
237 2 

561 I 
100 2 
114 I 

124 2 

125 I 
262 [ 
227 I 

126 I 

126 2 

127 2 

^i?, 2 

626 I 

667 I 

790 I 

Soi I 

319 I 

82 2 

S5 2 

364 I 



Page. Col. 



Hayti, eastern half independent 420 

united ^23 

President Boyer lied 480 

Solouque, emperor of 1^06 

revolution in 531 

first United States minister to 587 

revolution in 692 

government changed 820 

Hazen, Gen., head of signal service 848 

Hearne's, Samuel, exploration 269 

Heat, excessive, in United States 575 

extreme in California 534 

unprecedented S02 

Heaviest man. The 525 

Hell Gate reef blown up 773 

Hendrick, biography 2=52 

Henrico College proposed 149 

Henry, Patrick, resolutions of 265 

biography 370 

Henry documents, The 396 

Henry, Prof, memorial service for. . . . 809 

" Henry A. Jones " burned 729 

Hessian troops, first 290 

" Hibernia " lost 677 

Hidalgo of Mexico slain 394 

Hillard, George S., death of 809 

History, first, of America 112 

of New Spain written 131 

Hobkirk Hill, battle of 318 

Holland acknowledged U. S 320 

indemnity from , 471 

" Home," wreck of 465 

Homespun clothes at Harvard 271 

Homestead Act 295 

Honduras, British 36S 

explored 516 

revolution in 613 

new constitution 657 

change of presidents 727 

Hood, John B., biography 822 

Hooker, Gen. Joseph, biography 824 

Hoosac Tunnel 736 

Hopkins, Ezek, commander of navy.. . . 287 

dismissed 298 

Albert, death of 715 

" Hornet " sunk the " Peacock " 400 

captured " Penguin " 409 

Horse, first ridden up Mt. Washington. . 473 

Horse-race, first public 414 

at Saratoga 733 

Horse-shoes, first made by machinery. . 458 

Horse nails forged 537 

Horses, two noted trotters 463 



INDEX. 



877 



Page. 

Horse-Shoe Bend, battle of 404 

Horticultural Society, first 440 

Hospital, first 170 

first in English colonies 229 

first general one 248 

first army 285 

for women and children, N. E 621 

Hot-air blast in furnaces 453 

Housatonic R. R, accident 655 

House, first frame in Connecticut 164 

the first painted 170 

oldest in U. S 170 

Daniel Webster's burned 795 

Houston, Sam, biography 614 

" Hovey's Seedling " strawberry 455 

Howard University organized 671 

Howe, Gen., at Sandy Hook 291 

proclamation by 296 

strategy of 304 

strategy of 305 

Elias, biography 668 

Samuel G., biography , . . 763 

Lord, killed 255 

Huamantla, battle of. 494 

Huascar, capture of the 823 

Hubbardton, battle of 300 

Hudson, Henry, first voyage of 138 

second voyage of 139 

third voyage of 140 

discovered Hudson River 140 

fourth voj'age of 141 

discovered Hudson's Bay 141 

death of 142 

searched for 144 

Hudson Bay company organized 197 

trading posts seized by French 211 

territory given up 691 

territory transferred 699 

Hudson River discovered 140 

Hudson River R. R. collision 705 

Hudson River tunnel caved in 837 

Huguenots in Brazil 125 

colony broken up 125 

in Florida 126 

massacred by Mencndez 127 

avenged 127 

in New England 211 

in New York 214 

enfranchised in Carolina 222 

Hull's expedition 396 

Hull, Mrs., murder of. 818 

Humaita, battle of 672 

evacuated 675 



Col. 
I 



Page. Col. 

Humboldt in America 370 2 

on the Orinoco 377 2 

ascended Chimborazo 380 1 

in Cuba 383 2 

in France 384 2 

"Hungarian " wrecked 543 2 

Hunt, Harriot K., M. D 457 2 

Hunters' lodges 469 i 

Hurricane in Barbadoes 201 2 

in Nevis, W. 1 227 i 

in Jamaica 234 i 

in Barbadoes 315 2 

in Barbadftes 447 i 

in Bahamas ... 663 2 

along Rio Grande 669 i 

in West Indies 669 i 

in Cuba 6S9 2 

Hutchinson, Mrs. Anne, banished 168 i 

killed by Indians 174 1 

I 

Ice, first cargo, exported 388 2 

shipped to New Orleans 419 2 

Ice-break in St. Lawrence 742 2 

in Delaware Valley 749 2 

in Ohio River 778 i 

on Kentucky River 809 2 

Ice-jam in Mississippi 726 2 

Ice boat, fast sailing of. 713 2 

Iceland, Irish in 74 i 

first Northman in 74 1 

Svafarsson and Floki in 74 i 

first settlement in 74 2 

became a republic 74 2 

Christianity first preached in 74 2 

subjected to Denmark 76 i 

" Black Death " in 76 i 

Idiots, instruction of, begun 413 2 

first school for 498 i 

school for, in Boston 498 2 

Ignorance, thankfulness for 197 2 

Illinois admitted to the Union 413 2 

invasion checked 559 i 

Illustrated paper, first successful 514 i 

Imbabura, eruption of 216 2 

Immigration from Germany 227 2 

largest 835 2 

Impeachment of Johnson proposed 664 i 

begun 672 2 

failure of. 673 i 

Impressment 369 i 

Imprisonment for debts due the United 

States abolished 474 i 

Impromptu courts 334 2 



878 

Inauguration of U. S. president, first. . . 

second 

third 

fourth 

fifth 

sixth 

seventli 

eighth 

ninth 

tenth 

eleventh 

twelfth 

thirteenth 

fourteenth 

fifteenth 

sixteenth 

seventeenth 

eighteenth 

nineteenth 

twentieth 

twenty-first 

twenty-second 

twenty-third 

twenty-fourth 

Incendiarism at Columbus, Ohio 

Independence of Spanish America fore- 
told 

indications of 

" Independence Hall " begun 

completed 

" Independence " wrecked 

" Independent Treasury Scheme " 

Indian, first baptized by English 

first English peer in America 

toper, first 

first at Plymouth 

fidelity 

massacre at Jamestown 

mission among Hurons 

mission among Hurons 

mission in Maryland 

missions around Plymouth 

missions at Lake Superior 

massacre, second in Virginia 

mission in Maine 

in Massachusetts,under John Eliot. 

on Martha's Vineyard 

mission among Hurons abandoned. 

massacres in New Amsterdam 

church, first in America 

New Testament 

Bible, Eliot's 

graduate of Harvard 



INDEX 


P.ige. Col. 




344 2 


In 


356 2 




367 I 




378 I 




386 I 




391 2 




400 2 




412 I 




420 I 




429 2 




439 2 




451 I 




464 I 




474 I 




485 I 




499 2 




514 2 




525 2 




549 I 




639 I 




6S2 2 




730 I 




779 I 




855 2 




813 2 




123 2 




225 2 


In 


236 I 


In 


239 I 




514 I 




472 2 




132 2 




132 2 




140 2 




152 I 




152 I 




153 2 




156 2 




165 2 




165 2 




172 I 




172 I 




175 I 




177 2 




177 2 




177 2 




180 2 




184 I 




186 I 




188 I 




192 I 




193 2 





Page. Col 

Indian mission near Lake Winnebago. . 197 2 

mission at Green Ba_\' 197 2 

council with French 199 1 

mission near Easthampton, Mass. . . 201 2 

war in Maine 214 ] 

convert, first 215 i 

council at Casco Bay 225 : 

war in Maine again 225 : 

settlements raided by Church 226 1 

wars in Chili 234 ] 

fight at Fryeburg, Me 234 : 

convention at Lancaster 244 ; 

council at Easton, Penn 256 

war in Carolinas 295 : 

preacher 355 : 

council 668 

commissioners, board of 684 

depredations 712 

outbreak in Idaho 785 

fight 788 

commission met Sitting Bull 790 

chief. Gall, surrender of 798 

fight near Fort Harney 801 

fight at Battle Creek 801 

fight at Clearwater River 802 

fight near Denver S04 

fight in New Mexico 826 

Indian Territory raiders S15 

Indians, first fight with 75 

sufferings of, in Hayti 85 

kidnapped from Labrador 88 

declared human 113 

worked to death in Hayti 123 

first fight with, in New England. . . 137 

kidnapped in New England. 144 

a winter among Algonquins 165 

destruction of Huron 180 

fight with at Montreal 181 

" Praying " 186 

favorable to Spain, war on 225 

Tuscarora, massacre by 228 

Yemassee, massacre by 229 

Natchez massacred French 236 

massacred in revenge 236 

battle with on Ohio River 277 

war with 278 

massacred at New Amsterdam.... 174 

of Chili successful 193 

expedition against. . . ., 311 

massacred party in Utah 515 

massacred United States troops. . . . 663 

battle with 676 

defeated bv Custer 678 



INDEX. 



879 



Page. ( 

Indians massacred. ... 707 

victory over 7^^ 

visited Washington 790 

Indiana admitted to Union 410 

election 843 

Industry, Society for Promoting ..... . . . 249 

Infantry Pulaski's massacred 30S 

Inflation bill vetoed 742 

Influenza, epidemic 178 

Inoculation for small-pox, first 233 

Inquisition established in America 127 

Insane, first asylum for 274 

Insurance, marine, first attempt 233 

company, first fire 249 

company, marine, first. 257 

company, life, first 269 

company, life, first general 399 

swindle 516 

first for accident 622 

Insurrection, first negro 103 

in Central America 107 

at Cuzco 112 

anti-rent in New Jersey 199 

in Brazil 201 

in Virginia 213 

in North Carolina 213 

Leisler in New York 214 

negro in Pernambuco 220 

' ' Petticoat " 226 

in Paraguay 236 

slave, in S. C . 240 

negro, in Jamaica 245 

negro in Guiana 262 

in Peru 316 

in New Grenada 320 

Shay's 330 

in Brazil 346 

slave in Hayti 352 

whiskey 361 

of Maroons, W. 1 365 

in Colombia, S. A 368 

house tax 375 

in Barbadoes 412 

in Cuba 424 

Nat Turner's 447 

in Jamaica 451 

in Upper Canada 466 

Dorr's Rebellion, R.I 478 

in Cuba 484 

in Yucatan 499 

in Cuba 499 

in Chili 508 

in Honduras 568 



Page. Col. 



Insurrection in Uruguay 635 

in Bolivia. ... 635 

in Bolivia 652 

in Jamaica 656 

in San Salvador 657 

in Hayti 665 

in Colombia 667 

in Bolivia 671 

in Montevideo 672 

in Peru 701 

in Chili 703 

in Colombia 705 

in Brazil 706 

in City of Mexico 709 

in Peru 709 

of Sandy Point garrison 792 

Intolerance in Virginia 173 

in Virginia iSo 

in Virginia 1 88 

Intrigue, Randolph's famous 364 

Inundation from canal 734 

New Orleans 742 

Iowa admitted to Union 492 

Irish in Iceland 74 

immigrants 236 

agitators S31 

Iron works, first in America 149 

first in New England 1 74 

at Taunton, Mass 183 

Iron plates for vessels invented 395 

Iron boat, first 430 

Iron-clad steam vessel 408 

Iron-clads, proposal for 479 

Iron-clad rams, first 568 

Iron-clad rams seized 618 

Iron bridge, model for 333 

first long span 597 

fall of. 731 

Iron-clad oath 587 

Iroquois warriors killed 142 

barbarity 173 

famous escape from 178 

opposition to 181 

destroyed Americans 254 

Irregular form lathe, Blanchard's 417 

Irving, Washington, biography 537 

Island Raid, The 282 

Island No. 10, battle of 577 

Isthmus exploring party. Strain's 518 

exploration 704 

schemes 852 

Italian unity meeting in N. Y 704 

Iturbide abdicated in Mexico 423 



880 



INDEX. 



Page. Col. 

Iturbide executed 424 2 

luka, battle of. 591 i 

Izalco volcano, origin of. 369 2 

J 

Jackson, Andrew, biography 4S6 i 

Jackson " Stonewall," biography 606 2 

Jackson, battle of. 607 i 

Jacobi, Mary P., medical graduate 712 i 

"Jail-birds " at Jamestown 148 2 

Jamaica discovered 84 2 

colonized 95 i 

taken b J English 184 i 

devastated 839 2 

Jame.stown, first English colony 13S i 

starving time at 141 i 

martial law at 142 i 

private property at 142 2 

Indian massacre at 153 2 

Jamestown Ford, battle of 318 2 

Japanese embassy 542 2 

Japanese embassy 706 i 

Jay, John, biography 440 i 

Jeannette expedition 819 2 

Jeiferson, Thomas, biography 431 2 

Jesuit priest escaped from Iroquois 173 2 

tortured by Iroquois 176 i 

first death of in Canada 177 i 

in Boston 180 2 

Jesuit mission, first in Lower California 210 i 

Jesuits first in America 123 2 

first in Florida 127 i 

in Virginia slain 128 i 

in Paraguay 140 2 

first in New France 142 i 

grant of N. America to 144 1 

power of in New France 156 i 

forbidden to enter Mass 180 2 

and " Popish priests" condemned .. 224 2 

expelled from Portuguese lands. . . . 256 2 

expelled from Spanish realms 267 i 

Jewelry first made in U. S 350 2 

Jews, prejudice against 784 2 

"John Rutledge " lost at sea 522 i 

"John Sear's Folly" 350 2 

Johnson, Sir William, death of 276 1 

Johnson, Andrew, inaugurated 650 i 

policy indorsed 658 1 

famous speech of 658 2 

jurisdiction lessened 671 2 

biography 756 i 

Johnston, J. E., at Harper's Ferry 55t 2 

surrender - 651 1 

Jones, Paul, naval victory of 311 2 



Page. Col. 

Jones, Paul, biography 353 2 

Jorullo, the volcano, formed 257 i 

Juarez entered City of Mexico 667 2 

elected president of Mexico 669 i 

elected president of Mexico 710 2 

biography 717 2 

"Judah," the privateer, destroyed 562 2 

Judicial commissions 262 .1 

Junin, battle of 424 2 

Juvenile delinquents, society to reform.. 424 2 

li 

Kalakaua, king, visited U. S 746 2 

Kalloch controversy. ... , 82 1 i 

Kalm, Peter, the botanist 247 i 

Kanawha Valley evacuated 559 i 

Kane, Dr. E. K., return and death. 520 i 

Kansas-Nebraska bill 515 i 

Kansas war 524 i 

troubles 528 i 

election 537 2 

admitted to Union 548 i 

Quantrell's raid 614 2 

Kearney, Dennis, assaulted 812 i 

arrested S34 i 

deposed 837 2 

Kearney constitution, California 81S i 

Kearneyism 803 i 

Keeley motor. The 762 2 

Kennebec colony, by Popham 138 2 

abandoned 139 i 

Kenton, Simon, biography 459 2 

Kentucky, first explored 267 2 

first house in 269 1 

infant state organized 282 2 

ratified constitution 353 2 

resolutions 369 i 

neutrality ended 561 2 

invaded 564 i 

Bragg's invasion 588 2 

Kernstown, battle of 576 i 

Kerosene, name first used 492 2 

oil company, first 518 i 

Kettle Creek, battle of 309 i 

Key, Philip Barton, shot by Sickles 533 i 

Kidd, William, Capt, sent against pirates. 221 2 

arrested for piracy 223 i 

execution of 223 2 

Kilpatrick's raid 622 2 

King George's war 244 i 

King Philip, war with 202 2 

biography 202 2 

King William's war ,. . 214 i 

King, Thomas Starr, biography 623 i 



INDEM. 



881 



Page. ( 

King's Chapel established in Boston. ... 214 
building of American stone, first. . 249 

King's Mountain, battle of 315 

Kingston, Canada, founded 200 

Jamaica, founded 220 

Kinnison, David 508 

Kitchen " cabinet " 44S 

Kittanning, Indian village, destroyed.. . 253 

Knapp, Elder, biography 739 

Knight's Expedition to Labrador 137 

Knights of Pythias 622 

Knights Templar Conclave 839 

"Know Nothing " riot 483 

convention 522 

Knox, Henry, biography 387 

Knoxville, siege ended 620 

Kossuth, Louis, visited U. S 508 

leftU.S 511 

Ku-KIux Klan 671 

Ku-Klux bill 707 

proclamation 709 

investigation 727 

JL, 

Labrador, natives kidnapped from 88 

origin of name 88 

suffering in 799 

Laconia 154 

Ladies' Deposit Company 844 

Lady Elgin lost on Lake Michigan 545 

Lafayette joined American army 301 

returned from France 313 

visit to America 424 

gift to by congress 425 

left United States 430 

Lake Huron, first trip to 142 

visited by Champlain 146 

Champlain discovered 140 

Champlain, battle on 295 

Superior visited by traders 186 

Superior mission 188 

Lalande prize 621 

Land, division of, at Plymouth 155 

Land office, first U. S 377 

" Landscape Gardening," issued 473 

Land-slide in Canada 781 

La Paz, Bolivia, founded 123 

La Plata, declared independent 410 

provisional constitution 412 

a republic 426 

La Salle, early life of 194 

arrived in Canada 194 

set out on exploration 197 

pushed through Lake Michigan. . . . 205 



Page. Col. 

La Salle reached Peoria, Illinois 205 i 

great journey to Ontario 205 i 

went back to Illinois 205 2 

to Canada and back again 206 2 

reached Gulf of Mexico 207 i 

trip back to Illinois 20S i 

went to Canada and France 210 i 

sailed from France to Louisiana ... 210 2 

difficulties 212 i 

death of. 212 2 

Laughing gas, first use of. 483 2 

Laurens, Henry, capture of 315 2 

Laval in Canada 186 i 

appointed bishop 201 i 

Law of Juarez in Mexico 521 2 

Law school, first 327 i 

Lead mines at Dubuque discovered 223 2 

in Missouri discovered 232 2 

mining begun in Iowa 342 2 

League, first colonial 173 2 

Lecompton constitution of Kansas 529 i 

rejected 5^30 i 

Lecturer on Natural History, first 327 2 

Ledyard, John, the traveler 335 i 

Lee, R. H., famous resolutions of. 290 2 

passed by congress 291 2 

biography , 360 i 

Lee, Gen. Charles, captured 296 i 

court-martialed 306 2 

biography 32 1 2 

Lee, R. E., made general-in-chief Con- 
federate Army 638 i 

supplies captured 641 2 

surrender demanded 641 2 

surrender received 641 2 

made president of Washington Un'y 655 2 

biography 701 2 

Lee, John D., execution of. 779 2 

Leeward Is., English, a confederation. . 714 2 

Legal tender declared constitutional. . . . 707 i 

Legislative houses, two, in Mass 176 i 

two in Maryland 181 i 

Leisler, execution of, in New York. . . . 216 2 

Leon, on lake Managua, founded 104 2 

Leopard affair, The 389 2 

disavowed ■^qc 2 

Lepe, Diego de, voyage of 88 i 

Levee along Mississippi, first 235 i 

Lewis and Clarke, expedition of. 383 2 

on Missouri River 386 i 

on Columbia River 386 2 

start back 386 2 

at St. Louis 387 2 



882 



INDEX. 



Lexington, battle of 2S1 

Lexington and Concord centennial 750 

Lexington, Mass., present to 827 

Lexington, Mo., captured 562 

" Lexington " burned on L. L Sound.. 472 

" Liberator, The," established 445 

Liberia, first U. S. minister to 5S7 

Liberia excitement, The 79S 

Liberty, spirit of, in New England 165 

first complete religious in world 178 

germs of. 227 

Liberty Bell 249 2 

*' Liberty Pole " excitement 270 2 

Library, first subscription 236 2 

congressional, origin of. . . 376 2 

first apprentices' 416 2 

in Lima 423 i 

congressional destroyed by fire. . . . 50S 2 

New York Mercantile 715 2 

License law, first in Mass 178 i 

Life saving service, United States 493 2 

Life-car invented 501 2 

" Light-horse Harry " Lee 305 i 

" Light-horse," Baylor's, massacred. . . . 308 2 

Lima founded in 2 

advance against S48 i 

fall of 851 I 

Lincoln, Abraham, Gettysburg speech of 618 2 

last speech 642 2 

assassination of. 643 i 

biography 644 2 

funeral of. 650 2 

interment of. 652 i 

memorial services 658 2 

attempt to steal remains of 775 i 

Lind, Jenny, in United States 505 2 

Liquor, first tax on in America 176 i 

first distilled in New England 223 i 

among Indians 236 2 

in Georgia 238 i 

commission, congressional 818 i 

amendment, Kansas 854 i 

law for Sunday in New Amsterdam 171 2 

law, Maine 508 2 

Literary work, first in English colonies. 155 i 

Lithographic printing, first 415 i 

Lithography, first regular business 423 i 

Little Belt affair, The 395 i 

Little Bethel, battle of 554 i 

Little Rock surrendered 615 2 

" Loa " exploded 837 2 

Lock, patent ... 481 2 

English picked by Hobbs 509 i 



Page. Col. 

Locomotive, first steam 36S i 

first patent for 438 2 

first trip 439 i 

first made in America 444 i 

advertisement. The 450 2 

Log College founded 2315 i 

Logan, biography 316 2 

Logwood cut in Yucatan 191 i 

vessels captured by Spanish 200 i 

tree in Jamaica 229 i 

Long Island, battle of 294 i 

evacuation of. 294 1 

Looms, power, first for limin 441 i 

Lopez, Narciso, first expedition 501 2 

landed in Cuba 504 2 

landed in Cuba again 507 i 

executed 507 2 

Carlos A., biography 589 2 

F. S., biography 694 2 

Lopez Valentinas, battle of 678 i 

Los Angelos, Cal., taken 491 i 

Lottery, money raised for Jamestown by 143 i 

in Baltimore 249 2 

authorized by congress 296 2 

enterprises 454 2 

swindle 827 2 

Louisburg captured 244 2 

captured again 255 i 

Louisiana named 207 i 

La Salle reac^ied 211 i 

settlement at Poverty Point 223 i 

purchase of. 381 2 

admitted to Union 396 2 

seceded 54S i 

Banks' raid 6ci 2 

state election 622 2 

embroglio 746 i 

difficulties 748 i 

rival governments of 778 1 

Lovejoy, murder of 465 i 

Lower California explored no 2 

" Loyal Orange Institution " 441 2 

Ivucca, Pauline, first visit to America. . . 720 2 

Lundy's Lane, battle of 405 i 

Lynde Brook disaster 766 2 

Lynn, Mass., anniversary of 819 1 

" Lyonnais " lost at sea 523 2 

— m: — 

Macdonough's victory 406 i 

Machinery, flour, improved 325 i 

Machines for carding cotton, first 330 i 

Mackenzie River 346 i 

Alexander, trip of 355 2 



INDEX. 



883 



Mackinaw, garrison taken 

Macon surrendered 

Madison, James, Father of the Constitu- 
tion 

biography 

Madison Square Garden accident 

Magazine, first literary 

Magellan, voyage of 

discovered Patagonia 

discovered Magellan's Straits 

named Tierra del Fuego 

named Pacific Ocean 

death and character of 

Magellan's Straits colonized 

first surveyed 

colonized 

Mahogany tree, large 

Mail, the first 

from Boston to Philadelphia 

New York and Philadelphia weekly 

wagon, first, west of Albany 

first overland for California 

train from California wrecked 

fast 

Maine, Mass, towns under 

fought by Massachusetts 

fully secured by Massachusetts .... 

first settlement in Eastern 

admitted to Union 

election troubles 

lessened 

closed 

Maize first seen 

Malvern Hills, battle of. 

Manassas evacuated 

Manassas Junction seized 

Manco Capac shot by Spaniards 

Mangas Colorado, Apache chief. 

Manhattan Savings Bank robbery 

Manitoba created 

Mann, Horace, biography 

Man-stealing, law against, in Mass 

Manufactory, first in America 

Manufactures at Jamestown 

premium for, in Virginia 

fear of American 

opposition to 

American allowed in England 

American, fought by British 

Manufacturing company, first joint stock 

Map of Asia and America 

Maple sugar manufacture 

March, a long 



Page. Col. 

396 2 

651 I 

328 2 

460 2 

835 I 

241 2 

100 2 

101 1 

102 I 
102 I 
102 I 
102 2 
130 I 
197 I 

474 I 

423 2 

199 3 

251 I 
258 2 
353 I 
530 2 
733 2 
845 2 
182 2 
204 I 
228 2 

252 2 
417 2 
830 I 
832 I 
832 2 

82 2 

584 2 
575 I 

585 I 



120 I 
621 I 

805 2 

698 I 

534 2 

177 I 

139 2 

139 2 

191 I 

236 2 

248 2 

353 2 

410 I 

288 2 

121 I 

350 I 

290 I 



March, Gen. Wool's 491 

Margaretta, capture of 283 

Margravate of Azilia 229 

Marietta, Ohio, founded 334 

Marion, Francis, patriotism of 315 

biography 363 

Market in Boston needed 231 

Marquette, early life of. 194 

mission near Lake Superior 197 

discovered Mississippi 200 

reached mouth of Arkansas 201 

second trip down the river 201 

death of 202 

Marquis of Lome, governor of Canada.. 806 

Marriage, a singular 172 

Mars, satellites discovered by Hall 78S 

Marshall, John, biography 456 

Martial law at Jamestown 142 

Martinique captured by English 262 

" Mary " accident on board of 837 

Maryland granted to Lord Baltimore.. . . 164 

colonized 161; 

trouble in 166 

religious rebellion in 173 

Act of toleration 180 

difficulties in 1S3 

a royal province 216 



334 

544 
550 
589 
589 



ratified constitution 

forbade manumission 

refused to secede 

invaded by Lee 

proclamation in by Lee 

Mason and Slidell released 568 

Mason, Lowell, biographv 719 

Masonic lodge, first in America 233 

grand lodge, first 238 

Mass, first in Canada 145 

Mass meeting in Boston 268 

Massachusetts convention 26S 

commended 277 

ratified constitution 334 

Massacre at Deerfield, Mass 225 

Boston 270 

in New Mexico 824 

Massasoit, biography 188 

" Mast-Trees," difficulty over 217 

Matagorda Bay, La Salle's colony de- 
stroyed 214 

Matamoras evacuated 490 

Matches, first friction 448 

Matthew, Father, "Apostle of Temper- 
ance," t;oi 

Matthias Point battle 555 



884 INDEX. 

Page. Col. 

Maurj, Lieut., biography 729 i 

Maximilian I., emperor of Mexico 627 i 

evacuated City of Mexico 665 i 

captured 667 i 

shot 667 2 

Maxwell code, The 365 i 

McClellan superseded 593 i 

McCrea, Jane, shooting of 301 i 

" McFingall," Trumbull's first canto 288 2 

Meade, Gen. G. G., biography 723 i 

Mechanicsville, battle of 583 2 

Mecklenburg Declaration, The 282 2 

Medals bestowed by Queen Victoria. . . . 480 i 

Mediation of Russia refused 400 2 

between Peru and Chili failed 844 i 

Medical college, first 264 2 

Journal, first. 367 2 

School, Eclectic 436 2 

college, female, burned 500 i 

Meeting in the Fields, The great 276 i 

Memorial of planters S17 2 

Memphis, battle of 582 2 

Mendon convention. The 274 i 

Menendez arrived in Florida 127 i 

founded St. Augustine 127 i 

massacred Huguenots 127 i 

Mennonites, arrival of 734 i 

Mentor 855 i 

" Mercedes " lost at sea 518 i 

Merchants' Exchange, first in Canada. .229 2 

Magazine, The 470 2 

non-importation orders 277 i 

Merchantman, largest in world 515 i 

Merrimac and Monitor 573 2 

"Merry Mount " colony 156 2 

Mesa, battle of 492 2 

Meschianza, The 305 2 

Message, revolutionary 546 i 

Messenger, thorough-bred horse 334 2 

Meteor, a brilliant 537 i 

seen in United States 545 i 

Meteors, shower of 452 i 

brilliant 669 2 

Methodist preacher, first in America. . . 266 2 

church organized 327 1 

Metis disaster. The 719 2 

Metlin, Robert, the pedestrian 333 2 

" Metropolis " lost 794 i 

Mexico, Buddhist priest in 73 2 

visited by Grijalva 98 2 

named New Spain 98 2 

subjugated by Cortes 99 2 

liberal signs in 391 2 



Page. Coi. 

Mexico, first great uprising 392 2 

declared independent 403 2 

leader executed 404 i 

constitution, first 407 1 

patriot Morelos executed 410 i 

Revolution, second 419 2 

congress in 422 i 

proclaimed an empire 422 2 

proclaimed a republic 422 2 

and S. A. recognized by U. S 423 i 

constitution, first real 425 i 

president of, overthrown 439 2 

Spanish attempt on 440 2 

again recognized by U. S 441 2 

Bustamente, president of 442 i 

Guerrero executed in 445 2 

Bustamente, president of 464 2 

Canalizo president 483 2 

Herera president 483 2 

vexed with United States. . . .- 485 2 

monarchical effort in 488 i 

declared war on United States 490 2 

internal revolution 492 i 

assessment in 492 2 

changed presidents 521 2 

constitution of 1857 525 i 

monarchical effort 528 i 

troubles in 529 i 

three years' war 529 2 

attempt to subdue Juarez 532 i 

Juarez recognized by U. S. minister 533 2 

church property confiscated 534 i 

Zuloaga proclaimed 543 i 

victory of Juarez 547 2 

interference with 564 2 

Spanish troops in 56S i 

war upon 57S 1 

w-ar begun in 597 2 

an empire 613 2 

and C. A., survey of 622 i 

papal nuncio to 632 i 

French to withdraw from 659 i 

progress of Juarez 659 r 

evacuated by French 666 i 

revolution in 692 2 

revolution in 711 2 

Diaz elected president 780 2 

revolutionist arrested 787 2 

troubles in S28 i 

troubles in 840 2 

election 841 i 

railway banquet in N. Y. for 847 2 

"Mexico" Avrecked on L. I. Sound 464 i 



INDEX. 



885 



Page. Col. 

Miami Exporting company, The 382 2 

Miantonomoh, biography 174 2 

Michigan admitted to Union 464 i 

Middlebury College founded 367 2 

Midway, Ga., founded 250 i 

Military government bill, U. S 665 2 

Military posts, western 366 i 

Militia system, uniform 353 2 

Mill Spring, battle of 569 i 

Mill River disaster 742 2 

Millerism 482 i 

Mills, built at New Amsterdam 157 i 

Mina, Don Xavier 412 2 

Mining charter, first 227 i 

shaft, first in Missouri 369 i 

strike 704 2 

disaster 707 2 

disaster 711 i 

disaster 717 2 

troubles in Illinois 799 i 

disaster, Nova Scotia S43 i 

Ministers, support of, compulsory 185 i 

doubtful means of support 191 i 

Minister, first from France to U. S 308 i 

to England, first 328 i 

■• to U. S. from England first 352 i 

British, no longer recognized 392 2 

Minnesota admitted to Union 529 2 

Minot's Ledge lighthouse 501 2 

carried away 507 i 

second 546 2 

Mint, first on continent 112 2 

set up at Lima 127 i 

first in English colonies 182 2 

*' Minute-Men " 278 i 

Mission to England, Jay's 359 2 

Missionaries, first home 173 i 

early modern 237 2 

Missionary Society, first Protestant .... 176 2 

oldest incorporated 333 2 

Mississippi River discovered 116 2 

River, trip to 183 2 

said to be reached 197 2 

navigation of 380 2 

Mississippi Scheme, John Law's 229 2 

failure of 232 2 

Mississippi admitted to Union 412 2 

seceded 547 2 

Mitchell's raid 577 2 

Grierson'g raid 603 2 

Sherman's march 621 2 

nullified secession 655 2 

Missouri Compromise 417 i 



Page. Col. 

Missouri admitted to Union 420 i 

attempted secession "..... 565 t 

Price evacuated 572 i 

last invasion of 633 2 

" Missouri " burned 722 2 

Missouri River, great height of Soi 2 

Mob, The Boston 246 i 

in New Hampshire 330 2 

in New York 342 2 

" The Doctors' " in New York 342 2 

an election 453 

great anti-slavery, in New York. . . . 453 

stone masons' 454 

canal, in New Orleans 454 

destroyed convent, Boston 454 

" O'Connell Guard " 456 

post-office, in Charleston, S. C 456 2 

academy, in Canaan, N. H 457 i 

anti-slaveiy, in Cincinnati 461 2 

flour 464 I 

in Montreal 465 2 

burned Pennsylvania Hall 467 2 

Philadelphia 476 2 

destroyed Homoepathic Med. Coll. . 509 2 

Erie 515 i 

of women on Erie R. R 516 2 

Mobile, Ala., founded 22S 2 

Mobile Bay, blockade of 631 i 

Mobile evacuated 642 i 

Modoc Massacre 730 i 

Molino del Rey stormed 494 i 

Mollie Maguires 785 2 

hung 809 2 

Money, no right to raise 253 2 

raised by Massachusetts 255 i 

need of for army 296 2 

Montgomery, Gen., joined Arnold 287 2 

biography 288 i 

Montgomery occupied 642 2 

Monitor and Merrimac 573 2 

Monk's Corner, battle of 313 i 

Monmouth , battle of 306 r 

" Monmouth," wreck of 465 i 

Monopoly in Canada 176 2 

Monroe Doctrine 423 2 

Monroe, James, biography 446 i 

Monterey, Cal., captured 490 3 

Monterey Heights captured 491 2 

Monterey captured 491 2 

Montevideo, S. A., founded 23a i 

surrendered 400 i 

captured 412 i 

Montezuma, death of loi 2 



886 



INDEX. 



Montreal named 

founded 

taken by Iroquoi.s 

captured 

" Montreal " lost on St. Lawrence 

Moody and Sankey 

Moravian colony, first 

removed to Pennsylvania 

missions in Labrador 

missionaries slain 

Mora\ians expelled from New York. . . . 
Morey Letter, The 

apology for 

Morgan, Daniel, biography 

William, abducted 

J. H., capture of 

" Morgan Justin," celebrated Iiorse 

Mormon church, first 

Mormons in Kirtland, Ohio 

at Nauvoo, 111 

Smith, the leader, shot 

Young, chosen leader 

in Salt Lake City, Utah 

troubles with 

Mormon proclamation against United 
States troops • 

delegate refused certificate 

Morris, Robert, money for army 

Morrissey, John, death of._^ 

Morse, S. F. B., biography 

Morton, Oliver P., biography 

Morus multicaulis mania 

" Moselle " burned 

" Mother Goose," songs of 

Motley, John L., biography 

Mott, Valentine, death of 

Lucretia, Mrs 

Moultrie, William, biography 

Mount Vernon sold to ladies 

care of 

Mountain Meadows massacre 

Mower, Eureka 

contest 

Mrs. Adams' ball 

Mt. Desert colony 

broken up by English 

Municipal government at N. Amsterdam 

Murder Act, The 

of Helen Jewett 

of Samuel Adams 

of Dr. Parkman 

of Dr. Burdell 

Murfreesboro, battle of 



Page. Col. 

, 112 I 

172 2 

214 2 

2S7 2 

760 2 

239 2 

240 2 
249 I 
252 2 
245 2 
S44 2 
S50 I 
380 I 
436 2 
614 2 
421 2 
443 2 
445 2 
471 I 

483 I 

4S3 2 

495 I 

522 I 

527 2 

850 I 

318 2 

798 2 

714 2 
791 

455 
467 

231 

783 
651 

847 I 

3S6 I 

531 2 

552 2 

779 2 

621 I 

52S 2 

424 2 

144 I 

144 2 

183 I 

275 I 

459 2 

475 I 

501 I 

525 I 

596 I 



Musgrove's Mills, battle of 

Muskets first made in America 

first manufactory 

Mutiny of soldiers 

first in the United States navy 

on the high seas 

Mutual Benefit Society, fiist 

Myer, Gen. Albert J., death of 

]V 

Nail machine, first patent for 

first complete 

American patented in England. . . . 

Nancy's Rock 

Naples, indemnity from 

Narrow gauge cars, first 

Nashville panic 

battle of 

Natchez selected for settlement 

settled 

Nathan, Benjamin, murder of. 

National Road, The 

Natural History, American Museum of. 
Naturalization act, first 

law 

Nautical Almanac, American 

" Nautilus" captured 

Naval battle in W. I 

commission, first. , 

exploit, last of Revolution 

victory in W. I 

battle near Guadeloupe 

battle oft'Peru 

battle oft" Iquique, Peru 

Navigation Acts by England 

Act, new one 

Acts strengthened 

Acts renewed 

Acts strengthened 

Navy, origin of United States 

United States , . . . 

Nebraska admitted to Union 

Negotiations of peace, fruitless 

Negro plot. The 

Nelson's Ferry, battle of 

Neutrality, proclamation ot" 

United States, proclamation of 

proclamation of 

Nevada admitted to Union 

Nevis, W. I., ravaged by French 

hurricane in 

New Amsterdam named 

New Berne, battle of 

' ' New Born ," a religious sect 



Page. Col. 


314 


2 


246 


2 


364 


2 


323 


2 


479 


I 


750 


I 


234 


1 


839 


2 


352 


1 


366 


2 


394 


I 


309 


I 


448 


2 


708 


2 


571 


2 


63s 


I 


223 


2 


229 


I 


699 


2 


388 


2 


692 


I 


195 


I 


347 


I 


.501 


I 


397 


1 


204 


I 


286 


2 


323 


I 


369 


2 


376 


I 


783 


I 


817 


2 


168 


2 


181 


2 


186 


I 


192 


I 


257 


2 


287 


I 


359 


2 


665 


2 


406 


I 


242 


I 


314 


2 


357 


I 


701 


I 


819 


I 


633 


2 


226 


2 


227 


I 


156 


2 


575 


2 


231 


2 



INDEX 



887 



Page. Col. 

New Brunswick, separated 327 2 

New England named 144 2 

population of. 171 i 

coast raided 404 2 

"New England Courant," Franklin's.. . 233 i 

New France, population of. 213 2 

New Grenada evacuated by Spanish. . . . 413 i 

. organized 447 2 

adopted constitution 451 i 

revolution in 810 2 

New Hampshire named 164 i 

a royal province 204 2 

grants 264 2 

ratified constitution 335 i 

New Haven colony 169 i 

organized 1 70 i 

" New Haven Blue Laws " 431 i 

New Jersey named 192 2 

evacuation of 300 2 

ratified constitution 333 i 

New London burned by Arnold 319 i 

New Madrid captured 575 i 

New Mexico explored 130 i 

conspiracy in 492 2 

broken up 492 2 

war in 572 i 

outlaws in 84S 2 

New Netherland Company chartered. . . 145 2 
New Netherland granted to Duke of 

York 192 2 

surrendered to England 192 2 

New Orleans, site for, selected 230 i 

battle of 409 1 

expedition to 572 i 

captured , 578 2 

New Shetland Islands discovered 134 i 

New Spain made a Vice-royalty 112 i 

New York, first settlement at . . 144 2 

surrendered by Dutch 192 2 

retaken by Dutch 201 i 

population of. 253 i 

New York city incorporated 193 2 

evacuated by Americans 294 2 

evacuated by English 324 2 

New York ratified constitution 342 i 

New York Tribune started 475 i 

Newark, Canada, burned 403 2 

Newfoundland Banks, codfish on 86 2 

visited b}^ fishermen 92 i 

expedition to 113 i 

colonized unsuccessfully 142 i 

settled by Lord Baltimore 153 i 

rejected union 691 i 



Newport-Newce rr2 i 

Newport, R. I., founded 170 2 

battle near 308 2 

" News Placard " in Boston, first 214 2 

Newspaper, first in America 216 i 

first permanent one 226 i 

second in English colonies 232 i 

first in Pennsylvania 232 i 

James Franklin's 233 i 

first in New York 234 2 

first in Maryland 235 i 

first in present English colonies 237 i 

first in Carolina 237 i 

first in Rhode Island 237 i 

first in Virginia 239 2 

first in Havana , 263 2 

first daily -727 2 

first north of Ohio 358 2 

first in Newfoundland 390 2 

first in Spanish America' 400 i 

first agricultural 413 2 

first anti-slavery 420 2 

pioneer penny 451 2 

first in Paraguay 485 2 

Newsboys, first 4151 2 

Nez Perces, surrender of. 790 2 

" Niagara " lost 656 i 

Niagara Falls, first mentioned 1 79 i 

men carried over 715 j 

two men swept over 786 i 

Nicaragua explored by Avila 103 i 

Nicholson, Samuel, death of 671 i 

Nicola, Col., proposition to Washington 320 2 

Ninety-six, siege raised 319 i 

Nino, Pedro Alonzo, voyage of. 87 2 

Nitro-glycerine explosion 723 2 

Nombre de Dios founded 95 \ 

broken up 9^ 2 

Non-importation agreements, first 266 i 

Norfolk, Va., burned 289 i 

invaded 401 2 

captured i^So 2 

Norridgewock, Me., destroyed by Eng- 
lish 234 I 

North African difficulties 3S2 i 

North American Act, British 666 i 

North Carolina settled iSi i 

ratified constitution 345 2 

seceded riji 2 

nullified secessions 655 2 

North, Lord, plan of. 305 2 

Northmen first in Iceland 74 1 

first in Vinland 7^ i 



INDEX. 



Northmen, first fight of, with Indians. . 

last colony of, in Vinland 

search for, in Greenland 

second search for, in Greenland. . . . 
Northwest passage sought for 

sought by Baffin 

Danish expedition 

sought 

Northwest Company of Canada 

Northwest Territory, first governor of. . 

Northwestern boundary 

Nott Eliphalett, biography 

Nottingham, wreck of the 

Nova Scotia given to Sir W. Alexander 

occupied by French 

battle in 

taken by English 

illegal government of 

Nullification proposed 

in South Carolina 

crushed 

Nunez de Vela, viceroy of Peru 

failure of 

resisted Gonzalo Pizarro 

defeated and slain 

Nursery, first in America 

O 

Oak Grove, battle of 

Obelisk in New York 

" Ocean " burned at Boston 

Occom, Samson, Indian preacher 

O'Connell celebration in Canada 

Odd Fellows, lodge of 

lodge of 

first permanent lodge 

Offense first at Plymouth 

Office holding 

Officers, changes in army 

Ogdensburg, capture of 

Oglethorpe's, James, project 

returned to England 

Ohio admitted to Union 

Ohio Land Companj', The 

Oil fever 

Oil boats, disasters to 

Oil, American in Syria 

Oil burned at Titusville 

Oklahoma raiders 

" Old Ironsides " 

" Old Ship," the oldest church in N. E. 

"Old South Church " organized 

edifice built , 

Old Town Creek, battle of 



Page. Col. 

75 I 

75 2 

130 I 

137 I 

144 2 

145 2 
14S 2 
506 2 

325 I 

332 2 

490 2 

658 I 

227 2 

153 2 

248 I 

24S I 

251 I 

779 I 

371 I 

449 2 

450 I 
119 I 
119 I 

119 2 

120 2 
171 t 

5S3 2 

852 2 

518 2 

355 

757 

3S8 

411 

415 

152 

378 

558 

400 

235 
243 
380 

247 
538 
597 
664 
821 
849 
409 
206 
197 
236 
638 2 



Ole Bull visited United States 

Oleomargarine 

Olustee, battle of 

Omnibus, first 

Omnibus bill, Clay's 

" Oneida " destroyed 

Oneida community founded 

reformed 

Opechancanaugh, biography 

Orange difficulties at Montreal 

mob at Ottawa 

"Ordinance of 1787," Tiie 

Ordination by laymen 

" Oregon," explosion of 

Oregon admitted to Union 

Organ, an improved 

Boston Music Hall 

Orinoco River, great rise of 

Oriskany, battle of. 

Orono, Indian chief died 

Ortiz Juan, captivity of 

Osceola, biography 

Ostend Manifesto 

Oswego, battle of. 

capture of 

Ottawa, capital of Canada 

Otumba, battle of 

Ouray, chief, death of. 

Ovando became governor of America. . 

opposed increase of negro slaves. . . 

superseded by Don Diego Columbus 

Owenism 

Owen, Robert Dale, biography 

P 

Pacer, fastest time of a 

Pacific Ocean discovered 

first vessel on 

named 

" Pacific " lost at sea 

" Pacific " wrecked 

Pacific railroad opened 

Pacific Mail investigation 

" Pajaro " burned 

Palmarese Nation 

exterminated 

Palmer artificial leg 

Palmetto Ranche, last battle of the war. 

Palo Alto, battle of 

Pamlico Sound, battle of 

Panama founded 

sacked by Morgan 

convention 

canal discussion in U. S. congress. . 



Page. Cbl. 
488 I 
I 



712 

622 I 

445 I 

505 I 

693 I 

495 I 

821 2 

175 
801 

803 
332 
171 
506 

533 

414 I 

618 I 

87 I 

301 2 

379 2 

115 I 

466 2 

518 2 

253 I 

404 2 

529 I 

102 I 

840 I 

89 I 

90 2 

95 I 

429 2 

785 2 

820 I 



97 


2 


102 




522 




760 




684 




749 




824 




184 




222 




492 




652 




490 




563 




100 




199 




431 





INDEX. 



889 



Page. Col. 

Panic, financial in United States 408 i 

great 416 2 

western 421 2 

of '37- 464 2 

in California 519 r 

ofiS57 527 I 

«f'73 734 2 

of savings banks 798 i 

in Montreal 820 i 

in New York 854 2 

Paoli massacre 302 i 

Papal Bull, first for America S3 i 

Paper hangings first sold 240 i 

made in America 263 2 

Paper mill, first in America 216 i 

in Mass 229 2 

Paper monej', first 216 i 

first in Pennsylvania 233 2 

first in Maryland 238 2 

Paper collars, first 515 2 

Paragua}', independence of 396 i 

elected two consuls 476 i 

Lopez dictator 484 2 

president 485 2 

acknowledged independent 511 2 

recognized 516 i 

River opened to all 532 i 

reverses of army 656 i 

war against, ended 678 i 

rebellion in 748 i 

change of president S46 i 

Parker, Theodore, biograph}' 543 2 

Parliament voted for U.S. independence 321 i 

first in Canada 669 2 

Parnell and Dillon 831 i 

Parnell, farewell reception 833 2 

Parrott gun 547 i 

Parrott, Robert P., death of. 793 1 

Parton, Mrs., death of 720 2 

Patagonia discovered lor i 

colony attempted in 657 2 

•ceded to Argentine Republic S19 i 

Patent first held by Pilgrims 159 i 

Patent for working mines iSi i 

Patent right law, first 347 i 

new 462 I 

*' Pat Rogers " burned 745 2 

Patrons of Husbandry 671 i 

Patroons in New Netherland 157 2 

Paulus Hook, raid on 311 i 

Pavon, battle of, in S. A 562 2 

Paxton Boys at Philadelphia 264 i 

Pay department in civil war 653 i 



Page. Col. 

Pea Ridge, battle of 572 2 

Peabod}-, George, Baltimore, gift of . . . . 525 2 

fund for South 665 i 

biography 689 2 

Peace Council at Quebec 176 2 

Peace of Paris, The 262 2 

between Buenos Ayres and Monte- 
video 474 I 

congress 548 2 

attempts 630 i 

conference 638 i 

Jubilee, first 685 2 

Jubilee, second .... 717 i 

" Peacock " captured " Epervier " 404 2 

Pear tree, a famous 455 i 

Pegram's surrender. . 557 2 

Peirce, Prof., in charge coast survey.. . . 665 2 

biography 842 2 

Pemaquid taken by French 220 2 

Pemberton Mill, fall of 541 2 

Penalty for refusing ofiice 164 i 

Penikese Island 731 i 

Penn, William, arrived in America 207 2 

treaty of, with Indians 207 2 

deprived of rights 217 i 

reinstated 220 i 

biography 230 2 

Penn treaty tree blown down 393 2 

Pennsylvania granted William Penn . . . 206 i 

discontent of 253 2 

revolt 317 2 

ratified constitution 333 i 

Lee's second invasion 608 2 

" Pennsylvania " wrecked 529 2 

Pensacola, Florida, fort at 221 i 

taken by Spanish 31S 2 

captured 407 2 

Pension act, first 294 i 

Pequods, war with 167 2 

exterminated 168 i 

Percussion locks, first 479 2 

Perote occupied 493 2 

Perpetual motion 400 i 

Perry's victory on Lake Erie 402 i 

Perry, Com., in W. I. waters. 416 2 

in Japan 515 i 

captured Savannah 553 i 

Peru, civil war in 109 i 

made a viceroyalty 118 2 

independence gained 413 2 

declared independent 420 i 

new constitution adopted 438 2 

annexed to Bolivia 464 I 



890 



INDEX. 



Page. Col. 

Peru, civil war in 4^0 2 

Castilla, president of. 489 2 

trouble with Ecuador 513 2 

Pres. Echenique overthrown 521 2 

revolution in 671 i 

adopted constitution 671 i 

revolution attempted 707 2 

progress of. 738 1 

prostrate 827 2 

foreign interference 841 i 

progress of war in 845 2 

Peshtigo burned 709 i 

Pestilence among Indians in N. England 146 i 

Petersburg, attack on 62S i 

mine explosion 630 2 

captured 640 2 

Petition, first, to congress 344 2 

fight over right of 478 2 

to have Canada annexed to the U. S. 505 2 

Petrel, capture of. 559 i 

Petroleum found in Ohio 419 2 

in Pennsylvania 489 i 

" Pewabic " lost 655 2 

" Phi Beta Kappa " founded 288 2 

Philadelphia settled 207 i 

entered by Howe 302 i 

evacuated 306 i 

Philippi, battle of 553 i 

Phips, Gov., death of 220 2 

" Phoenix " wrecked 494 1 

Phonograph, The 808 1 

" Phosphate Mining Company " first. . . 671 2 

Pianoforte, first made in America 288 2 

great American 328 2 

ati improved 377 2 

manufacture of 382 i 

Pichincha, eruption of 127 2 

last eruption of 188 i 

Pierce, Franklin, biography 689 i 

Pig Point, battle of 554 i 

Pike's Peak fever 533 2 

first ascended by ladies 547 i 

Piketon, battle of 566 2 

Pilgrims, The 149 2 

celebrated compact of. 150 2 

landed in New England 151 2 

visited by first Indian 152 i 

first offence at 152 i 

league with Indians 152 i 

first wedding at 152 2 

first duel at 152 2 

first " Thanksgiving " at it;3 2 

first " Fast Day "at 154 2 



Page. Col. 

Pilgrims, exported clapboards 154 2 

division of land at 155 2 

dissension at 155 2 

first great fire at 156 i 

purchased their colony 157 i 

Pine Bluff, Ark., fight at 742 i 

Pine-log cannon 318 i 

Pins first made by machinery 425 2 

Pinzon, Martin Alonzo, death of S3 i 

Pirates, large numbers of 221 3 

execution of, in Boston 234 2 

West India, broken up 424 i 

Pisagua, storming of 826 2 

Pitcher, Mollie, bravery of 306 2 

Pittsburg Landing, battle of 576 i 

Pittsburg flood 745 i 

Pizarro, Francisco, early life of. 105 2 

left Panama for Peru J05 2 

explored the coast 106 2 

sailed to the south ... 107 i 

persistence of 107 2 

went to Spain loS i 

granted right to Peru 108 2 

sailed from Spain 108 2 

three brothers of 108 2 

sailed from Panama 109 i 

founded San Miguel 109 2 

marched to Caxamalca 109 2 

seized Atahuallpa 109 2 

visited Cuzco no 2 

death and character of 116 2 

Pizarro, Juan, death of 112 2 

Pizarro, Hernando, visited Spain iii i 

finally left Peru 114 i 

Pizarro, Gonzalo, entered Lima 119 2 

defeated Nunez 120 2 

power of, over Peru 120 2 

defeated and slain 122 2 

Plague, precautions against 811 i 

Plan of Ayutla 519 i 

Planing machine, first 439 i 

Plattsburg, capture of. 401 2 

Play, first American 330 2 

Play-house in New York 238 2 

Plenary council, first 509 2 

Pleuro-pneumonia among cattle 481 2 

Plow, Jefferson's, mold board for 359 i 

cast iron 368 i 

Jethro Wood's 416 2 

first steam 453 i 

Daniel Webster's great 463 i 

Plymouth company 149 i 

dissolved 166 i 



INDEX. 



891 



Plymouth Rock, removal of. 
Pocahontas entrapped 

baptized and married. . . . 

went to England 

biography 



Pocket veto 

Polaris survivors 

Political conflict in New York 

change 

strife in Boston 

Polk, James K., biography 

Poll-tax, first in America 

"Polo," game of, introduced 

Polygamy decided illegal 

Pomological Society, American 

Ponca troubles 

decision. Judge Dundy's 

committee 

report, message on 

Pontiac's war 

biography 

Pony express established 

Popocatapetl ascended by Spaniards 

Port of Boston 

Port Bill, The Boston, passed 

went into effect 

Port Gibson, battle of . 

Port Hudson, Banks before 

surrendered 

Port Republic, battle of 

Port Royal, S. C, settled 

expedition against 

broken up 

Port Royal, Acadia, retaken by French, 
Port Royal, Jamaica, overwhelined . . . . 

Portland, Me., burned 

Portsmouth, N. H., fishing village 

Porto Rico subjugated 

colonized 

Post offices, first government 

in America 

established by congress 

Postage bill, reformed 

Postal card from Iceland 

rates 

service of U. S. in 1790 

Postmaster-general's trip 

Postmaster-general in cabinet 

Potato Beetle, Colorado 

Potomac, army of, organized 

Potomac, army of the 

Potosi, silver mines discovered 

highest city on the globe 



Paae Col. 

278 2 

144 I 

144 1 

146 I 

146 2 

444 1 

737 2 

246 2 

395 2 

3S8 2 

500 2 

177 2 

776 2 

809 2 

498 2 

813 2 

816 I 

848 2 

853 I 

262 2 

269 2 

543 I 

103 2 

229 2 

274 2 

^75 ^ 

604 I 

603 I 

612 2 

5S3 I 

207 I 

565 I 

211 2 

216 2 

234 I 

661 2 

155 I 

95 I 

95 ^ 

227 2 

249 2 

2S6 2 

507 I 

S30 2 

35^"^ I 

351 I 

264 I 

440 2 

538 I 

559 2 

585 I 

120 I 

120 2 



Powder mill in Massachusetts 171 

houses in New England 173 

alarm 276 

seizure of 278 

seizure at Williamsburg 2S2 

vessel captured 290 

Powell's Colorado expedition 685 

Powers, Hiram, biography 733 

Powhatan, biography 147 

" Powhatan " lost at sea 517 

Prairie Grove, battle of 594 

Prehistoric America 35 

see America, Prehistoric 

Prentice, George D., biography 693 

Presbytery, first in America 226 

Presbyterian church, first in America . . 215 

in New England 230 

first schism in the 241 

Prescott, Gen., captured 300 

W. H., biography 532 

Presents from Imaum of Muscat 474 

" President " took " Highflyer " 402 

' ' President " lost 474 

President, continental congress, first. . . . 277 

second 278 

third 282 

fourth 282 

fifth 304 

sixth 30S 

seventh 312 

eighth 318 

ninth 320 

tenth 322 

eleventh 324 

twelfth 326 

thirteenth 328 

fourteenth 332 

fifteenth 334 

Presidential campaign, first 343 

second 356 

third 366 

fourth 377 

fifth 385 

sixth 391 

seventh 399 

eighth 411 

ninth 419 

tenth 425 

eleventh 439 

twelfth 450 

thirteenth 463 

fourteenth 473 

fifteenth 484 



892 



INDEX. 



Presidential campaign, sixteenth 

seventeenth 

eighteenth 

nineteenth 

twentietli 

tvventv-first 

twenty-second 

twenty-third 

twenty-fourth 

Presidential message, first written 

Prestonburg, battle of. .... 

Priestly celebration 

" Primacy of honor." 

Prince Edward's Island named 

joined Dominion 

Prince of Wales in America 

Princeton College founded 

Princeton, battle of. 

Pring, Martin, voyage to New England. 
Printing, first on continent 

first in English colonies 

press suppressed in Virginia 

in Pennsylvania 

house, first in New York 

in Louisiana, first 

press, first in Connecticut 

press, German in Philadelphia 

first in Texas 

press, first in Canada 

press, first west of the Alleghanies. 

press, first west of Mississippi 

press, first in Mississippi 

first in Missouri 

first in Michigan 

press, the Columbian 

press, first cylinder 

press, Bullock's web 

Prison ship victims 

Prisoners, first exchange of 

correspondence about 

released 

exchange of 

Privateers, confederate 

Prize-fight, Morrissey and Heenan 

Proclamation, first for troops. 

blockade 

second call for troops 

by Gen. Sanford 

in Missouri 

Halleck's in Missouri 

confiscation 

emancipation 

of reward 



Pag:e. Col. 

499 I 

514 I 

523 2 

546 I 

634 I 

677 2 

722 2 

774 2 

846 I 

379 2 

56S 2 

747 2 

53S 2 

375 2 

737 2 

545 2 

246 I 

298 I 
136 I 
112 I 
170 I 
206 I 
212 2 
219 2 
lid I 
227 I 
252 2 
2^8 2 
265 I 
330 2 

391 I 

392 2 
394 I 
394 I 
413 I 
445 I 
567 2 
.391 I 
282 2 

299 I 
^'55 2 

586 I 
572 2 
531 I 
550 I 
550 1 
550 2 
552 I 
560 I 
566 2 

587 I 
599 2 
651 2 



Page. Col, 

Proclamation, "good order " 668 i 

amnesty 668 i 

" Prohibition of Peru " 439 2 

Propeller, first 366 2 

improved 469 i 

Protectionists, national convention of. . . 438 i 

Providence, R. I., founded 167 2 

Provincial Assembly, The Virginia 275 2 

Provisions sent to Ireland 493 2 

for English operatives 602 i 

Puebla taken by Diaz 666 2 

Pueblo de los Angelos occupied 493 2 

Pullman cars first made 635 2 

Pulpit, a free 247 2 

Purcell, Archbishop, failure of 807 2 

gave up property 811 i 

Puritans, founded Salem 157 i 

founded Charlestown 158 i 

organized a church 158 2 

became self-governing 158 2 

founded Boston, etc 159 i 

Putnam's escape . 310 2 

biography 348 2 

Q 

Quadrant, The reflecting, invented 236 2 

Quakers, first in America 184 2 

several in Boston 185 i 

increase of , 185 2 

death threatened to in Mass. 186 i 

two hung in Boston 186 i 

Quaker, one hung in Boston 1S6 2 

last execution 1S8 2 

persecution ended in N. Netherland 192 i 

governor of Carolina 220 2 

success of. 221 I 

Quallah Batoo destroyed 449 i 

Quarantine station destroyed 530 2 

bill passed in United States S16 i 

Quebec founded 139 2 

taken by English 158 i 

returned to French 164 i 

captured by Wolfe 256 2 

attempt to recapture, by French. . . . 257 2 

assault on, by Arnold 288 i 

siege of, raised ..... 290 2 

Journal founded 478 2 

Queen Anne's war 225 i 

city of the West 342 2 

Emma visited United States 663 i 

of the Creeks, The 247 2 

Queenstown Heights, battle of 398 i 

Quicksilver, discovered in Peru 126 2 

Santa Barbara mines worked 127 1 



INDEX 



893 



Page. Col. 

Quicksilver mines in California 492 2 

Quito, S. A., captured jii i 

new city founded iii 2 

Quotas, state, in Revolution 312 2 

ii 

Radical convention 626 2 

Raft voyage across Atlantic 671 2 

Rahway River, battle of 314 i 

Railroad improved 421 2 

charter, first in America 430 2 

in America, first 438 i 

B. and O. corner-stone 43S 2 

first in Spanish-speaking provinces. 466 i 

land grant, first U. S 501 i 

first in South America. 506 3 

first in Brazil 518 i 

Panama, first train 519 i 

first narrow gauge 703 2 

speed, trial of. 715 2 

American and Mexican S41 2 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, patent of 130 2 

first expedition of 130 2 

found smoking by servant 131 2 

expedition to South America 133 2 

death of 148 i 

Raleigh, Va., founded 132 2 

Ralston, William C, biography' 758 i 

Rambouillet Decree, Napoleon's 392 2 

"Randolph" and "Yarmouth" naval ac'n 305 2 

Rapids in St. Lawrence first passed. . . . 142 2 

first steam trip down 479 2 

Rappahannock, movements on 587 2 

army on 601 2 

Rarey, the horse-tamer 568 i 

Rations of, U. S. army 560 i 

Raymond, Henry J., biography 6S5 2 

Reading R. R. Co., failure of. S36 i 

Reaper, first 382 2 

first public trial of 451 2 

McCormick's 453 2 

American victory 521 2 

Rebellion losses' bill in Canada 499 2 

Recollets driven out of Canada 158 2 

allowed in Canada 197 i 

Reconstruction committee 656 2 

Red Cloud report 760 i 

Red Ribbon, first ever worn 754 i 

Red River Settlement 396 i 

broken up 411 2 

Red River, Banks' march to 603 i 

expedition 621 2 

expedition 623 2 

Reformed Dutch Church, the first. 157 i 



Page. Col. 

Reform school, first 429 2 

Reformed Episcopal Church organized. 738 i 

Reform Club, first, Reynolds 745 2 

Regatta, first regular 487 2 

college 718 2 

association, college 529 2 

Regicides in America 186 2 

sought for 188 1 

Regulators in North Carolina 272 i 

Representative governm't in N. England 165 2 

in Maryland 165 2 

in Plymouth 170 2 

restored to Virginia 172 2 

in New Haven 174 i 

Representative assembly in N. Y., first. 210 i 

Republican manifesto in Mexico 491 i 

party, birth of. 516 2 

Repudiation denounced in U.S. congress 678 i 

Resaca de la Palma, battle of 490 i 

" Resolute " brought back 521 i 

Responsive chord, The 603 2 

Resumption bill 747 i 

Resumption accomplished S08 2 

Revenue bill, first 345 i 

Revere R. R. accident 708 2 

Review, grand, at Washington 652 2 

Revival of 1857 527 2 

Revolution, eflbrt for, in S. A 365 i 

Miranda's plan for 369 2 

Miranda's plan for 3S9 i 

in Venezuela 392 2 

in Ecuador 392 2 

in Argentine Republic 393 2 

in Chili 393 2 

movements in S. A 509 2 

Revolving firearms, Colt's 458 i 

Revolving turret model 475 2 

Rhode Island colony 169 i 

Rhode Island occupied by British 296 i 

evacuated 308 2 

ratified constitution 349 2 

Rice, first in New World 220 i 

Rich Mountain, battle of 556 2 

Richardson, A. D., shot 690 2 

Richelieu, monopoly of New France. .. 157 i 

Richmond, Blair's visit to 636 i 

fall of 640 2 

Lincoln's visit to 641 i 

Rifle, breech loading 395 2 

Remington, first 411 2 

Spencer repeating 547 i 

match, American victory 754 i 

match, American victory 773 i 



894 



INDEX. 



Pi^e. Col. 

Rifle match, American victory 789 2 

match, American victory 837 i 

Rights, declaration of, by congress 277 2 

Rio de la Plata discovered 97 i 

Rio Janeiro discovered 97 i 

Rio de Janeiro Ibunded ■ 127 2 

capital of Brazil 264 i 

Rio San Gabriel, battle of 492 2 

Riot, stamp in Boston 266 i 

Astor Place Opera House 500 i 

in Hoboken, N. J 507 i 

Gavazzi, in Canada 514 2 

in Boston 51S i 

in Louisville, Ky 519 i 

on Panama Railroad 522 2 

in Baltimore 523 2 

"Dead Rabbit.." 527 i 

in New Orleans 662 2 

in Jamaica 663 2 

at Camilla, Georgia 677 i 

at New Orleans 677 i 

in Meridian, Miss 706 2 

in New York 70S i 

in California 712 2 

work in Montreal 762 2 

in Montreal 786 i 

in Chili 805 2 

in Chicago 819 i 

in Quebec 820 2 

in Denver 845 i 

River Raisin massacre 400 i 

Roanoke colony 131 i 

abandoned 131 2 

reestablished 132 i 

destroyed 132 2 

Roanoke Island, expedition to 570 i 

Roberval, Lord, in Canada 118 2 

Rock salt, bed of, found 597 1 

Rocky Mount, battle of 31^ i 

Rocky Mountains explored 476 2 

explored again 480 2 

Rodman gun, great 537 2 

greater one 62 1 i 

Rogerenes in Connecticut 206 i 

Roman Catholics disfranchised 206 i 

Roman Catholic hierarchy, first 330 i 

bishop, first 346 i 

Romney seizure, The 267 2 

Romney Bridge, battle of 555 i 

Rope-making, first in America 153 i 

Ross, Charley, abduction of 743 2 

Rotation in office 440 2 

Rowing Association, National College. 704 i 



Page. Col. 

Royal audience of New Spain established 107 i 

set over Central America 118 2 

Royal province, first in America 155 2 

Royal commissioners in Mass 193 i 

discomfited 193 2 

in Mass 204 i 

Royalists in North Carolina 289 2 

Rubber, first, Goodyear, patent 469 2 

Rugby, Ten n 842 2 

Russia, agreement with United States. . 426 2 

Russian- American Fur company 375 i 

minister called home 711 2 

fleet in United States 783 i 

Rutgers College founded 271 i 

S 

Sabin Cross Roads, battle of 623 2 

Sable Island, colonized unsuccessfulh . . 98 2 

colony of convicts on 133 2 

Sackett's Harbor attacked 401 i 

Saco Bay visited by Richard Vines 146 i 

Sacramento, battle of 493 i 

Safe, improved 437 2 

raised from a wreck 523 i 

Sagg Harbor i-aid 299 2 

Salary grab 729 2 

Salem founded 157 i 

Salmon Falls, N. H., destroyed 214 2 

Salt springs at Syracuse discovered 183 2 

in Illinois 232 2 

Salt works at Syracuse 333 2 

Saltillo occupied 492 i 

battle of. 493 I 

Salvation army 833 2 

Salzburgers in Georgia 238 2 

Samana Bay 727 2 

San Cristobal, afterward Havana, f'nded 97 i 

San Domingo, city, founded in Hayti.. . 86 i 

San Domingo, civil war in ... 352 2 

declared independent 379 1 

taken by English 382 i 

republic in 383 i 

independence ot". 664 i 

annexation 698 2 

commission bill 7^4 2 

re%olutionists 826 2 

new governinent 841 2 

San Francisco occupied 490 2 

" San Francisco " steamer foundered. . . 516 i 

San Jacinto, battle of 459 2 

San Juan del Norte seized 494 2 

recaptured 495 i 

San Juan de Ullva surrendered 425 i 

bombarded 518 i 



INDEX. 



89? 



Page. Col. 

San Juan de UUva boundary award 722 i 

San Pasqual, battle of 492 i 

San Salvador founded 108 2 

annexed to United States 422 2 

a republic 525 i 

San Sebastian founded 95 i 

broken up 95 2 

Sandemanians, The 265 i 

Saugav, most active volcano in the 

world 235 2 

Sanitary commission 653 2 

end of 658 2 

Santa Anna, president of Mexico 451 2 

massacre by 459 2 

dictator 476 i 

recalled 516 i 

banished '. 667 2 

biography 770 2 

Santa Fe de Bogota, S. A., founded 114 i 

New Mexico, founded 130 2 

expedition 4S0 i 

taken 491 i 

Santa Maria founded 95 2 

Santa Rosa, battle of 701 i 

Santee River, battle on 313 i 

Santiago, C. A., founded 105 1 

Chili founded 116 2 

" Saranac " lost 754 i 

Saratoga, first white man at 267 i 

first hut at 274 i 

first frame house at 327 i 

Savage Station, battle of 584 1 

Savannah, Ga., seized 308 2 

siege of 312 1 

evacuated 321 2 

Savov Confession adopted 206 i 

Sawing machine, rotary 419 2 

Savbrook, Conn., founded 166 2 

Saybrook Platform 227 i 

Scales, Fairbanks' 446 i 

Schenck's financial bill in congress 683 i 

Schenectady, N. Y., destroyed 214 2 

" Schiller," loss of 751 i 

School in Pennsylvania, first 210 i 

first public, in Philadelphia 214 2 

grammar, free, in New York 225 i 

first girl's 247 2 

first scientific 364 2 

for deaf mutes 395 2 

first normal 470 i 

Naval , opened 488 i 

proclamation. Catholic 831 2 

Schools in Quebec 167 2 



P»se. Col. 

Schools, free, in New England 179 2 

free in New England 193 2 

and libraries in Marj-land 220 i 

in New York 364 2 

Schoolmaster at New Amsterdam 164 2 

School money, Catholics ask for 473 2 

teachers, training of 34^ i 

Schoolcraft, Henry R., biography 634 2 

Schooners taken by British 401 i 

Schwenckfelders in Pennsylvania 239 i 

Scotch colony in Georgia 239 2 

Scott, Gen., in Mexico 492 2 

biography 659 2 

" Scourge of the Ocean " 445 2 

Sculling-match at Montreal . 805 i 

race 815 2 

Scythes, first made in America 178 i 

first inodern 184 i 

Sea serpent announced 509 i 

Seal, U. S., projected 293 2 

adopted 321 i 

Search, right of 538 2 

" Seawanhaka," burning of 837 i 

Secretary of the marine, first 320 1 

Sedition law, expired 379 2 

Selectmen, first election of. 164 2 

Selkirk, Alexander 226 2 

Selma captured 641 2 

Seminary at Quebec 191 2 

Seminole war, first 412 2 

Indians, massacre by 457 2 

Indians, battle with 463 i 

Indians defeated 465 2 

war ended 479 i 

Semmes, Raphael, Prof, of moral phi- 
losophy 663 2 

Senator, first colored, U. S 693 i 

Seneca Indians, war with, in Virginia. . 202 i 

Sentence for Pittsburg rioters 794 i 

Sermon, first printed, American 153 2 

Seven Cities, The 115 2 

Seward, attempt to assassinate 643 2 

biography 720 2 

Sewell's Point conflict 551 i 

Sewing machine, first 4i:;5 i 

first patented 476 2 

first practical 491 i 

war 523 2 

patents expired 782 i 

Sewing women 316 i 

Shadrach case. The 506 2 

Shakers 276 i 

Shay's Rebellion 330 2 



896 



/jYDEX. 



I'age. Col. 

Sheep and Swine at New Amsterdam. . 156 i 

Sheep imported into Massachusetts, .... 164 2 

first Spanish merinoes 359 2 

merinoes imported 381 1 

Sheep-shearing, first, Arlington 3S1 i 

Livingston's 394 i 

" Shenandoali," the privateer 655 i 

Sheridan's raid toward Richmond 625 i 

campaign 633 i 

ride 633 2 

Sherman, Roger, biography 357 2 

Sherman's march to the sea 634 1 

march througli the Carolinas 63S 1 

attempted agreement • . 650 i 

Sherman made iieut. -general 662 i 

made general 682 2 

Shiloh, battle of 576 i 

Ship canal across Isthmus, first proposed 108 i 

across Central America 124 2 

congress, Paris 8i6 i 

resolution concerning S19 1 

Ship-of-the-line, U. S., first 411 i 

Shoddy 56S i 

Shoe-peg invented 414 i 

Shot, last in war of 181 2 409 2 

Siamese twins, death of 738 2 

Silk culture in Virginia 155 2 

and indigo in Louisiana 230 i 

exported to England 239 i 

in New England. 246 1 

goods, first, of domestic j)roduction. 356 i 

first made by machinery 393 2 

mania 44 1 i 

Association of America formed .... 727 i 

industries revived 799 2 

Silver mines in Mexico 109 i 

of Potosi discovered 1 20 1 

in Charnacillo found 451 i 

Silver set, finest ever made in U. S 793 2 

Silver Bill passed 795 i 

Sims case, The 507 i 

Sioux war 602 2 

Indians surrendered 839 2 

Sirius and Great Western, first line 

steamers 467 i 

" Sisters of Charity " 392 i 

Sitting Bull in U. S 818 2 

Six Nations, The 228 2 

Skating, trial of 737 2 

Slavery, negro, first sanction'd in America 88 2 

increased rapidly 90 2 

restricted by royal decree 92 2 

Indian approved 96 2 



Page. Col. 

Slavery, first in New Netherland 156 2 

lawful in Connecticut 180 2 

prohibited in Rhode Island 182 2 

allowed in New Amsterdam 183 i 

defined in Maryland 192 i 

defined in Virginia 197 2 

in Canada 213 2 

first remonstrance against 213 2 

among Quakers 221 i 

resisted at Boston 224 2 

in Georgia 237 2 

defined in S. C 241 i 

defined in Georgia 271 i 

among Quakers 27S 2 

Penn. Soc. for abolition of. 281 i 

action of Friends against 297 i 

exlcuded from N. H 324 2 

abolished in Rhode Island 326 2 

in Connecticut 327 i 

abolition of, advised 342 2 

petition for, abolition of 346 2 

Indian 366 2 

petition tor, in Indiana 380 2 



gradual abolition in New Jersey. 



^,8.1 



abolished in Canada 383 i 

abolished in Chili 395 i 

abolished in Buenos Ayres 400 i 

abolished in New York 413 1 

abolished in Connecticut 413 2 

cessation of, in New York 438 i 

abolished in Mexico 440 2 

abolition of, in Penn 47S 2 

abolished in French West Indies. . . 499 i 

abolished in New Grenada 509 2 

address to women of America, on.. . 513 2 

prohibited in U. S. territories 587 i 

prohibited in District of Columbia. . 587 i 

act for Cuba 667 2 

law against, in Cuba 698 2 

abolished in Brazil 709 i 

Slaves, Indian, sent to Spain 84 i 

five hundred sent 85 i 

fifty carried 86 i 

seized in New Hampshire 203 2 

in Carolina 206 i 

Slaves, negro, fifty sent to Hayti 95 2 

large numbers sent from Guinea. . . 95 2 

great increase under Charles V. . . . 97 i 

landed at Jamestown 149 1 

first in New England 169 2 

lawsuit over 177 i 

runaway, could be killed 199 2 

in Massachusetts 229 i 



INDEX. 



897 



Page. Col. 

Slaves in Mississippi Valley 231 2 

great numbers in South Carolina... 234 2 

prohibitory duty on 262 i 

right to hold, denied in Mass 271 i 

emancipation in Penn 313 i 

importation of 346 2 

importation of, forbidden 3S9 2 

act went into effect 390 2 

freed in Columbia 420 i 

forbidden in Mexico 424 2 

emancipation in West Indies 451 2 

took effect 453 2 

in the census 473 i 

emancipated in Venezuela 51S i 

effort for freedom S22 2 

Slave, fugitive, arrest of. 362 2 

alleged fugitive, arrested.. 457 2 

Slave trade, English, begun 126 1 

book against 262 i 

horrors of 320 2 

extent of 330 2 

prohibited in Rhode Island 333 i 

forbidden in Massachusetts 342 2 

declared piracy.. 413 2 

prohibited by Peru 44S 2 

in Cuba 489 2 

abolished in Brazil 506 2 

favorably discussed 533 2 

Slave holding, first church discipline for 269 i 

Slave market in New York 22S 2 

Slave vessel captured .530 2 

Sleeping car, first 531 2 

Smelting works' for copper 179 i 

Smith, Capt. John, explored Virginia... 13S 2 

and Pocahontas 138 2 

Smith's surrender 652 2 

Smith, Gerritt, biography 746 2 

Smithsonian Institution, origin of 461 2 

Smuggled valuables seized 774 i 

" Snowstorm," The great 229 2 

Snow, only fall ever known in Cuba. . . . 524 i 

Snowstorm in South America S44 2 

Snowshoe race 712 2 

" Society of the Cincinnati," The 323 2 

Soldier, The faithful 211 1 

Soldiers' meeting at Cincinnati 789 2 

Soldiers' Homes 657 i 

Sonoma Pass captured 490 2 

Sorghum mania 524 2 

South American independence 425 2 

alliance. 651 2 

South America, great trip in 478 2 

South Carolina visited by de Ayllon. . . . 102 i 



South Carolina ratified constitution .... 334 

seceded ^46 

nullified secession 6;;:; 

South Mills, battle of :;7S 

South Mountain, battle of. 590 

South Sea expedition, United States. . . . 479 

Southern states all readmitted 700 

Spain, aid from 299 

pledges suppression of slave trade in 

Cuba ...... 516 

Speakership of U. S. House, contest for, 522 

contest over 1542 

Specie circular 463 

Spelling mania 71^0 

Spike machine. Burden's 471 

Spirit rappings, first 497 

Spottsylvania Court House, battle of. . . . 62:; 

Springfield, battle of 1564 

Squadron, U. S., in Mediterranean 3S0 

in Mediterranean 379 

in Mediterranean 409 

Squanto 15^ 

Squatter sovereignty- 1501 

St. Augustine founded 127 

blockaded 22"^ 

blockaded 241 

St. Bartholomew ceded to Sweden. ..... 327 

St. Christopher, W. I., settled 155 

fighting in 225 

St. Clair's defeat 31^2 

" St. Clair " burned 772 

St. Croix, W. I., bought by Danes 238 

St. Eustatius, W. I., seized by English. . 31S 

St. Johns, Ca., captured 2S7 

St. John, W. I., sold to United States. . . 671 

St. John, N. B., burned 7S5 

burned second time 791 

St. Lawrence, Gulf of, visited by Denvs 92 

map of, published 92 

visited by Aubert 91; 

St. Louis, site of, selected 263 

bridge completed 742 

St. Lucia, W. I., taken by English 383 

St. Regis, battle of 39S 

St. Thomas, first colony in Guiana 109 

St. Thomas, W. I., settled bv Danes 199 

sold to United States 671 

St. Vincent, W. I , settled 232 

Staffbrdsville disaster.... 7S0 

" Staffordshire " wrecked 51c; 

Stage players declared vagrants 333 

law against, repealed in S. C 353 

law against, repealed in Mass 358 



Col. 
2 
2 
2 



INDEX. 



" Stamp duty " suggested 

Stamp act passed 

repealed . 

Standish, Miles, courtship of 

biography 

Stanley and Livingstone 

Stanley, Henry M., honored 

•Stanton, Secretary, removed 

restored by congress 

biography 

'" Star of the West " fired on 

Starch, making of, invented 

Stark, John, biography 

" Stars and Stripes " adopted 

remodeled 

finally remodeled 

raised over Fort Sumter 

" Stars and Bars " adopted 

modified 

further change 

"Star Spangled Banner," origin of 

Starvation Beach 

" State of Louisiana " lost 

■Statue of George IIL put up 

pulled down 

Statue of Shakspeare unveiled 

Statue of Lincoln unveiled 

Steam dredge," Evans." 

Steam engine, first 

first high pressure 

first effective 

Steam ferry, first 

Steam frigate for Russia, launched. . . . 

Steam heating of cities 

Steam navigation attempted 

first ocean 

Steam vessel, first American, round 

Cape Good Hope 

Steam voyage across Atlantic, first 

Steam war-vessel, first 

Steamboat on Delaware 

first practical 

Rumsey's 

Fitch's 

on Delaware 

on Savannah River 

with stern wheel 

improvements in 

"■ Mississippi," proposed 

with propellor 

Fulton's 

first on Western waters 

trial 



Page. Col. 

247 I 

26s 1 

266 2 

184 2 

706 2 

793 2 

668 I 

671 2 

691 2 

547 2 

381 I 

422 I 

300 I 

363 I 

413 2 

642 2 

549 2 

562 2 

621 I 

406 2 

509 I 

807 I 

271 1 

293 2 

715 2 

768 I 

3S5 2 

240 I 

333 2 

369 I 

404 2 

530 2 

795 2 

248 1 

391 1 



483 2 

416 I 

407 I 

330 1 

332 I 

333 I 
343 I 
349 2 
351 I 
362 2 
380 I 
382 2 
3S5 2 
389 2 
394 2 
700 I 



Page. Col. 

Steamboat company, American 703 2 

speed, trial of ■ 737 2 

largest river 776 2 

Steamer, first on Great Lakes 413 2 

" Carolina " burned 465 2 

first Isthmus 493 1 

first on Amazon 514 i 

first for Paraguayan company 514 2 

largest then in world 519 i 

first from Chili 673 \ 

burned on Long Island Sound 711 i 

line of, American 734 i 

largest iron 74S 1 

burned at New Orleans 750 2 

capsized. . . . , 799 i 

Steel, John, settled in Conn 166 2 

Steel, method of making, discovered.. . . 235 i 

Steel engraving, first 408 2 

Stereotyping, first in America 403 2 

Steuben, Baron, joined army 305 i 

biography 361 2 

Stc\ens, Thaddeus, biography 675 2 

.Stewart, A. T., biography 767 2 

body of, stolen 805 2 

Stillwater, battle of 302 2 

Stock transaction, largest 827 i 

Stocking-looms, premiums for 266 2 

factory, first 297 1 

frame, penalty for exportation 327 2 

Stolen march. The 298 i 

Stonemill, battle of 406 i 

Stonington, Conn., captured 405 i 

Stcne Ferry, S. C, battle of 311 i 

Stony Creek, battle of 401 2 

Stony Point, N. Y., captured 310 i 

stormed by Wayne 311 i 

' ' Stonewall " lost 689 2 

Storm, prevented battle 308 i 

on Louisiana coast 523 2 

in Ohio 70S i 

in United States 711 i 

on Atlantic coast 734 i 

in United States 755 2 

on Gulf coast 760 i 

in United States 766 2 

on Long Island Soimd 790 2 

in New England 793 2 

in United States 795 2 

violent 804 i 

on Atlantic coast 821 i 

on lakes and ocean 844 i 

in United States 853 i 

in United States 855 i 



INDEX. 



899 



Page. Col. 

Stoves, Rumford's, improved 32S 2 

Street railway, first 513 2 

Strength, trial of 703 2 

trial of 737 2 

trial of. 727 I 

Strikes in mines 753 2 

great railroad 7S6 2 

at Lynn, Crispin 793 2 

in Quebec 799 2 

Stuart's raid 583 i 

Stuy vesant, Peter, biography 207 2 

Stuyvesant pear tree 670 i 

Sub-Treasury bill repealed 475 i 

Sucre assassinated 439 2 

Suffolk Co., Va., raided. 310 2 

.Suftblk, siege of, ended 605 2 

Sugar Act of England 239 i 

Sugar first made by English in W. I. . . 174 i 

Sugar cane, first in America 92 2 

first in North America 24S 2 

Sugar mill, first in present United States 256 i 

Suicide in Washington, D. C 456 1 

Sullivan trial, result of 774 i 

Sultana exploded 651 2 

Sumner, Charles, assaulted 522 2 

biography 740 i 

Sumter, the privateer 556 i 

Sunbury,Ga., taken. . . 309 i 

Sunday school, first in America 202 i 

in Plymouth 206 i 

John Wesley's 240 i 

at Ephrata, Penn 241 i 

Bishop Asbury's 330 i 

first inodern 392 i 

Sunstroke in great cities 717 i 

Supplies refused by New York 267 2 

captured 287 2 

Survey of coast first proposed 389 i 

Suspension bridge, Wheeling ^99 1 

Niagara, first train 519 i 

first Niagara 492 2 

first in world 379 2 

Sulro Tunnel completed . 801 2 

" Swallow " lost on Hudson 489 i 

Swamp Law 267 1 

Swearing fined in Maryland 173 i 

Swedenborgian churches, first 362 2 

Swedes on the Delaware River 173 i 

overthrown on Delaware 184 2 

Sweeney suit compromised 7S4 2 

Swim across English channel 753 i 

Swing, Prof., preaching of 762 2 

'' Swinging around the circle " 663 i 



Synagogue, Jewish, first 

Synod in New England 

T 

Tabasco, battle of 

bombarded 

Table Rock, Niagara, fell 

Tack and nail machine 

Tacua, capture of 

Tadousac, first traders at 

" Talisman " wrecked 

TaliTiage, trial of 

Tammany society organized 

ring broken up 

Tam.pico taken 

Taney, Roger B., appointed chief-justice 

biography 

Tanner's " fast " 

Tariff, protective 

compromise 

new ,. 

in Canada, new 

excitement at Quebec 

TariftVille disaster 

" Tarleton's Quarter " 

Tavern, first on Manhattan Island 

Taxation as defined by Plymouth colony 

in Barbadoes 

in Massachusetts 

in Rhode Island 

first internal 

in Virginia 

in New Jersey 

during war 

discussed in Parliament 

first internal 

" Tayleure " wrecked 

Taylor, Zachary, biography 

Bayard, biography 

Gen. R., surrender of 

Tea first used in Boston 

tax, the 

to be sent to America 

ineeting in New York 

meeting in Philadelphia 

meeting in Boston 

" party " in Boston 

inass iriceting in Philadelphia 

burning of 

Teachers' Association, first 

seminary, first 

Tecumseh, biography 

Teetotalism introduced 

Telegraph, first attempt with 



P.age. 


Col. 


^3S 


I 


204 


I 


99 


2 


492 


I 


783 


I 


330 


I 


S36 


I 


134 


I 


494 


2 


Si 5 


2 


344 


2 


710 


2 


492 


I 


4.'^9 


2 


63^ 


2 


S38 


I 


449 


2 


451 


I 


477 


I 


811 


2 


S12 


I 


794 


I 


313 


2 


173 


2 


167 


2 


181 


2 


188 


2 


193 


I 


200 


I 


204 


I 


2C6 


I 


256 


I 


264 


-2 


353 


I 


516 


I 


504 


2 


806 


2 


651 


2 


232 


2 


271 


I 


273 


I 


273 


2 


273 


•> 


273 


2 


273 


.2 


274 


I 


277 


2 


375 


2 


424 


I 


402 


2 


454 


I 


346 


2 



900 



INDEX. 



Telegraph improved 377 

an electric, proposed 411 

on Long Island ^38 

origin of Morse's 450 

contest over 455 

exhibited by Morse 458 

Morse's first patented 464 

exhibited by Morse 466 

Morse's, appropriation tor 4S0 

success with 4S2 

first fire alarm 514 

first in Cuba 514 

Atlantic company 519 

New York and Newfour.dland 523 

first over Rocky Mountains ...... 597 

automatic fire signal 737 

between United States and Brazil.. 743 

monopoly S50 

Telephone, invention of 738 

decision in England 849 

Temperance meeting, first 179 

movement, first 346 

society, first 390 

' reformation 436 

convention, national 451 

society, congressional 451 

society, national 664 

movement, jMurphy 793 

petition S 1 1 

Temperature, lowest recorded 516 

Tempests, thunder, in Massachusetts. .. 719 

Tennessee admitted to Union 365 

seceded 550 

Bragg's invasion 592 

Hood's invasion 635 

first state re-admitted to Union 662 

Tenure-of-office bill 665 

Texas, revolution in 451 

constitutional convention 453 

first fight for independence 457 

organized provisional government.. 4:^7 

declared independent 458 

independence secured by treaty .... 459 

convention 459 

Gen. Houston, president 462 

applied to be admitted to U. S 466 

Lamar, president of 469 

Burnett, president of 472 

Houston again president 475 

Jones, president of 483 

bill signed 485 

ratified annexation bill 487 

admitted to Union .^88 



Pase. ( 

Texas seceded 548 

LT. S. property in, surrendered 549 

loyalists massacred 587 

nullified secession 658 

first free schools 712 

raid of Mexicans into 788 

fight in 793 

Thames, battle of 402 

" Thanksgiving Day," origin of 153 

Thanksgiving, proclamation 614 

Thanksgiving, national, U. S 656 

Theater at Lima, first in America 145 

in Boston, British 289 

burned in Richmond, Va 395 

in Boston 356 

Theatrical company in New York 248 

performance, first in Boston . 248 

company, first real 249 

exhibitions forbidden 330 

exhibitions made free 346 

Theological seminary, first 385 

Thomas, George H., biography 695 

Thomas, Dr., case of 847 

Thomson, Charles, biography 425 

Thornton's men killed 490 

Thousand Isles, battle of 397 

Thread, first cotton 362 

Ticknor, George, biography '. . 704 

Timber controversy 233 

Tin first found in America 441 

Tippecanoe, battle of 395 

Tlascala, battle of 100 

Tobacco, origin of name 82 

first used in England 131 

first cultivated 143 

fever 143 

" plant cutters " in Virginia 206 

pipes made 232 

exported by Virginia 256 

Tobago, West Indies, taken by French. 204 

Tonty, journey of, south 213 

Tornado, in Iowa and Illinois 544 

in St. Louis 714 

at Cincinnati 715 

at Harrisburg 719 

in Western United States 733 

in Alabama 746 

in Georgia 749 

at Detroit 754 

in Illinois 7^6 

in Central America 774 

in Illinois 7^4 

in Kentucky 796 



INDEX. 



901 



Tornado in Missouri 797 2 

in Central United States 798 i 

at Wallingford, Conn 803 i 

in Ha vti 804 2 

in Piiiladelpiiia S05 2 

in United States 817 2 

in Western states S19 2 

in Central states S19 2 

in Massachusetts . . S20 i 

Toronto captured 400 2 

Torpedo, Fulton's 386 2 

expedition, Peruvian 822 2 

Tory paper, oiBce of, destroyed 2S6 i 

parson ducked in river 296 2 

Total abstinence pledge, first 377 2 

voted down 452 2 

Society, congressional 476 2 

Toussaint captured by French 379 2 

Tower, old, at Newport, R. 1 75 2 

Towns in New England 167 i 

Townsend'sbill 267 i 

Tracy's march against Mohawks 195 i 

Trade with West Indies, first 167 2 

with Virginia prohibited 180 2 

Trade sale for books, first . - 3S0 i 

Trade Union contest 3S8 2 

Train-bands and Wards 168 2 

Traitor, first 287 i 

Traitor, Benedict Arnold a 314 2 

Tramp nuisance, The 759 i 

Treasure raised by Phips 213 i 

Treaty between Dutch and Indians. ... 176 2 

of Breda 195 2 

of Westminster 201 i 

of Penn with Indians 207 2 

of Ryswick 222 i 

of Utrecht 228 2 

with Six Nations 238 2 

with Creeks. ... 238 2 

of Aix la Chapelle 246 2 

between France and United States.. 305 i 

between Holland and U. S. 322 2 

preliminary with England 322 2 

between England and United States 324 i 

Jay's 361 r 

Wayne's 364 i 

with Algiers 364 i 

with Spain 364 2 

temporary with France 377 i 

with Tripoli 386 i 

rejected 388 i 

between England and U. S 408 i 

betW'Cen U. S. and Algiers 409 2 



Page. Col. 

Treaty of Cordova 420 2 

between U. S. and France 448 2 

between U. S. and Sardinia 471 2 

between U. S . and China 483 2 

of Hidalgo . 495 2 

between U. S. and Mexico 515 i 

between U. S. and Japan 517 2 

between U. S. and Canada 518 i 

between Buenos Ayres and Argen- 
tine Republic 518 2 

bet. Peru, Chili, Ecuador, Costa Rica 524 2 

between Honduras and England . . . 525 

betw^een U. S. and China 529 

between U. S. and Paraguay 538 

between U. S. and Nicaragua 547 

by Peru, etc., against Spain 657 

between U. S. and Canada, expired. 659 

between U. S. and Colombia 682 

between U. S. and Colombia 704 

of Washington 706 

with Spain, by Chili and Peru 707 

Trent aftair , The 566 

Trenton, battle of 296 

Trinidad discovered 87 

taken by English 368 

Tripoli declared war on U. S 378 

Tripoli bombarded 384 

Tripolitan cruiser captured 379 

" Tripoli " wrecked 715 

Troops sent into Boston 276 

sent into Boston 268 

Trotting, fast 839 

better record 840 

best on record 841 

Trumbull, Jonathan, biography 328 

Trustee's twenty mile race 498 

Tuluco, plan of 458 

Turkish admiral visited U. S 530 

Turnpike, first 353 

Turnpikes, report on 390 

Tvler, John, inaugurated 475 

biography 569 

Type foundry, first 241 

Type-casting machine, first 44S 

Type-setting machine 524 

trial at . . . 693 

Tweed, William M., suits against 736 

released and rearrested 754 

escape 762 

arrest in Spain 773 

confession 790 

judgment against 795 

biography 797 



902 



INDEX. 



Page. Col. 

XJ 

Ulloa explored coast of California 115 i 

Antonio de, voyage of 312 1 

Uncas, biography 209 i 

" Uncle Sam," origin of 399 2 

' Uncle Sam," Atlantic trip of 82P 1 

" Uncle Tom's Cabin " issued 506 i 

Union College founded . . 364 2 

Unitarian convocation, first national. . . . 657 i 

I'nited Brethren in Christ 258 2 

United States acknowledged by Sweden. 323 i 

by Denmark 323 2 

by Spain 323 2 

by Russia 324 i 

" United States" captured " Macedonia." 398 2 

Universalism first preached 241 2 

I' niversalist church, first 316 i 

convention, first 32S 2 

Universities, first in America 124 2 

University of Havana established 234 i 

of Philadelphia founded 247 2 

of Vermont founded 353 i 

of North Carolina 375 2 

of Havana changed 480 2 

Uruguay, first settled 154 i 

conquered b^ Spanish 234 2 

attacked by Portuguese 396 i 

seized by Portuguese 420 2 

declared independent 438 i 

independence secured 532 i 

revolution in 738 2 

revolution in 776 2 

Utah difficulties settled 529 2 

Ute outbreak. The 823 i 

negotiations 833 2 

Uxbridge bank robbery 717 i 

Uxmal, ruins discovered 43S 2 

V 

Vaca, de Cabapa, romantic trip 113 i 

Vaccination, first in America 375 2 

Valdivia, Chili, surrendered 419 2 

X'allandigham, C. L'., arrest of 605 2 

death of 707 2 

\'alley Forge 304 2 

Valparaiso bombarded 6:^9 i 

Van Buren, Martin, biography 586 2 

\'ancouver's Island 356 i 

occupied by United States 534 i 

joined Bi^itish Columbia 664 i 

Vanderbilt, Cornelius, biography 777 2 

Van Home, defeat of 397 i 

Van Ness, Mrs. Marcia, biography 449 2 

Vassar College founded 568 i 



Page. Col. 

Vassar, Matthew, death of 674 i 

Velocipede patented, first 415 i 

Venezuela named by Vespucius 87 2 

evacuated by Spanish 413 i 

adopted constitution 441 2 

Monagas dictator 499 2 

civil war in 534 2 

revolution in 684 i 

progress of 729 i 

revolution in 810 i 

Vera Cruz taken by Scott 493 2 

by United States army 497 2 

besieged by Miramon 533 2 

attacked 542 2 

surrendered to Juarists 667 2 

" Vera Cruz," loss of S40 2 

Vermont, Independence of 298 2 

ratified constitution 351 2 

Verplanck's Point captured 311 i 

Verrazzano explored North American 

coast 105 I 

Vespucius, Americus, voyage of 87 2 

named Venezuela. . . 87 2 

visited Brazil 89 2 

Vessels first built on Pacific 97 2 

first built on Mississippi River 119 2 

first built on N. American coast.. . . 126 2 

first built in New England 139 1 

first built by Dutch in America. . . . 145 i 

first built by Puritans 163 2 

first built on upper lakes 204 2 

British taken by Arnold 282 2 

American seized 3S6 2 

English ordered away 389 2 

British taken on Lake Erie 398 i 

United States seized 529 1 

Veteran Reserve Corps (U. S.) 603 2 

Vicksburg, advance on 595 i 

capture of 611 i 

local political fight 746 i 

" Vicksburg " lost 753 i 

Victory on Atlantic, first 282 2 

Vienna, battle of 1557 2 

Vigilance Committee, California 508 2 

California 524 2 

Indiana 674 2 

Kansas 745 2 

" Ville du Havre " lost 736 2 

Vincennes, Ind., settled 225 2 

Vineland, N. J., founded 531 i 

Vinland, Northmen in 75 i 

supposed to be Rhode Island 75 i 

Thor wald in 75 i 



INDEX. 



903 



Vinland, first fight with natives in 

Karlsefne's colony in 

Karlsethe's son born in 

last Norse colony in 

Virgin Islands, W. I., seized by England 

made a colony 

Virginia named 

colonists dissatisfied 

condition of 

granted to Arlington 

grant of, revoked. 

improved condition of. 

has no governor 

Arnold's raid in 

ratified constitution 

resolutions 

seceded 

army of, organized 

Lee's retreat into 

Stoneman's raid 

Virginia City, Nevada, growth of 

\Mrginius affair. The 

Volcano in Martinique 

Volunteers for Mexican war 

Voters, property necessary for, in Conn. 
Voyage round the world, first 

first American 

\^ 

Wade, Benj. F., biography 

Waldron, Major, killed 

Walk, great Indian 

Walking match at London 

in New York 

in London 

best time 

Walloons in New Netherland 

Wampum in New Netherland 

refused for taxes 

War preparations 

declared by U. S; on England 

between Brazil and Argentine Rep. 

between Paraguay and Corrientes. . 

declared by U. S. on Mexico 

between Ecuador and New Grenada 

between Spain and Peru 

between Honduras and San Salvador 

Warren, Dr. Joseph, biography 

Washington's, George, mission 

report , 

elected general 

took command 

Howe's letter to 

farewell to officers 



Page. Col. 

7.S I 

75 2 

75 2 

75 2 

195 I 

519 I 

130 2 

166 2 

180 I 
200 2 
210 2 

215 2 

226 2 

317 2 

335 I 

369 I 

550 
5S6 
592 
605 

657 

735 I 

507 2 

490 I 

192 I 

103 I 

350 2 

795 2 
214 I 
240 I 

796 I 
812 I 
819 I 
S34 2 
155 I 
172 I 

181 I 
367 2 
396 2 

430 I 

48S I 

490 I 

619 I 

635 2 

705 I 

2S4 I 

250 I 

250 I 

283 I 

286 I 

293 2 

324 2 



Washington's resignation of commission, 

tour through New England 

made lieutenant-general 

biography 

funeral oration pronounced 

Washington, D. C, first named 

officially occupied 

burned by British 

Washington and Lee Universitv, Va. . . 

Monument, Richmond, Va 

Commission, The 

"ring," The 

Washingtonians 

" Wasp " captured " Frolic." 

captured " Reindeer." 

captured " Avon." 

Watches, American, first made 

" Water color society," first 

first successful 

" Water cure " establishment, first 

Waterproof, first patent 

Waterproof clothing companv, first 

Water spout in Nevada 

" Waterwitch " encounter 

' ' Wawasset " burned 

Wayne, Gen., command at W'est 

victory of 

biography 

Weather Bureau . 

farmers' reports 

Webster, Noah, grammatical institute of 

spelling book ot'. 

Webster's Dictionary, first 

Webster, Daniel, biography 

Wedding, first at Plymouth 

Weldon Railway, attempt on 

seized 

Welland ship canal 

"Well Conducted Farm," essay 

Welles, Gideon, biography 

Wesley, John, came to Georgia 

established Sunday School 

Western Hayti, an empire 

" Westfield" exploded ; . . 

W^estinghouse brakes 

West Virginia created 

troops ordered into 

admitted to Union 

West, military events in 

West Point Academy 

Weymouth on New England coast 

Weymouth colon v 

Whaleboat crossed Atlantic 



Page. Col. 
324 2 

345 2 

36S 2 

371 

375 

352 

377 

4tJ5 

323 

529 

735 

766 

472 

398 

404 

406 

506 

506 

663 

4S4 

445 

453 

745 

519 

734 

353 2 

361 I 

365 2 

693 2 

716 2 

324 2 

324 2 

439 I 

512 I 

152 2 

629 I 

631 I 

441 2 

430 2 

794 2 

239 2 

240 I 
500 2 
708 I 
714 I 

550 2 

551 I 
609 I 
617 2 
380 I 
137 i 
154 I 
787 2 



904 



IXDEX. 



Whale-fishing, iirst 

in Uavis' Straits 

in St. Lawrence 

successful 

Whaleship sunk hy whale 

Whaling disaster 

Whaling bark, disaster to 

Wheat sown on Long Island 

iirst shipment from Chicago, 

Wheeler compromise 

Wheeler surveys 

Wheelv/right, William, death of 

Whig addresses 

"Whipper, The Public," advertisement. 

' ' Whiskey Ring " war 

White, Col., stratagem of 

" White I louse," The 

White Mountains, first white man at. . . . 

first ascended 

first mentioned in print 

White, Peregrine, death of 

White Plains, battle of 

Whitfield, George, came to Georgia 

labored in several states 

established orphanage 

occasioned " Great Awakening". . . 

biography 

Whittaker outrage 

second trial 

Whittier's birthday celebration 

Wilderness, battle of 

Willard, Emma 

Willey disaster, The . 

William and Mary College 

founded 

Williams College founded 

Williams, Roger, came to America 

banished 

biography., 

Williamsburg, battle of 

Willis, N. P., death 

Wilmington evacuated 

Wilmot Proviso 

Wilson, Henry, biography 

Wilson's Creek, battle of 

raids 

Winchester, battle of 

battle of 

Windward Is., English, under Barbadoes 

Winslow, the forger 

Winter, extremely severe 

quarters 

at Morristown 



216 I 



232 

25S 


~ 


515 

4IS 

70S 


I 


S05 


2 


137 


I 


470 


2 


750 


2 


744 

735 


2 

I 


475 

24S 


I 


751 


2 


31- 
355 
146 


I 
2 
2 


173 


I 


199 

226 


I 


295 


2 


-40 


^ 


-41 


I 


241 


I 


241 
^71 


I 


S34 

S53 


2 
I 


793 
624 
696 


I 
2 


435 

iSS 


- 


220 


1 


35S 
163 
166 


- 


209 
580 
664 
63S 


I 

2 
2 


491 
761 


I 


560 
640 
581 
60S 


2 
2 


712 
763 
456 
29S 


I 
2 


312 


2 



Winthrop, John, biography 

Wirz, Henry, executed 

Wisconsin visited 

admitted to Union 

Wistar's raid 

Witchcraft, execution for in Mass 

second 

third 

execution for, in Connecticut 

acquittal in Pennsylvania 

execution for, in Boston 

delusion 

attempt to revive 

Withdrawal of U. S. troops from S. C. . 

from Louisiana 

Wives for Canadian settlers 

Wollaston accident 

" Woman Order," Butler's 

Woman first admitted to Hom.eopathic 

Institute 

Woman's crusade 

suffrage association, national. 

Women first at Jamestown 

sold for w'ives 

before U. S, supreme court 

Wood engraving, first 

Fernando, biography 

Wool card teeth 

Worcester's dictionary issued 

Workmen, mass meeting of 

World's fair in New York 

of 1SS3 

Wright, Francis, visited United States.. 

Writs of assistance opposed 

Wvandotte constitution framed 

ratified 

Wyoming Valley massacre 

' X 

Xaquixaguana, battle of 

X Y Z mission. The 

Y 

Yacht club, first 

" America " won English prize. . . . 

race , A 

race in New York harbor 

race at New York 

Yale college, origin of 

chartered 

removed and named 

" Yankee Doodle " 

Yankee enterprise 

Yazoo fraud. The 

Yellow fever in Mexico, first time 



Page. Col. 

179 2 

656 I 

171 I 

497 - 

622 I 

177 1 

179 I 

1S4 I 

190 2 

210 2 

213 2 

217 I 

7S0 2 

7S0 2 

195 - 

505 I 
581 I 

70S I 

739 I 

692 I 

139 2 

148 2 

Sio I 

363 I 
853 - 
304 ^ 
492 I 
52S I 

• 514 

850 2 

419 2 

261 2 

F>33 ^ 

535 2 

506 2 

122 2 

367 2 

484 I 

507 2 
664 I 
712 I 

772 2 

223 2 

224 2 
229 2 
28S 2 

351 1 

364 2 
120 2 



INDEX. 



905 



Page. Col. 



Yellow fever in Barbadoes 216 

in Cuba 262 

in New York 225 

in Philadelphia 223 

in New Grenada, S. A 236 

in West Indies 237 

in Ecuador, first 241 

in Philadelphia 262 

in New York 353 

in Philadelphia 35S 

in United States 36S 

in New York 452 

in Brazil 499 

in New Orleans 516 

in Southern states 671 

in Buenos Ayres 707 

in Louisiana 734 

in Buenos Ayres 749 

at Savannah, Ga. .,,,,.,. 773 



Yellow fever at Savannah, Ga 773 

in Florida 790 

in U. S. during 1S7S S04 

in Southern states S19 

Yellowstone geysers 692 

Y. M. C. A. organized at Montreal 50S 

Yorktov.-n, siege of 319 

captured 319 

evacuated in Civil War 579 

Young, Brigham, joined Mormons 451 

biography 7SS 

Yucatan discovered 95 

romance in 96 

visited by Cordova 97 

visited by Grijalva 98 

English in, seized by Spanish 204 

adopted constitution 474 

Yukon River, great trip up the 661 



Col. 
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